We were on the road by 6.45am and headed to see the state of the buffalo carcass (which they say died of natural causes) at the Old Serondela Campsite now referred to by us as the Serondela Zoo!! We got first sighting on three lion cubs out to play and then the gawkers arrived one by one so we moved on.
We have driven about 20km alongside the edge of the Chobe River and had an absolutely amazing drive. It’s the only water source in the dry season so everything must come there to drink. Everywhere you look there is activity of birds or animals. Buffalo by the hundreds - for once something outnumbers the impala!
Our morning highlight is that we had private roadside seats at a lioness relaxing under a tree and then tracked her for about 20 minutes as she hunted a herd of impala. We eventually lost sight of the impala but imagining she treated herself to a tasty lunch. Amidst all that a herd of ellies came charging out of the bush to the river. Thousands of birds were sitting by the river and as soon as they we drove by, it was like a game of bird dominoes, hundreds by hundreds they took to flight and created mayhem in the sky.
NEWS FLASH…we have just been chased by an angry bull elephant. The elephant was drinking at the river and then came to scratch himself on a fallen tree in front of us. We videoed for a bit and then decided to hit the road. He did a 180 and came chasing us. Each time we speeded up so did he!!! Deon then decided to slow down and let him catch up again and so the game continued for about 2 minutes and then we left him in the dust..phew!. A little adrenalin rush for the morning!
And just around the corner, we are now watching a lioness hiding in the grass, watching every move of 4 warthog and a lechwe in front of her and another 4 warthog to her side. None of which have a clue she’s just up ahead. She has just crawled closer to the lechwe. A kill may be imminent. They still haven’t spotted her!!....Update….we watched her for over an hour and amazingly she kept crawling closer and closer to the lechwe and he never spotted her. His what seemed fatal mistakes were lying down for a bit, a good ol scratching session and then turning his back on her. She went in for the kill but the lechwe outran her. She didn’t give us the chase and tried again. It was like a stand off lechwe versus lioness with impala hissing on the sideline. What an amazing experience to witness.
We decided to treat ourselves to lunch in Kasane at Old House Restaurant that comes highly recommended by Lonely Planet, a friend in Bermuda who lived in Botswana for 10 years and it was on the GPS under “Food”. The place is nowhere to be found and we even went to the Botswana Tourism Office and they have never heard of it. Not even like it just closed down..but never heard of it’s existence ever. She points us to Kasane’s most upmarket restaurant, which is a version of KFC and with only one choice we had to try it. Just like KFC, better left a memory!
We are parked in the shade on the side of the Chobe waiting for a massive herd of hundreds of buffalo to cross the river and head back into the bush for the night. They look like they are in a huge traffic jam waiting for the leader to say go and start the walk home. We can see at least a hundred elephants starting their slow journey home – walking in family groups of about 20 and it seems a pattern of a mother followed by two calves in a long line.
On the way back into Chobe earlier, we saw ellies swimming across the river and drove through hundreds of elephants that had already crossed the river and were just coming out of the bush everywhere we looked – makes for some very cautious driving tactics as you don’t want to come between mother and baby. We saw little calves collapsed in the sand - must be tough to keep up with the big ones on this daily trek. Buffalos surrounded the entire campsite when we got to our place under the tree we call “home”. They grazed in front of us all evening and were there when we got up today.
We are parked in the shade on the side of the Chobe waiting for a massive herd of hundreds of buffalo to cross the river and head back into the bush for the night. They look like they are in a huge traffic jam waiting for the leader to say go and start the walk home. We can see at least a hundred elephants starting their slow journey home – walking in family groups of about 20 and it seems a pattern of a mother followed by two calves in a long line.
On the way back into Chobe earlier, we saw ellies swimming across the river and drove through hundreds of elephants that had already crossed the river and were just coming out of the bush everywhere we looked – makes for some very cautious driving tactics as you don’t want to come between mother and baby. We saw little calves collapsed in the sand - must be tough to keep up with the big ones on this daily trek. Buffalos surrounded the entire campsite when we got to our place under the tree we call “home”. They grazed in front of us all evening and were there when we got up today.
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