Drove into town (query, Kasane), where some of us got off to buy gorgeous posters from the Tourist Information office. I accompanied Myrta to find a drink but the bar was shut so sat on the truck while everyone else finalised their banking. We each got a surprise refund of $US10 from the food kitty so don’t need to change any myself.
Into the park and onto the River Route. Far tamer than its namesake in ????, this was a beautiful but sandy track along the Chobe River, with cattle grazing the narrow strip of Namibia on the opposite bank.
Long wildlife list today: waterbuck, warthogs, pied kingfishers, ground hornbills, impala, blacksmith plovers, cattle egrets. A highlight was two fish eagles, starkly black and white against blue sky and one carrying a fish in its talons, performing a spectacular aerial display, the two flying in formation, doing graceful curves and dives then coming together, one trying to steal the fish from the other and tumbling over one another, talons locked together. This continued for many minutes of breathtaking beauty and absolute silence – a private show by masters of the sky. Then we saw a huge herd of about 40 elephants strung across the river plain, two huge bulls, several females and numerous adolescents and infants. The group split in two, with a family group staying within sight of us, kneeling and gently touching each other with their trunks. Some of the departing group lifted their trunks to test the air, these line scouts resembling mobile grey teapots. This was the biggest herd we’ve seen – like a line of linked dots across the green.
Earlier, as we drove through the bush to the River Track, we glimpsed a large grey posterior hurrying away. We reversed to see what was happening and caught sight of the rest of the group – who immediately started to trumpet – a sound that is both disturbing and fascinating – signifying a warning, and heightened agitation. Suddenly the posterior reappeared full frontal, charging towards us and prompting frantic screams to Kel to drive on - our trusty driver being oblivious to the action behind him. The roar of the engine stopped the animal, which then ambled further into the bushes with his group, leaving impressive 40cm prints in ground so boggy we nearly got stuck.
A herd of magnificent kudu approached us as if to investigate, mostly females or immature males, followed by a magnificent greater kudu buck with spectacular horns and bristling mane.
We had an early morning drink at Chobe Game Lodge. This luxurious lodge (the oldest in the region - established 1973 - and still operating) sits on the banks of the Chobe River, with a lounge area, grassed lawn stepping up to a pool with commanding the view. Sculptures and weavings labelled with their area and significance festoon the walls. With the lodge food way out of our price range, we lunched on the River Route in sweltering heat.
Driving on afterwards, we saw a big herd of Angolan impala, painted gold and black and drawing fluid lines when they leaping high into the air in almost weightless flight. And we nearly ran over a tortoise crossing the road. Jim climbed out and picked him up, handing him into the truck to Bob. The animal promptly peed all over Bob, no dot in fear, Bob’s face a mix of shock and hysterics. Bob promptly put the offender on the floor from where Geoff lifted it up again and moved it further down the truck, the tortoise peeing the whole way. We lifted our shoes just in time as a puddle spread towards the food lockers for the lucky north bounders who will pick up our truck when we finish. In the end Myrta lifted him into a bucket to safely hand him back to Jim outside, who released it roadside scrub. The beautiful piddler had a shell that looked like banana-leaf weaving in brown and gold, with the colours raised in a 3-dimensional effect.
Then, as we laboured through heavy sand, careering and sliding on a long stretch of track offering no game sitings, it started to rain so we dropped the sides – the ultimate pain – in a game park! The rain didn't last long, and we rolled up the sides again as soon as we could, but still we saw no more game as we exited the park. We started looking for a camp site, but there was nothing as we continued on a terrible road through treed and shrubby country revealing no flat areas for tents. In the end we stopped under a big tree and macheted tent areas, which gave us lots of fuel for a fire. Not having seen a person, car or wildlife for several hours and kilometres we felt safe from theft.
No mosquitoes, so no nets either, when I crashed out on Stanely.
Photo captions: Elephants by Dillon Groves on Unsplash; African fish eagle by Derek Keats
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