9/10/17 Baobab Lodge

9/10/17

I heard a lot of noise during the night.  It sounded like something was trying to get into the chalet.  Eventually I heard branches being broken so I figured out that it was an elephant passing by.  Later on I heard a hyena.  Others reported that at their end of the camp, they heard a lion.

Our wake-up call was at 6 this morning.  One of the staff comes around and beats a drum outside your cabin.  Breakfast was at 6:30 and at 7 we divided into two groups to go on our first game drive here in Chobe Park.  The game trucks are a bit higher than the ones in Thornybush and have a different suspension system.  Some of the roads are a bit rough and some of them are in deep sand.  The motion is quite jarring at times and our guide, Genius, called it an African massage.  We stopped near a large baobab tree and learned that there is an important fruit that grows on the tree.  The fruit is ground to a powder and mixed with milk to make a very nutritious yogurt, while the seeds can be used to make African coffee.  The Chobe River is the boundary between Botswana and Namibia.  In fact, I can see Namibia from the deck of the lodge.  This side of the river is considered part of the park, while the Namibian people use it as their backyard.  We can even see a few houses from here.  Apparently the men from Namibia are great fishermen and use gill nets to catch tilapia in the river and use the banks as places to graze their cows.  During the rainy season, the river floods and fills up the valley to the tree line.  Down by the river, we saw some blacksmith plovers, a huge herd of zebras (the guides estimated over a 1000).  We also saw a wooly Cape bush sparrow, some Egyptian geese, some ibis, several Maribou storks, egrets, white-faced whistling ducks, and an African jacana.  We drove a little further along the river and saw some large gray herons and a water monitor (type of lizard).  We stopped near a tree that was full of the most beautiful, colorful birds.  They are called Carmine Southern Bee Eaters.  I hope I got a good picture.   We continued our drive and saw an African fish eagle, some giraffes, impalas (McDonalds of the bush because they have what looks like the letter M on their hind quarters), a slender mongoose, a baby zebra, three male kudus with lovely twisted horns, a tropical bou bou, and a herd of water bucks.  We kept seeing bushes full of white flowers.  Our guide called them Mexican poppies.  We came across some more of the beautiful common bee-eaters.  I could stay and watch them all day - they are so colorful.  We saw a lot of soaring vultures and then spotted a tree full of them.  They must have known of something dead nearby and were just waiting their turn.  We saw a Maribou stork and then spotted a Cape glossy starling.  His wings catch the sun and become iridescent blue - very pretty.