Chobe Game Lodge, Botswana
November 22, 2022
Today we had a 5:30 am game drive. I’ll never remember which pictures go with which drive so the pictures will remain.
The game lodge is located in the Chobe National Park and it is a well maintained and well run. The rooms are spectacular and it is, at least for our group, all inclusive. Drinks, laundry, food, use of facilities. This is a place that would be worth the travel time to get here. It is very close to the Kasane Airport in Botswana. Fly here and spend a few days at the lodge. Bucket list experience.
The guides that we had were all young women. Maybe 30 yrs old or so. Very knowledgeable about the surroundings. Birds, animals, vegetation. You name it. They know their stuff.
The park was created by the government. It is evident that people lived on the land at one time. Evidence of old foundations, paved roads, sidewalks. The government moved them to different locations outside the park. I had a hard time believing that people lived amongst all of these wild animals but our guide told us that when the people lived here, the animals moved to different locations.
There are dirt roads through the park. A 4 wheel vehicle is a must. The roads are simply paths identified only by the lack of vegetation and tire tracks. Guides cannot leave the road they can only track the animals. They do these by using cb radio communications with the other guides. Footprints across the road, dung trails, warning signals from birds are all used to track them.
The guides carry no weapons. The animals have learned to live amongst the tracking vehicles. They see the trucks as no threat and ignore them. The starting of a truck engine does not even arouse them. An elephant, a lion, a hippo. All will ignore the trucks. If the guides notice that animals feel threatened, they move on.
We used about 5 vehicles for each drive. When we were all seated, the guide would ask the group what they wanted to see. Giraffes, zebras, lions, elephants, came the responses.
Morning game drives started at 5:30 am. Coffee and rolls at 5 am and then we were off. We road with Bella on more than one drive. Outstanding game tracker.
Impalas were like deer in Michigan. Very plentiful. The black markings at the rear of them look like the Golden Arches. McDonalds of the bush. Fast food for many predators.
8:30 am was breakfast and then a few hours off for the river cruise. The animals would come out of the bush to get water. We saw many baboons, and impalas along the river. Crocodiles were also plentiful here.
The animals are left to themselves and humans do not intervene. We did see some lions tearing apart an impala they had caught.
The evening game drive was only interrupted by a stop for a gin and tonic at sunrise. Drivers stopped in the middle of the bush and put a spread of food and drinks on the hood of the vehicles. Nice touch!…