Chobe Game Preserve, Botswana
We were up early today for an early start. Breakfast started at 6:00 as we needed to leave at 7:00 to make our safari reservation at Chobe.
We headed out in the bus to drive to the Kazungula crossing with Botswana. We had to wait in a long line at the border to get our passports stamped on the way out of Zambia. When we left the Immigration office we were met by several men carting baskets full of handmade items for us to purchase. They swarmed about us trying to strike up conversations and make a connection so we would return and buy from them.
We walked down the concrete drive to meet our waiting water taxis to take us across. Our boat captain explained that the opposite side of the power lines was the Zimbabwe side and we stayed well above the power lines when we crossed to Botswana. As we crossed the Zambezi, he also pointed out upstream where the Chobe river emptied into the Zambezi. The peninsula (that looks like an island) that sticks out in center of the river belongs to Namibia.
We were met by Jenson who drove us to Botswana Immigration where we again waited in line. We met another family traveling together from New Jersey (the Patels) who ended up being with the same safari group as we were.
Once through immigration, we loaded up in the bus and Jenson drove us to the office of Kalahari Tours. On our way, we got a history lesson on Botswana, and more specifically the Chobe area. Botswana became a British protectorate when Rhodes (who colonized Rhodesia) started eyeing Botswana. Some British missionaries working in the country took the 3 chiefs who shared leadership over it to see Queen Elizabeth and ask her to protect Botswana from Rhodes. In 1965, Botswana held elections and became their own country out from under British rule.
The island where present day Namibia is at the Zambia/Botswana border once belonged to Germany. While Botswana was a protectorate, England traded the island for Zanzibar in Tanzania. The area now known as Namibia was known as South West Africa and when the Germans left, the South Africans swooped in and claimed it. Eventually, Namibia became its own country and the South Africans had to let it go. Since then, the Namibians have attempted to claimed Sidudu island off the coast of Botswana. The Namibians wanted to build commercial farmland out of the island and the government of Botswana insisted that the land belong to Chobe and should be a protected island for the animals. Namibia wanted to fight over it, but Botswana took the matter to International Court in The Hague. Last year, in July, the Court sided with Botswana due to an 1835 land treaty that said the boundaries between countries are at the deepest point between them. The main channel of the Zambezi is 10m while the middle of the Chobe is only 4m, so the country boarder is on the Zambezi and the island between the Chobe and the Zambezi belongs to Botswana.
We arrived at the safari office and turned in just as a warthog crossed the street. We had a small breakfasty snack (fresh deep fried donuts and muffins/coffee and juice) before we set off in the boat trip.
The boat captain explained, as we were traveling upriver to check in at the Chobe office, that there were several military bases all over the park working to protect the animals from poaching.
We went upstream on the Chobe and started seeing wildlife immediately. Vervet Monkeys, Chacma Baboons, African Fish Eagles, Nile Crocodiles. Cape Buffaloes, Hippopotamus, Great White Egrets, Water Monitor Lizards, Malachite Kingfishers, and African Elephants. The beauty and majesty of the elephant bringing tears to my eyes. Across and up the beach there was an entire family if elephants with super tiny babies walking in between the largest of the adults. When they drank from the water, the baby stood so close to the patriarch that you could not see the baby, it was completely underneath.
We took the deeper channel on the Namibian side of Sidudu Island back down to the safari office and got off for lunch. The buffet set before us had a lot of options but our table was most excited about the beets, pan fried potatoes and the bread.
After lunch we loaded into vehicles to head up for the land part of our excursion. There were 10 of us in each jeep. We set off, it was a short drive to the entrance of the park. As we pulled aside for our driver, OT, to go inside, we saw a Red Billed Hornbill with a beautiful curved beak and black and white striped feathers (like Zazu from The Lion King)
Once inside, we again started seeing animals fairly quickly. Ground Hornbills, Impalas (the McDonalds of the animal world providing fast food for the lions), Kudu, Banded Mongoose, Maribou Stork, Sable, Reticulated Giraffes, and more African Elephants than I would have ever believed we could see. We would come around a bend and the elephants would be standing, walking or posing for our cameras. They were not afraid of us (no hunting in the park makes them at ease with the what-must-be constant traffic of safari vehicles) and some came VERY close to our vehicle. 
We witnessed a bull following a female elephant around as she kept running a away from him. He was trumpeting in frustration at his inability to catch up with her. When she started running at our vehicle, OT quickly started up the jeep and we headed off.
The ride was over all too soon and we were dropped off at the immigration office by our jeeps. A long line, a wait for the water taxi, another long line on the Zambian side (this time again being followed by Zambian craft marketers) and we finally got in our bus and headed back to Waterbury.
The return ride felt shorter and we were all grateful to arrive safely back at our lodging. We had about 45 mins to relax, change clothes, sit around the campfire and chat, etc before we sat for dinner @7:00. It was a farewell dinner to remember with an artfully presented scrumptious dinner and a fantastic chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert.
I will be slightly sad to be leaving this lovely oasis tomorrow, but I am anxious to love on babies again and serve God with active and loving hands and feet.
Posted by: Debby Vance
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