Chobe
9 April, 2005
Last night Paula and Zoe shared a tent and Heidi
slept with me. (Alan was some yards away in his own tent.) Only Heidi slept
especially well, and at 5:20 I was awoken by the sound of the most dangerous
animal Africa rummaging nearby. Here's a photo of Heidi with one of the hippo
just after we broke camp:
As you can see, this one was, fortunately, the other side of the fence separating our pitch from the Chobe National Park.
Getting up time was 5:45, which gave us time for tea and biscuits before setting out for an early game drive. Again, it was fabulous. We saw dozens of impala and baboons, a crocodile and our first buffalo. We again saw a huge variety of birds, including a couple of different types of vulture (white-backed, hooded) and three types of eagle (fish, tawny and bataleur). I know that there are people at home who think that bird-watching in this sort of place is cheating - it's too easy. This sounds to me like the same argument that's made by people studying for their PADI in murky and uninteresting UK coastal waters (I see them all the time at Chesil beach): they also sometimes argue that, at the very least, serving an apprenticeship in the UK shows stronger moral fibre than doing it in seas where it's easy to many beautiful and fascinating fish. Why???
We noticed that the impala and the baboons group together frequently. Apparently they benefit from each other's distress calls when predators approach. Also we saw that the impala either herd together in groups where there are numerous females and young and only one male, or in groups of just males. I guess the guy with the best genes gets to spread them, while his qualification for the spot is contested periodically in the rutting season. The same is true of elephant, and again we saw both bachelor and breeding herds. But you probably know all of this...
Our best spot of the day - so far - was a lone male lion sitting near a buffalo that he had evidently killed.
The density of breath-taking wildlife here has been a revelation, and unlike anything that I've seen anywhere else. Even driving through the transit road that runs through the Park was great. The bush along the roadside is adorned with Zambezi teak, and we also spotted elephant, huge vultures in a roadside tree, a ground hornbill, steenbok and kudu.
From the transit road we took a gravel road through a string of village settlements, where we could again see the evolution of the vernacular in action. Mud and straw houses intermingle with concrete block, and there is an intermediate form in which tin cans are used as infrastructure around which mud is packed to form walls. You can see the can ends in lines facing out of the walls. There were many cattle along this road and they all look well. Alan says that they will start to look less healthy as time passes after the end of the wet season. This jives with the thoughts of Mma Ramotswe at the start of The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency on the place of cattle in the Botswana economy.
From the gravel road we had a drive of a couple of hours along a very poor sandy track to get to Savute, where we are now. (Lonely Planet describes the entire trip as a day's journey, which about doubles it.) More elephant right up to the car. When I post photos look out to see if I get a good one of the lilac-breasted roller. It's the national bird of Botswana, and though I suspect it will look gawdy on a snap it's certainly one to see.
So I'm now sitting under a big Acacia and the girls are having a shower. In 20 minutes we're off on another game drive to catch the late afternoon sights. Alan is having a cup of tea and, incredibly, listening on the radio to something to do with Mr Windsor and the former Mrs Bowles. He has been a star. For four days we've been game watching and I've been asking questions all the time, which he has patiently and knowledgeably answered. Even more pleasing to me is that he has not yet used the word "spoor"; I was afraid that he would and that I'd be unable to avoid losing trust in him.
Ian
As you can see, this one was, fortunately, the other side of the fence separating our pitch from the Chobe National Park.
Getting up time was 5:45, which gave us time for tea and biscuits before setting out for an early game drive. Again, it was fabulous. We saw dozens of impala and baboons, a crocodile and our first buffalo. We again saw a huge variety of birds, including a couple of different types of vulture (white-backed, hooded) and three types of eagle (fish, tawny and bataleur). I know that there are people at home who think that bird-watching in this sort of place is cheating - it's too easy. This sounds to me like the same argument that's made by people studying for their PADI in murky and uninteresting UK coastal waters (I see them all the time at Chesil beach): they also sometimes argue that, at the very least, serving an apprenticeship in the UK shows stronger moral fibre than doing it in seas where it's easy to many beautiful and fascinating fish. Why???
We noticed that the impala and the baboons group together frequently. Apparently they benefit from each other's distress calls when predators approach. Also we saw that the impala either herd together in groups where there are numerous females and young and only one male, or in groups of just males. I guess the guy with the best genes gets to spread them, while his qualification for the spot is contested periodically in the rutting season. The same is true of elephant, and again we saw both bachelor and breeding herds. But you probably know all of this...
Our best spot of the day - so far - was a lone male lion sitting near a buffalo that he had evidently killed.
The density of breath-taking wildlife here has been a revelation, and unlike anything that I've seen anywhere else. Even driving through the transit road that runs through the Park was great. The bush along the roadside is adorned with Zambezi teak, and we also spotted elephant, huge vultures in a roadside tree, a ground hornbill, steenbok and kudu.
From the transit road we took a gravel road through a string of village settlements, where we could again see the evolution of the vernacular in action. Mud and straw houses intermingle with concrete block, and there is an intermediate form in which tin cans are used as infrastructure around which mud is packed to form walls. You can see the can ends in lines facing out of the walls. There were many cattle along this road and they all look well. Alan says that they will start to look less healthy as time passes after the end of the wet season. This jives with the thoughts of Mma Ramotswe at the start of The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency on the place of cattle in the Botswana economy.
From the gravel road we had a drive of a couple of hours along a very poor sandy track to get to Savute, where we are now. (Lonely Planet describes the entire trip as a day's journey, which about doubles it.) More elephant right up to the car. When I post photos look out to see if I get a good one of the lilac-breasted roller. It's the national bird of Botswana, and though I suspect it will look gawdy on a snap it's certainly one to see.
So I'm now sitting under a big Acacia and the girls are having a shower. In 20 minutes we're off on another game drive to catch the late afternoon sights. Alan is having a cup of tea and, incredibly, listening on the radio to something to do with Mr Windsor and the former Mrs Bowles. He has been a star. For four days we've been game watching and I've been asking questions all the time, which he has patiently and knowledgeably answered. Even more pleasing to me is that he has not yet used the word "spoor"; I was afraid that he would and that I'd be unable to avoid losing trust in him.
Ian
Posted: Sat - April 9, 2005 at 09:13 PM
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