With great excitement we get up early for our day in Chobe National Park. A quick breakfast of muesli and rusks and we are ready to go. We hadn't arranged another night in the camp so checked at the booking office if we could stay again. The bad news is the site is already booked for tonight. The good news is that another is free. Our quickest campsite change ever and we are away into the park.
We would love to stay in the park tomorrow night so first checked out the campsite bookings. In true African style the booking agent gave us a rundown on rates, sites locations and facilities then asked us which one we would like to stay at. Carefully picking the one that was halfway through the camp we were told that one was full, asking for any that were available we found the park was fully booked. Not sure why that bit of information wasn't shared first.
Botswana parks are supposed to be very expensive so I was surprised to find that the park fees were quite reasonable. Not sure if SA residents get special rates as I didn't make it clear that I wasn't an SA resident. Our fees for LuLu (who was declared as 4x4) and 4 people were P530 about NZ80 or R680.
We had been told by fellow campers that LuLu wouldn't be able to drive the river roads as the road requires 4x4. In fact your not allowed into Chobe in 2 wheel drive cars at all. At the first intersection we had the choice of the main road or the river road, you guessed it, straight to the river. The roads are indeed bad but we are committed now and with a 4x4 in front and behind we think we are pretty safe. We quickly realised LuLu might need some air removed from her tires so stopped on a hard patch to do this.
Very soon we came to the water, the arid dry Mopani gives way to lush green riverine landscape, there is plenty of water in the Chobe river and the game and bird life are everywhere. One thing that you notice immediately is the huge numbers of everything, ele's buy the thousand, hippo's by the hundreds, crocodiles line the banks, impala and lechwe(a first for me) mixed in big herds, buffalo, sable, roan (a herd of about 12 and another first for me), Kudu everywhere and a myriad of bird life. white browed coucal, white browed scrub robin, babbler, black wing stilt, Jacana, yellow billed stork, African, spoonbill, white faced duck, African darter to name a few.
We saw lots of vultures circling in different places, one group were on a young elephant carcass and we got great shots of a Lappet-faced Vulture. We drove along the river toward the Ihaha camp hoping to get a nice lunch when we arrived. The drive took 3 hours and LuLu didn't get stuck once. Justin however managed to get the 4x4 Hilux stuck 3 times.
Arriving at the camp we found it to be very basic indeed. What a lovely place to camp, no fences, no power and certainly no Wimpy restaurant. The campsites are well set out along the river and it certainly isn't crowded. For a park at full capacity it certainly isn't crowded like Kruger in the peak season. With no food available, it was into Team Maverick's snack box. Eish they could feed a small African nation from their snack box.
We didn't manage to see any predators throughout the day although a leopard was reported in the Ihaha camp just after we left.
We would love to stay in the park tomorrow night so first checked out the campsite bookings. In true African style the booking agent gave us a rundown on rates, sites locations and facilities then asked us which one we would like to stay at. Carefully picking the one that was halfway through the camp we were told that one was full, asking for any that were available we found the park was fully booked. Not sure why that bit of information wasn't shared first.
Botswana parks are supposed to be very expensive so I was surprised to find that the park fees were quite reasonable. Not sure if SA residents get special rates as I didn't make it clear that I wasn't an SA resident. Our fees for LuLu (who was declared as 4x4) and 4 people were P530 about NZ80 or R680.
We had been told by fellow campers that LuLu wouldn't be able to drive the river roads as the road requires 4x4. In fact your not allowed into Chobe in 2 wheel drive cars at all. At the first intersection we had the choice of the main road or the river road, you guessed it, straight to the river. The roads are indeed bad but we are committed now and with a 4x4 in front and behind we think we are pretty safe. We quickly realised LuLu might need some air removed from her tires so stopped on a hard patch to do this.
Very soon we came to the water, the arid dry Mopani gives way to lush green riverine landscape, there is plenty of water in the Chobe river and the game and bird life are everywhere. One thing that you notice immediately is the huge numbers of everything, ele's buy the thousand, hippo's by the hundreds, crocodiles line the banks, impala and lechwe(a first for me) mixed in big herds, buffalo, sable, roan (a herd of about 12 and another first for me), Kudu everywhere and a myriad of bird life. white browed coucal, white browed scrub robin, babbler, black wing stilt, Jacana, yellow billed stork, African, spoonbill, white faced duck, African darter to name a few.
We saw lots of vultures circling in different places, one group were on a young elephant carcass and we got great shots of a Lappet-faced Vulture. We drove along the river toward the Ihaha camp hoping to get a nice lunch when we arrived. The drive took 3 hours and LuLu didn't get stuck once. Justin however managed to get the 4x4 Hilux stuck 3 times.
Arriving at the camp we found it to be very basic indeed. What a lovely place to camp, no fences, no power and certainly no Wimpy restaurant. The campsites are well set out along the river and it certainly isn't crowded. For a park at full capacity it certainly isn't crowded like Kruger in the peak season. With no food available, it was into Team Maverick's snack box. Eish they could feed a small African nation from their snack box.
We didn't manage to see any predators throughout the day although a leopard was reported in the Ihaha camp just after we left.
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