Today we will go on a game drive and a boat cruise in Chobe National Park. We are up early for the game drive and we head off just after 6 AM. It is a short drive to the park and then we cruise around.
Just after entering the park, we are lucky to come across a pride of lions. We spend a few minutes watching them. They are all females and they are just lazing around.
We then drove further into the park. We saw a number of animals along the way, including Cape buffalo, impala, maribu storks, hippos and a kingfisher eating a frog. The bird was sitting on a log with the frog in its beak and was beating the frog against the log. We were not sure if this was to kill the frog or to break its bones (or both), but after a while it just opened up its beak and swallowed the whole frog. It then flew off.
After that, we came upon a banded mongoose, a fish eagle high up in a tree with the full moon right behind it, some impalas fighting, a few ducks, an egret, a crocodile and a kudu. We then headed back to the campsite, where we had breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon taking it easy.
Just before 3 PM we headed down to the jetty to hop on the boat that would take us on a cruise on the Zambezi River. It is a double story boat and we take some seats on the upper deck. We then head up the river to see what we can find. First we head over to a tree that is full of swallows and their nests. From there, we carry on to see a tree full of black dates.
Further up river we come across a couple of elephants on the river bank. One of the elephants is in the water and he is chewing on a branch. It almost seems that he is using it like a tooth brush or tooth pick. He would break it up and then stick it in his mouth, move it around and then throw it away.
The other elephant was leaning against the bank of the river and having a drink and taking a mud bath. It was amazing how such a large animal could assume such a position and balance himself. And get back up the river bank.
We then came across a number of birds, including a little bee eater and ...
... a king fisher up in a tree. As we cruised up the river, we saw other animals, such as buffalo, hippos and other birds.
On our way back to the campsite, we enjoyed a wonderful sunset. Once back at the campsite, we took it easy and had an early night.