Sadly today was the day where we left Namibia, but we headed deep in the Chobe National Park to make up for it. After an early start, where we had breakfast as soon as we could, we got on the road to make the long journey to Savuti campsite in Chobe National Park. The journey was all pretty easy, if slightly slow going at times, much better than the horror stories of deep sand that I had read about. When we arrived in the national park we did a self-drive safari, where we had a wonderful time seeing lots of wildlife, the highlights being seeing elephants bathing in the water and seeing two very small elephants playing together. The day finished watching zebra walking across the plain in the beautiful golden hour light. Unfortunately we did not see any cats, which was a shame, fingers crossed for tomorrow morning.
- Start: Camp Chobe River Camp
- Destination: Savuti Campsite
- Distance: 125km
- Planned Duration: 2h30min (this was always wildly ambitious, excluding border crossing time)
- Actual Duration: 5h10min
- Animals Seen: Pied Kingfisher, Giraffe, Elephant, Jackal, Zebra, Gnu, Springbok, Impala, Tsessebe, Puku, Steenbok, Worthog, Banded Mongoose, Kudu, Magpie Shrike, Red-billed Oxpecker, Guinea Fowl, Red-billed Spurfowl, Blacksmith Lapwing, African Grey Hornbill, Bradfield’s Hornbill, Burchell’s Starling, Cape Starling, Yellow-billed Egret, Egyptian Goose, Knob-billed Duck, Marabou Stork, Wooly-necked Stork, African Spoonbill, White-backed Vulture, African Fish Eagle, Lilac-breasted Roller, Dung Beetle
Entering Botswana and the Drive
Soon after leaving we crossed the border into Botswana, which was all very quick and easy, surprisingly we didn’t even need to open our fridge to show we were not importing any banned items (meat, dairy, fresh produce), so we were in Botswana within 20min of having joined the main road after leaving the campsite. I was a bit stressed when we left the campsite, due to the uncertainly about how we were going to be able to pay our park fees, as we did not have any Botswanan currency, and I really did not want to have to add 90mins onto the drive to go to Kasane and back just to get cash. Despite entering the park at the Ghoha gate, we went to the Ngoma gate, which is right by the Namibian border crossing point. I was elated when they said I could pay the fees directly there by credit card, so we didn’t even need to worry about a poor exchange rate to pay in US dollars.
We then headed south on the tar road which led us towards Ghoha gate, almost immediately after setting off, we were very surprised to see a giraffe just chilling in the shade next to the road. Soon the tar road ended, and the road changed to a sandy path, however it was always a good path and there was no chance of getting stuck, at least with the dependable Hilux. The going was slow at times due to the road surface, but we were entertained by seeing lots of elephants and our first dung beetle, rolling big balls of dung along the track.
Safari
We eventually turned up at Ghoha gate, and I was glad to have paid by card where we did, as I don’t think it was possible down in Ghoha, however the people at the Ngoma gate did say that it should have been possible. Who knows.
Once inside the gate, we did not see any wildlife for a while, however this suddenly changed as we approached camp. We saw some zebra and giraffe, and in order to get a better view we took a detour, which turned out to be a very productive detour, as we then saw a number of elephants, who were heading towards a waterhole. We were expecting them to throw some water on themselves, maybe some mud and have a drink, so we were very surprised when they fully submersed themselves and rolled around having fun in the water!
After this wonderful show, we went for a short drive and admired lots of varied antelope and some zebra, before heading to the campsite to check in. When we checked in we saw that people had seen lions, cheetah and leopards today, so we were very hopeful. The driving conditions were all surprisingly good, as I was expecting some pretty tricky conditions based on what I had read online. So this was a pleasant surprise.
We enjoyed seeing lots of giraffe and then an enormous amount of elephants, along with some very small young. A particular highlight was when two very young elephants decided to play together, which as wonderful to watch.
Despite heading to where we were recommended to go for lions and leopards, we were unfortunately unsuccessful. Despite this we had a wonderful safari, and are hopeful for the morning.
The Savuti campsite is unfenced, so there is nothing to stop wildlife entering camp. So when it was dark and we could hear a lion roaring, we decided that retreating into the van was a sensible idea, as we had no wood for a fire, and it also provided respite from all of the bugs. As we were packing up, I shon my headtorch on full into the Savuti Channel which illuminated two pairs of eyes in the channel – so I assume two lions on the prowl.
As I sit in bed writing this, we can currently hear a lion roaring not very far away. Amazing.
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