Chobe Game Lodge, Botswana

June 19

When I woke up I opened my curtains and saw impalas at the waterhole. I watched them as I did stretching exercises. After breakfast I and driven to the airstrip and fly on another 6 seater plane to Kasini airport, where a guide greets me and other guests. On the drive to Chobe Game Lodge, we pass many animals, including fish eagles, warthogs, kudus, hippos and impalas from the road. We see a lion 20 ft away, watching animals (prey) on the other side of the road near a water hole.

Chobe Game Lodge is a 50 room lodge located on the 7,300 sq mile Chobe National Park on the bank of the Chobe River. My view from my room is of the Caprivi floodplains. This lodge has a gym, very cold pool, very expensive and slow internet access, with impalas sitting in the garden, and the sounds and flight of many birds.

This fertile land grows bananas, corn, mango, lemons, oranges, vegetables, and cotton. A dairy farm sells milk and cheese to the local lodges.

On my sunset cruise I see many birds, elephants (picture ), hippos (picture ), and a crocodile (picture ). There is a honeymoon couple on the boat, as there has been at every lodge I have stayed at so far.

June 20

My morning begins with another 5:30 am wake up call for a game drive. We see elephants eating branches and leaves from tress, baboons picking through elephant maure to eat the undigested seeds, and hyenas and jackels, both of whom eat anything left by other carnivors. Birds, monkeys, and a buffalo herd finish off our morning observations.

After 30 min on the stationary bike in the gym, quick shower, and breakfast, I am driven 30 min back to Kasani airport to meet another driver who takes me 40 min the the Zambia border. I transfer onto a small boat for a 3 minute ride across the river, where I am met by my lodge guide, go through customs and border control, and continue on a 40 minute van ride to Tongabeze Lodge near Livingston.