We set up our tents at a Chobe National Park campsite. The bar/ gathering area is lovely but the internet is temporarily not working. We all sit around the fire after a delicious Heartbeest stew.
A painfully skinny and submissive dog eats our scraps then lays down by the fire.
I get up at 5:45am and shower by flashlight. There is finally Internet at the bar which I check out before going to breakfast. It’s sad to think that we only have two more days on our group tour.
We are on the road by 8am and go through immigration again first out of Namibia and then back into Botswana.
The Botswana border crossing area is elevated and overlooks plains filled with Buffalo, Zebra, Baboons as well as domestic cows…all laid out in front of us. Awesome.
We travel into Kisane, a small town on the outskirts Chobe National Park to stock up on wine, snacks and drinks…I also purchase a bright piece of material which will make a great table cloth.
There were some adorable warthogs roaming around. Evi is delighted, she is a big warthog fan. I get up really close to them for some pictures.
We are now arriving to Thebe River Lodge and campgrounds.
*******
OMG. What an amazing day. I don’t think life gets any better.
After setting up tents and eating lunch we go on a game drive. It is fabulous. We see Impalas,elephants,lions,warthogs, giraffes,hippos, hornbills, Guinea fowl, buffalo,crocodiles, kudos, sables, fisher eagles and baboons. Many times they are so close you can practically touch them.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, they transfer us to a boat where we travel around the islands and all the same types of animals are also there. So close. It is pure magic. I keep having to pinch myself.
It is wonderful to share the experience with these awesome people. I feel sad that tomorrow is the last day of this tour.
We all bring special beverages for our cruise…unfortunately most of us drinking wine forget to bring glasses so we drink directly from bottles or wine boxes.
We stay out watching the crocodiles glow golden in the late afternoon. The hippos and elephants, silhouetted in fiery sunset are forever engraved in my memory. Life just doesn’t get any better.
We return to the camp where Gift and Alfons have prepared a feast. Our two honeymoon couples, Ieuan and Cat and Fabio and Federica celebrate our last tent night and the honeymoons with sparkling wine for all. We chat by the fire until quite late (11:00), ok, I doze a bit.
It’s the last day of our group tour…the last time taking down our tents. Departure time is 7:00 am. At 6:45 the group goes into high speed, with three weeks of practice the camp is packed up in a matter of minutes and there’s nothing left on the site to show we were there.
Ieuan sets up his camera on the tripod and we steal a few extra moments to take a final group photo; two normal and one with us all dabbing.
We are on our way to Zimbabwe. The border crossing out of Namibia is quick, the crossing into Zimbabwe, not so much; an hour and a half. We all need to buy visas for Zimbabwe. The Europeans pay $30 US each, the British $55 US and us Canadians $75 each….don’t ask me why.
A large group of monkeys amuse us while we wait by fighting over a scrap of sandwhich. A family of warthogs travel through the parking lot, nervously moving quicker when they realize they’ve caught our attention.
We arrive in Victoria Falls and are now booking tours. Cameron is going white water rafting with Lukas on Saturday and Shawn, Graham and I are doing the gorge tour with Maddie & James tomorrow.