Savute Under Canvas Chobe National Park

... of course I couldn’t find it anywhere hidden from people. So I had to do my routine in front of people that of course were staring. If I could choose to, I would choose to do it away from people. But I would rather do it in front of people than not do it at all.
Chobe 10/30
We had an early morning game drive through Chobe National Park which I think is the premier game park of Botswana. It started at 6am but would only last until 9am. So ...

... to say it was a LEOPARD so we spent some time watching him relaxing under the tree about 10 metres from our jeep. It was funny, you think that the cats would be more interested in the jeeps but they really aren’t. They look at you like they would not even give you the time of day. Oh well, I guess that is something that runs in the feline family, I swear my cat gave me that look all the time!

We then headed back to our primitive bush camp ...

... the river for a while on a narrow sand path and saw hippos almost immediately, mostly submerged with just their heads poking up; they would go under for long periods, bubbles marking their spot underwater. We also saw lots of vultures and our driver told us about some of the recent deaths in the park. We had just pulled up to see some baboons, when our driver got word that there was a lion ...

... time.

In our final evening game drive we had our scariest animal experience of the entire trip. The story went something like this.....

We were sitting on top of the car at sunset having a G&T as usual, enjoying the zebras grazing in front of us. Then Chris spotted a nearby tree where about 20 vultures had gathered, and more were flying in by the minute. Large amounts of vultures can only mean one ...

... didn't speak any English but just held their hands up towards our windows hoping we would heave piles of cash their way!

We were both taking motion-sickness meds and felt so nausious. The temperature is pushing a 100F and I was suddenly hating the idea that we had decided to do this on our own! I'm pretty sure I would have evaporated into thin air if it weren't for all the gatorade powder mix that mom gave us before the trip. This ...

... we were sitting, we could have easily stroked the back of his ears as he was that close, we saw a herd of elephants with babies and a springbok go to the toilet like a cat, we also saw the carcass of a cow that had died of cancer, all the animals had been eating the corpse and all that was left was the bones and skin. By now Paola and myself needed to use the toilet so our guide told us we could go behind this bush which was a short ...

Our first stop was Livingstone to enjoy the many activities available around Victoria Falls/Zambezi River. The first day we went on a sunset booze cruise (luckily this time there was a toilet aboard)...which of course turned into a messy night of hook-ups, injuries and vomiting... I wont reveal in which ones I was involved in!!
Over the next couple of days, most went white water rafting (whilst I ...

... have priority, so get to go to the front of the line. Entering Botswana we had to fill out a form about swine flu and everyone had to step on a mat with their shoes on to keep some other disease out of their country. We all wondered what was on the mat. Once in Botswana, Chobe is just about 15 minutes from the border.

We arrived at our camp site after dark, dinner was made for us by our guides, and we went to bed (eventually ...

... see more animals but it was just cold and we didnt see many. As we were going back to our campsite the whole suspention on one of the wheels collapsed leaving us stuck somewhere in the bush, luckily another of car belonging to our group passed us so we all crammed onto it back to the river. We had another boat safari back although i have a feeling we may have fallen asleep on it at some point.
We then made our way ...

... their own currency, only US currency. They take no traveler checks but if they take credit cards they add zeros to the charge. I was charged $1.50 for a drink. When I attempted to pay with a $20 bill I was told they did not have change. I then gave them $1.50 US in change. I was told they did not accept US coins. I said, "If you don't want US coins don't charge US change." Victoria Falls is beautiful, spanning nearly 2 ...