Lions, and Crocs, and Hippos, OH MY! Safari in Botswana

    We saw at least 50+ elephants and giraffes during our safari at Chobe National Game Park in Botswana. 2023.05.25-27

       Bruce and I had an amazing trip to Victoria Falls and Botswana's Chobe National Park over a 4 day weekend. The temple site workers had both Thursday and Friday off due to Africa Day. We are on the site volunteering and as missionaries, when the workers are off, we are also. Of course, you're never "off" as a missionary. Elder Anderson taught everyone he met, our van and jeep drivers, the lodge hostess, the waiters, etc. We gave out the only 3 Books of Mormon we brought; but, we are sending 3 more next week with Sister Whitlock and her family. They are going to Victoria Falls and the same safari next week. Our friend, Reeve Nield, arranges the traveling and lodging for us. Everything went slick even crossing the border through Botswana immigration and back to Zimbabwe.

    The Chobe National Game Park was amazing! We saw so many animals in their natural habitats. Our lodge, The Tlouwana Camp, means "baby elephant". Appropriately named, since we saw many elephants just beyond our tent and while we dined, feeding at the watering hole. We were quite pampered, being the only 2 guests in the camp and safari. We had a nice tent lodging with a proper shower and bathroom. There was an electric fence around the lodge area to keep the animals out and the humans in.

 On the game drives, we must have seen over 50 elephants and giraffes, along with lots of impalas, kudos, bushbuck, wildebeest, cape buffalo, baboons, vervet monkeys, squirrels,  zebra, wort hogs, vultures, and guinea fowl.

 The new animals we added to our list: lions, crocodiles, hippos, a jackal, a hyena, a monitor lizard, an iguana, and stripped mongooses. It was so cool to see animals on both water and land. On the first day, we had about a 5-hour jeep safari ride exploring the bush with Jacks, our driver, and guide. He had sharp eyes and pointed out things we wouldn't have seen otherwise.  The next day we had an early morning drive from 05:30 a.m. until lunch. It was cold in the open-air jeep, but they provided us with blankets. We didn't come prepared with coats; the mornings and evenings get chilly this time of year. It's still nice and hot during the daylight hours. That evening on our second day, we went out on a boat on the Chobe River. We saw several crocodiles on shore but many more in the water. You never want to go swimming in these waters!

Lions! Yes, we saw two male lions feeding on their fresh kill of a cape buffalo early one morning with 4 females in their pride. Unfortunately or fortunately, we were about 200 yards away so couldn't get close-up photos. Bruce kept praying we wouldn't be eaten by lions or bit by snakes; his greatest fears! We only saw snakes at a snake park in cages, thank goodness. Our camp hostess told us they had just removed a "spitting cobra" from the premises shortly before we arrived. They also spotted a "baby" python, so we were very careful to watch where we stepped!

A lion paw print...Two male lions and females in the distance (center) eat their fresh prey. 2023.05.26

Hippos in Chobe River, they can be quite aggressive so we didn't get too close. The African sunsets on the river were amazing! We got to see these beautiful sunsets looking into the Namibia border from Kasane, Botswana. The Chobe River divides the two countries and they share the important river for tourists in Botswana and trade for the Namibians. Jacks taught us a lot of history and facts about the area.

We loved that Jacks stopped and went around these arm ants crossing the road. He said if we respect nature, nature will respect us. The other saying he stated, "We will see what nature provides." 

Below is a guinea fowl, they have beautiful blue heads with black spots. They are running all over the bushlands. 

We spent an hour during the day at a wildlife snake preserve. Bruce could've skipped this for sure! I got brave and not only felt the muscles of the python but put it around my neck; only because the snake keeper was holding his head very tightly; I hope!

We spotted a monitor lizard on the shoreline. 2023.05.27

This beautiful elephant put on quite a show for us.

Our boat got within a few feet of him on the shore. I love elephants; they are so majestic! We also came across a herd of giraffes; in which, Bruce came to tears. That night coming back to the lodge in the dark our spotlights shone on about 30 giraffes. It was amazing to see. We even saw a darker male giraffe almost mate a female right in front of us. They moved into the bush for some privacy! Perhaps our favorite part of the wildlife experience was seeing 5 teenage male elephants in the river swim across to shore in a parade right in front of us! It was absolutely amazing and too cool to even describe!

These "teenagers" swam on a "parade" in front of us using their trunks as "snorkels" 2023.05.27

Beautiful wildlife along the Chobe River. We loved the sunsets and viewing all kinds of animals.

More hippos on our river boat cruise on the second day of our Chobe National Game Safari.

Jacks, our tour guide for both jeep and river safaris. Love the African sunsets! 2023.05.27

    Our sweet little granddaughter, Annabella, had her third birthday on May 23rd. We miss her! She's a little princess. Ben is such a fun and cute daddy; they had a party for her