Nov 12

Nov 12 Botswana - River Boat Safari

By now you have read about our jeep safaris in Kenya and South Africa and our hot air balloon safari in Kenya. We thought we would do something a bit different in Central America - a river boat safari Chobe National Park in Botswana.

This tour didn’t disappoint. We took the short drive to the Botswana border and meet our guide on the other side. We got lucky and had the whole boat to ourselves. No blocked views. Our boat is the much smaller boat on the left side behind the trees.

It wasn’t long before we spotted a crocodile sunning on the sand. Shortly after we saw some gazelles playing along the river.

Then we ran across a herd of elephants. They made their way down to the water and made a little mud hole. The poor baby was getting pushed around in the mud hole. A few of them ventured off and went for a swim. Just watching the two elephants push each other into the water or jump on the others back made them look like two children playing together.

We even came across an elephant in the middle of the river on a grass pad. After our elephant experience in South Africa, I didn’t think we would get that close to an elephant again. I was wrong. Our tour guide had no problem running our boat right up on the grass pad. He was right in front of us. Totally amazing.

Not far beyond the elephants were a pack of hippos. Even a baby! The first baby hippo we have seen. This is also the first pack of hippos we have seen outside the water. They too were hanging out on the grass pads. Check out that yawn!

We also spent some time observing a few giraffes along the banks. On our way back to the boat dock we came across a few buffalo in a grass pad in the middle of the river. The two birds perch on the buffalos.