Africa Day Seven - The Chobe River

After lunch at Chobe Chilwero Lodge, we got back into the vehicles and drove the short distance out into the park, and then down to the riverbank, where our boats were waiting to take us out onto the Chobe (also known as the Kwando or Cuando) River.

The Kwando River has its start in the central plateau of Angola. It flows southeast, forming the border of Zambia, and travels through a number of swampy areas like the Linyanti Swamp, and also a seasonal lake called Lake Liambesi, before becoming the Chobe and having the rest of its flow captured by the Zambesi River in Zimbabwe. The area that we were visiting was there - the junction of the Zambesi and the Chobe Rivers, at the Northeast section of the park.

And when we arrived, we were greeted with nothing but smiles.

Above is a Nile Crocodile, having a sun bath. Below, a Monitor Lizard on the prowl.

A note about Monitor Lizards, and hanging out in the park. Let's say you've gone for a bit of a stroll, and you are maybe looking for some shade beneath the trees. Always look up first.

Right about the time that we saw the gentleman above on his tree limb, Gavin noticed a disturbance in the water around the trunk of the tree, and after staring carefully for a second, said, "Clawed Otter!" I nearly flung myself into the water right then and there, but remembered about the Nile Crocodiles just in time.

I freaking love otters, y'all.

Unfortunately, they were wily little devils and we didn't get any pictures of them. Sorry!

Now, you may have noticed just now that I said something about the otters playing in the water around the trunk of the tree. And it may have made you wonder. I would not blame you for wondering, as a matter of fact. The thing was, when we visited, the Chobe was flooding. BIG TIME. Like, the highest water they'd seen in years. Everything was underwater. Trees, fields, houses, military encampments, the local bar...

A major highlight for me was seeing a mess of White Fronted Bee Eaters in their river bank homes doing Bee Eater-ish things. You can tell it was a highlight because I took 8 billion pictures of them.

I think they look like little gemstones in that tree, and they make me happy.

This area of Chobe park is known for two things. Elephants, and Hippo. We saw both.

I love the way that elephants guard their young - the babies are always in the center of a moving group of adults.

Three young elephants decided to have a bit of a mud bath and indulge in a round or two of mud wrestling after their drink - two adults stood guard.

Elephant pile up.

One adult stayed on guard while the last baby finished his mud wallow.

And indulged in a little wallowing too...

The other adult was leading the other two babies back to the herd.

Sandy got the shot below, and I am in love with it.

Note the hippo heads in the water below.

Having reached the beach by the trail they meant to take away from the water, a few of the adult elephants decided to get some mud bathing in really quickly before night fell.

They dug a mud hole near the water, and they splashed themselves all over.

If you look at the elephant on the left above, you can see the huge cloud of mud particles above its back from a particularly well-aimed throw of the trunk.

Splash.

And then he, or she, hit him or herself in his or her own eyeball. Whoops.

Below, a young Nile Crocodile. They start out eating small fish, and as they grow they graduate to larger prey - birds, and then mammals.

The Nile Crocs were the obvious danger in the water - floating around trying to look like logs, and never quite succeeding. The less obvious danger was the hippo.

We'd be motoring along in our boat, and suddenly on both sides hippos would surface for air. They literally sink down to the bottom to feed, and they can stay under for about 8 minutes. They run along the riverbed, and push themselves off to rocket toward the surface. They could do some serious damage.

And while it was tempting to believe that this hippo was howling some hippo warcry, or rallying his brethren: "Death to the Humans!" Really, he was only yawning.

Spotted a Fish Eagle in a tree on the riverbank:

Then back to the Hippo. It was a lovely evening, and the sun was sinking toward the horizon, and the Hippo were all evidently in a fabulous mood, because they were all lolling about in the shallows, playing bitey face. Now, my dogs play bitey face, or snout wars, or some variation on that theme all the time. I had no idea that Hippos did it. I was charmed.

Here, a mother teaches her little hippo calf how to battle.

Can you say adorable? Because I can.

We happened to pass by our lodge, situated high above the water, and Sandy got two photos of it.

Night was falling, and as you know, it isn't night in Africa without Sundowners.

But as we were enjoying the libations, we got REALLY lucky. A mother hippo and her calf were out of the water.

It is my opinion that that calf is well on his way to infant obesity. Of course he can't help it, it's genetic.

Harley kept saying, "CHUNK!" and "What a little nugget!"

I hope he didn't hear us, or he'll wind up with hipporexia.

And then, suddenly, it was night.

We docked.

Sandy told Donnie a very inappropriate joke, and they were both highly amused.

We made it back to the lodge just in time for dinner.

And I happened to take some photos of the doors of the lodge, which I hadn't noticed before.

They're pretty awesome.

At dinner, Gavin told us a story about one couple that he had had, out at Chobe Chilwero, during the rainy season, when the bugs are out of control. He said the dining room, even though they close all the windows, was full of bugs; binking off of the chandeliers and beating their wings against the glasses and in general creating mayhem which the Africans are well accustomed to, but which THIS gentleman that Gavin was shepherding was not. The guy was incredibly unpleasant, complaining about the bugs and berating the staff, etc. It was his first night there, and Gavin finally moseyed on up to him, while holding a large beetle in one hand and stroking it with the other, and suggested to him, gently, that he catch a flight to Cape Town instead of continuing his stay, since he was so very unhappy. Gavin arranged for a bush plane to ferry the guy out the next day. It gave us a renewed appreciation for the fact that OUR visit, at least had been nearly bug-free. (Shower spiders notwithstanding.) Visit during the winter, people!

And with that, it was time for bed, and dreams of shapes moving stealthily through dark water.