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Farewell to Chobe, Botswana
We have yet to be disappointed by a national park and Chobe proved no exception.
Our final visit to the park yielded a herd of over 1000 buffalo, numerous groups of elephants swimming in the river, fantastic views of fish eagles and vultures, dramatic off road driving and, for once, pleasant (below 30C) temperatures! It also yielded yet another malapropism from Angela "those vultures are pruning themselves"
The finale, as we made our way back to the park gate just before sunset, was spotting two lionesses hunting 2 adult and 1 young giraffe near a waterhole. We watched with baited breath as one lioness attempted to get behind the giraffe as the other hid in thick bush. Sadly (or fortunately depending on your view of these things) the giraffe spotted the circling lioness and ran for their lives in that curious slow motion gait that still manages to outpace the queen of the beasts.
Back at Toro Lodge campsite even the loud disco music emanating from the restaurant area until midnight failed to dampen our enthusiasm for the place and the wildlife. It is incredible how the locals and the wildlife seem to share the same space in Kasane; we've seen warthogs in the main street, elephant in the rubbish dump and hippo on the golf course.
We are now heading south to the Nata saltpans area before exiting Botswana and heading to the northern end of Kruger National Park in South Africa. Being more money conscious than we used to be (Angela is now tighter than a duck?s a*se when it comes to spending, no change there then I can hear some of you saying!) we have another 2 months before our SANP Wild Card expires, so we have free access to the park.
Finally I forgot to mention another of those small world moments. Strolling round Chobe Safari Lodge inspecting the campsite we got chatting to an English lady, on holiday from voluntary work in northern Namibia. It transpired that she lives in the next street to us in Reading!
Finally again, good luck to Kaspars & Renata, who we met in Katima Mulilo in Namibia, and again at Ngepi, Namibia and again in Kasane Botswana. Kaspars has ridden his BMW bike down from Estonia (for reasons that elude me!) and is now showing his Brazilian girlfriend Renata around the bits of Africa they are allowed to visit on a bike.
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