Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park is located in Botswana, by the border to three other nations: Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia. We chose it for safari specifically because it has the largest population of elephants in the world: over 120,000 and they were everywhere.

Although safaris are usually done by jeep or occasionally on foot, in Botswana we had the opportunity to take a boat down the Chobe river and see the animals from a new perspective. We were surprised to see that we were not the only ones crossing the river.

Being on the river gave us a chance to get up close to the animals who live in the water, like hippos

and crocodiles:

After the boat safari, we were driving back along the riverbank when we caught a family of elephants bathing in the river.

We found a good spot for photos but unwittingly put ourselves directly on an elephant path to the river.

We sat in wonder as 5 clearly defined breeding herds each took their turn to splash about and then make way for the next family.

At sunset, we stumbled upon a huge herd of buffalo who were very serious about their George Washington reenactment.

We even caught them crossing the Delaware!

We had to watch this one pretty carefully to make sure he didn’t try to chop down what we assume was an African Cherry Tree.

We also spotted a honey badger, and we can tell you that despite what they say, he definitely did care and immediately ran away when he saw us.

Early the next morning, we got up at dawn to see the Botswana Rockettes practicing their high kicks:

Although we haven’t been keeping up with the NBA playoffs, we were surprised to see that the elephants were big LeBron James fans:

In our travels, we have learned that cats are the same in every place. They are lazy!

They are not impressed!

They like to play with their food (notice the terrified warthog running away):

 

What makes the cats in Africa unique, of course, is that sometimes they can’t bear to look at their monstrous three-headed offspring:

– Phil & Jessie

Edited with BlogPad Pro