Chobe National Park, Botswana

July 11, 2011

This morning, after spending the last couple of days exploring the western side of Chobe National Park, we headed to the eastern side and Serondela. We saw southern ground hornbills, a steenbok (the smallest member of the antelope family), tawny eagles, giraffe, elephants, buffalo, a mob of banded mongoose, guinea hens and a pride of lions.

Southern ground hornbill.

Elephant crossing.

Tawny eagle.

The sightings of the lion pride were fantastic! There were 3 females, 1 male and several cubs eating the carcass of a small cape buffalo. Many of them stayed in the shade of an acacia bush, but every now and then one of the adults would put on a show for us, crossing the track to use the toilet or to find a better resting place. I thought one of the females was going to come right up to me in the jeep! I must admit that even though I was beginning to feel a little anxious, I hung in there and took my photos.

Resting in the shade.

Watching the onlookers with a wary eye.

This one was coming right at me.

Our promised picnic lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches turned out to be an absolutely delicious smorgasbord of chicken pasta, cucumber salad, coleslaw, meats and cheeses, and, of course, incredible bread. (There is way too much carb loading occurring during the course of this trip).

Julius, Vitalis and Onks prepare our scrumptious lunch.

After lunch, we headed to Kasane for a water cruise on the Chobe River. We got some great photos of the hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, elephants, Vervet monkeys, birds and fish eagles.

Nit-picking.

The majestic fish eagle.

The fish eagle in flight.

Pied kingfisher.

Little bee-eaters.

Crocodile.

Hippos as happy as pigs in the mud.

Marabou stork struggling with dinner.

Back to the camp for a last night featuring a dance off between the locals and the travellers (NOT referred to as tourists since we are here to learn about the people, their culture and their country). The locals danced in and put on a great show with their beautiful voices and fancy footwork. For their 2nd and 3rd dance numbers, some of the women laced up these little triangular shaped items that seemed to be like corrugated plastic, filled with seeds or something like popcorn. They called them cocoons, and they made some really great noise when the ladies danced. Pamela asked if she could lace up one and the ladies let her. She did pretty well and enjoyed herself immensely. We tried valiantly to compete, but even though Sherry and Iris did a mean electric slide (which Kelly seem to master in no time), the final score was 100 points to 50 points (which the locals only gave us because we at least gave it a try).

Dinner was served outdoors around an open fire pit. As usual, everything was absolutely delicious - lentil soup, bread, sausage, beef, pumpkin, cornmeal, cabbage, beans and a delicious cake for dessert. The whole point of this meal was to eat like the locals, which meant no utensils - guess my training eating Ethiopian food finally paid off. Although I must admit that the soup was a bit of a challenge, until I just drank it down. Onks ruled as our king, and was getting into the role a bit too well. He tried to get the women to kneel before and serve him, but we told him that was going way too far. Lots of laughter, wine and good will for the final night with these gracious, kind and gentle people.