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Chobe National Park
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We left early from Livingstone leaving the luxury of the lodge for six days of camping. We needed to cross back into Botswana and we were to do this by taking the ferry at Kazangula. The ferry was chaotic with long lorry queues snaking back down the road. We had been told to overtake them as only one lorry can go on the ferry at one time. There was the usual round of desks and paperwork to go through but this time we were helped by a couple of young Zambians who were making quite a lucrative business helping hapless tourists like ourselves through the confusing maze of red tape. They were genuinely helpful and after 10 minutes we found ourselves at the front of the queue waiting to board. Andy drove onto the ferry alone while we had to climb on as foot passengers. Once on the Botswanan side things were much more straightforward although the lines of trucks this side of the border must have been even longer. They must literally have to wait for the whole day to get across.
We travelled to onto Kasane, a small town on the southern bank of the Chobe where we could stock up with supplies and fuel. Fuel turned out to be more problematic as they had run out at the Esso garage and we had to retrace our steps and return to another petrol station outside the town. Even more of a problem was the fact that it was a Sunday so none of the bottle stores were open. The question was could we live without alcohol for six days camping?
The GPS was extremely helpful and we were able to find Ihaha Campsite without too much problem although it was about 35 km on slow sandy roads. The drive along the Chobe River was lovely and we saw elephant, kudu, giraffe, zebra, impala, water buffalo, warthogs and hippos. The campsite at Ihaha was beautiful with the sites positioned right by the river. The only downside was the previous residents had not secured their rubbish in the animal proof bins so it was strewn everywhere! We picked it all up and collected firewood and cooked a lovely beef stew as the sun went down over the river. It must have ranked as one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever witnessed, the colours were amazing ranging from bright oranges, dark reds and finally a beautiful mauve as the sun sank over the Chobe. As dusk fell animals started appearing. A large warthog strolled into the camp without a backward glance and a large herd of elephants had accumulated about 500m east of us further down the river. Later a large troupe of baboons started to appear choosing to sleep the night in the large tree adjacent to our tents.
Once in our tents we attempted to sleep but the baboons were incredibly noisy and chattered throughout most of the night. They appeared very agitates as though something might have been lurking in the darkness. At one point we heard a soft galloping and looked out to see a large herd of impala had entered the camp, their eyes reflecting green in our torchlight. Then, all at once there was a dreadful noise and the impalas were running everywhere. We could not see what had spooked them but thought it might well have been wild dogs. Later we were woken by yet another noise and this time were amazed to see the herd of elephants were now only 50 m from our camp. Several minutes later we were able to make out the large black shapes of elephants literally 10m from the tents munching noisily on the trees beside us. I was both scared and excited and made myself remember that elephants' tip-toe round ground tents as they regard them as any other solid object. I hoped the boys remembered this too.
More thumbnails ...
Where I stayed:
Ihaha Campsite
Latest Comments (1)
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Ihaha Joy (reply)
Sep 26, 2008 17:39 EST by kdalboth
Jo I'm so delighted you made it to Ihaha, isn't it an absolute joy. I wonder if the Wartie you saw was one of the ones I'd seen as a baby with it's mother in our camp the year before. Your photos are lovely, and reading your account of the site brings back a lot of lovely memories for me.
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