20th Sept

Hi there,
Managed to finally get some posts and photos on board. Hope it is interesting.
Take Care, Joan & Gary

20th Sept. Kasane, Nrthrn Botswana.
It has been a full on 5 days. The three days at 3rd Bridge in Moremi Game Reserve were relaxing in as much as we had a bit of time up our sleeve instead of rushing around taking it all in. But yesterday, because we didn’t have a booking for Savuti Camp which was half way through Chobe NP, meant we had to get to the exit gate of Chobe in the one day, And the whole of the day’s driving would be in sand, sometimes quite deep. Not counting the river crossings one of which had water surging over the bonnet as I eased the bakkie over in low range first. Our faith in the vehicle had been enhanced many times over on this trip.
Chobe, one of the jewels in the Botswana crown disappointed us. Apart from a couple of greater kudus and dik diks, we saw no animals. We were tired and tried to cadge a place in Savuti but at US$50 per head as well as the park fees, and that was to share a sight, we said ‘no thanks’ and drove on into more deep sand. Not long after leaving the park and still in the forest reserve we turned a corner and there ahead of us were 8 African hunting dogs relaxing on the road before heading off on their evening hunt. We hadn’t seen them before and were intrigued as they were one of the animals REST was trying to protect. Much maligned, their numbers have been reduced horribly until there are only a few thousand left. Their numbers are not helped by their strange reproduction arrangements as the alpha female is the only bitch of the clan that bear off spring, the father being the alpha male. The whole clan looks after the pups. They are a beautiful animal with golden colourations on their fur. That wasn’t the end of what we saw as we had to wait for a herd of elephants to cross the road, giraffes nonchalantly watching us, greater kudu, impala and dik diks abounding and as we stopped for the night, free camping, a magnificent eland showed up down the road. The largest of the antelopes they are still able to clear A 2 metre fence. All this outside the park.
That night we lit a big fire, free camping near so much wild life can be a little unsettling.
Today we headed to North Chobe NP. A sweep of land bordering the Chobe River. The border between Namibia and Botswana. Renowned for its elephants at first we were more worried by the deep sand after the gate entrance but after hitting the river we were very soon gobsmacked by what lay below us. The land above the river had been denuded by the elephant herds but the plains either side of the river were green and covered by hundreds of zebra and further upstream, thousands of elephants. Interspersed with these were cape buffalo, hippos, crocs, water buck, giraffes (30 in one group), kudu, impala, wart hogs, to name most. But it was the elephants that were the star whether they were feeding, drinking, taking mud baths, or just protecting their young, they are so interesting of beasts. It was an amazing day. We made it to Kisane where we are staying for a couple of nights, very tired.