The Carnell Adventure: DBE/Babymoon Part 2

Day 3: Kasane
It was our 3rd day on this expedition through the southern region of Africa and we had yet to be on an official game drive. Not that it was really necessary at this point, since we had already seen almost all of the big game there is to see without even going into the park. Up to now we had seen dozens of elephants, baboons, monkeys etc.

But on day 3, we were finally going go on a game drive. One of the biggest points of this trip was to visit Chobe National Park. This huge game reserve is located in the northern portion of Botswana in the region where Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana all meet. Now, we have been on several safaris/game drives before but this place is different. First of all, you aren’t even allowed into the park unless you have a 4x4. Wait, I can’t say that. I’m sure, if you are dumb enough to try to go in there with something other than 4x4 they would more than willingly let you go, and laugh at you as you go in. There are no paved roads in Chobe, which is part of what makes it amazing. I always imagined looking for animals while trying to dodge obstacles and fording through streams. Unfortunately, that is usually not the case. Surprisingly most of the game reserves are paved in southern Africa. It kind of cheapens the whole experience up for me. So this Safari falls into the more hardcore category of the trips we have gone on.

We woke up before dawn on Saturday morning and jumped into a large open game-viewing vehicle. Katie and I are always telling each other how amazing the sunrises/sunsets are in Africa. This morning was no exception. As we pulled into the park we got to see the sun come up over the Chobe River and wash the whole landscapes in bright reds, pinks and yellows. It surreal to see such an amazing sight but to then see pods of hippos in the river just puts it over the edge. Chobe is known for its hippo and elephant population.

Hippo pod at sunrise

We hadn’t been in the park long before our guide tells us that he just had heard over the radio that some lions had been spotted not to far away and wanted to know if we were interested in seeing them. Um…. Yeah! Duh! We have been in Africa since January and have yet to see a lion, so of course we want to see some Lions. We pulled up in the area they had been spotted and sure enough, there were two lionesses and two cubs. We sat there for a while and watched the cubs play with each other mock pounce and then nurse. Those animals are just so impressive and regal. Needless to say, we were very excited to have finally spotted lions. We saw tons of elephants, giraffes, kudu, warthogs, impala, sable and buffalo on the drive.

Male Kudu

Cape Buffalo getting its nose cleaned by an Oxpecker

One of the cooler things we got to see was at the river’s edge. We pulled up to the river and we saw a Fish Eagle on the bank of the river with what appeared to be something in its talon. The eagle had caught a fish! We pulled up to get a better look and the eagle picked up the fish and flew a few yards away from us and landed closer to the river’s edge. We sat and watched it and took tons of pictures, until someone spotted crocodiles in the water! We pulled even closer to the river and the eagle decided to fly into a tree. I guess he couldn’t haul that fish up there because he left it on the bank. We knew things were about to get interesting. I’m so mad I didn’t video it but I took tons of pictures as the crocodile slowly creeped onto land and stole the eagle’s fish. Crocs are creepy animals. They just sit motionless in the water for hours and just wait for something to come close to the water’s edge and then SNAP, its dinnertime. We kind of felt bad for the eagle as it sat there and watched the croc steal its breakfast but it was cool to see.

Fish Eagle with 2 crocs lurking behind

We saw another pride of lions with a full grown male and several lionesses with maybe 5 cubs. They were all just laying around under a tree trying to keep cool. There were tons of giraffes near them as well as a few impala. I thought it crazy for those animals to be so close to the lions but then it was explained to me that the animals would rather be able to see where the lions are and what they are doing, instead of not knowing where they are. Makes since I guess, but seems risky if you ask me.

On the look out

The game drive lasted about 3 hours and then we headed back to camp. It was a successful drive and we saw tons of other things that would just make this post longer than it is already going to be.

Once back in camp, all I wanted to do was go back into the park. Katie and I, along with Paul McOmber, a friend from the embassy, and Corn decided to go back into the park later that day. We went in for about 4 hours and saw tons of buffalo, elephants, etc. We went back to where the pride of lions had been and sure enough they hadn’t moved. Corn said it was too hot and they probably wouldn’t move until later in the day. We decided we would stop by there on our way back to see if they were getting more active. We saw tons of stuff and spent a long time watching a Marshall Eagle defeather a Guinea Fowl he had just caught. We see animals in the states but we don’t get the chance to see too many animals eating other animals. Crazy! We saw a huge Kudu and some Sable later in the day, but we had to hurry back to camp so we could catch the boat for our sunset cruise.

Marshall Eagle eating a Guinea Fowl

After a nice mud bath


Single file

The only leopard we saw... a Leopard Turtle

Doing the splits to lick the minerals off the dirt

We were hurrying back and weren’t paying as close attention to spotting game as we were before because of the urgency to make it back in time, when we all experienced what it must feel like to have a heart attack. We were just driving along probably talking about something really stupid when out of the corner of our eyes we saw a male lion standing 8 feet away from our car as we drove by. As soon as we saw it, Katie nearly jumped out of her seat and into the driver’s lap. The lion was THAT close. We had forgotten about going back to see the lions and they were now on the move. The male must have been trying to cross the road but we had cut him off. If we had been there 1 minute earlier or later we would probably have missed it. We sat there and took some extremely close up photos of the lion. The male then crossed the road and was shortly followed by the lionesses and all of the cubs. It was AWESOME! We were very glad we went back into the park. That was needless to say.

WHOA! Where did you come from?

**That drive was also when we developed the name The Denims Busters! Corn was telling us about a bird called a Denims Buster, but we all laughed and though it sounded more like the name for a fart! So we adopted the name as for our "team."

We made it back just in time to head out for the cruise. If, for any reason you plan to go to Chobe, you have to do the river cruise. Chobe is a very special place. There are few places in the world where you can see the things we saw on this trip. Besides the Serengeti, Chobe is the only place in the world where you can see so many elephants in one place. During the cruise we watched, as dozens of elephants would come down to the water’s edge and drink. There were tiny baby elephants with their mothers. There was one little guy who keep getting distracted and wouldn’t see his mother walk away. Another elephant would nudge the baby and you would then see the baby sprinting to catch up with its mother. It may have been the cutest thing I’ve ever had the chance to watch. We got to see yet another amazing African sunset to cap off yet another amazing day of our trip.