Chobe National Park

There was another want to see activity as part of our service in Zambia.  That was to visit a National Park and observe the flora and fauna of Africa.  This past week while we were in Livingstone we were able to accomplish that goal as there are two National Parks close to Livingstone.  One is Chobe National Park just across the border from Zambia in Botswana.  Chobe offered a one day trip that gave us the morning on the Chobe River and the afternoon in the bush along the banks of the river.  The guides on both parts of the experience were excellent at relating interesting information about the plants, birds and animals of the areas we traveled. 

Our ride in the morning was in this boat and as you can see it was almost a private tour.

 

 

Our first encounters on the water was with several species of birds. This cute little couple of wire-tailed swallows put on a show for us and kept resting on the bow of the boat then flying around and landing back on the boat to see if we caught their show. 

 

 

This is an African darter (sometimes called the snake bird) that we shot a picture of before he darted into the water.  They spread their wings out after surfacing to dry them so they can fly.

 

 

The African fish eagle is probably the most familiar bird of prey in Africa.  We saw at least four of them flying around and in nests high in the trees along the river bank. We heard a male and female calling to each other.  His is a high voice, hers is lower

 

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This lovely little fellow is the white fronted bee-eater.  It builds nests in small holes in the dirt banks.  If the hole was enlarged it was because monitor lizzards raid the nests.

 

 

And if you don't believe us, here comes the monitor lizzard.

 

 

This big crocodile was sunning himself because he is cold blooded.  He is also blood thirsty.  We stayed in the boat!  Please note how he has one eye opened and is watching us.

 

 

At first we could only see hippos in the distance.  Then they all of a sudden appeared in abundance.

 

 

This hippo is a male because he is away from the pod and has scars on his body from trying to fight his way to dominance over the dominate male.  Typical behavior in male African animals.

 

 

The elephants were coming down for water.  They can go 3 or 4 days without drinking.  We were amazed by the number of elephants that kept coming.  An older female leads the younger females and young elephants.  The mature males stay in separate bachelor herds.

 

 

After a delicious buffet lunch at the Chobe Safari Lodge we took a jeep ride and experienced many more elephants on land.

 

  

This is an elephant digging a mud spa. They splashed, rolled, slipped, crawled and had a wonderful time of it.  Some even swam across the river to the Island.  All you could see was the tip of their trunk when the water got too deep for them to walk.

 

 

What the elephant leaves behind, the baboon picks through for hidden treasures.  Elephants have a poor digestive system and so the nuts they eat from the trees are intact for the baboons to feast on.

 

 

These guys belong to group that is known as "The Ugly Five."  It is a funeral of Marabou storks.

 

 

Impalas have these markings on their behinds so they can recognize and follow each other in a chase.

 

 

You hunters might salivate over this big, Kudu buck.  His stripes on his back are light and faded which indicates he is old.  That might also be why he is alone. 

 

 

Here is another member of  "The Ugly Five". This warthog is just chilling in the shade.

 

 

We took a break and got out of our jeep to stretch and releave ouselves before heading back to the boarder.