 |
 |
 |
 |
  Tuesday 11th of November 2014 and what kind of holiday is this. I was dead when they called me at 4 thirty, and that's even though I went to bed and was asleep around 10 thirty yesterday evening. And that's without eating the chocolate they had put on my pillows during my safari.  Seems to be something they do in Africa, cleaning the room several times per day and then a final “turn down service” in the evening preparing the room for sleep.
I was really happy that I managed to fall asleep without any problems yesterday. I was tired and I was not in the lounge until 05:20 and I had time for a cup of tea before we took off for our safari. The gaming is including in the price, but I recommend that you take at least 2 days of private gaming. They had been baking all night to get my food ready for my safari. We would leave and  not come back until the evening. If you go in the group safari you're leaving at 05:30 and you come back at 08:30 for breakfast.
Then they take off at 10:30 again and they return at 12:30 for lunch. Last gaming takes off at 15:30 and you're back around 19:00. So here it is easy to see that you will never get much more than one hour away from the lodge. And there will be many jeeps in the area. My Guide asked where I wanted to go. - In the opposite direction the other go Yes, I will do the last day with the boat and game drive in the groups so I will for sure get to know the area. And they all want to see lions, and as we know by now, the lions are pretty boring. We will do an 11 to 12 hours NON STOP  safari. Well, a quick break for breakfast and lunch. But we will cover a lot more territory and we don't need to go back to the lodge to eat.
I asked if there was any water hole, usually a safe bet for action when on Safari. There was one water hole not far away and we drove off towards the water hole to see if there was any action.   On the way to the waterhole
We passed an impala and her new born baby, must have been born yesterday or during the night. This  was a good start on the day, the impala babies are fun to watch.
It was not cold and it was not hot, a wee bit chilli and I was quite comfortable in my safari uniform. I was in a good mood even if it was early morning, but I also realised that I could not keep this up for many days. I will need to have some sleep. I think I will cancel the game drive on my last day at Chobe Game Lodge and sleep instead. We did see plenty of old elephant skeletons on the way to the water hole, elephant and buffalo are the only skeletons I see around here. Well, most likely because they are the biggest ones. The hyena and other animals take the bones to clear them from meat and I have a hard time imagine any animal  carry away an elephant skull. So they are eaten on site as we use to say.
We approached the waterhole and we could see that it was empty what a disappointment the waterhole tactic turned out to be. The whole area was full of branches and trees laying down. Work of the elephants. The elephants likes to butt with the trees and the trunks and branches was laying all over the area around the water hole. Of course we were disappointed to find the water hole empty. But suddenly my Guide saw a hyena on the ridge and it looked like he was walking away from the water hole. I had never seen any hyena before so I was happy even though he was far away. We parked at the water hole to see if there was any animals coming and we were soon happy to see a hyena approaching. Then there came more hyenas and the water hole tactic turned out to be a huge success. I got to see many hyenas and up close. What a start of my day, way more fun than to watching sleeping lions. And as I mentioned, my first time seeing a hyena.
Yes, what a start we had on our first day of safari. Hyenas and plenty of them and I was very happy as I had never seen hyenas before. And on top of that we heard an elephant blowing his horn  in the jungle. Early morning and we had the sound of all the animals busy preparing for the day. And on top of that the elephant blowing his horn.
You never hear an elephant, well, unless he stamp on a twig or something. The walk without a sound and I have only heard them blowing the horn once before. So this was a very exciting morning at the water hole. We hanged around for a while and we decided to go check out the other water holes, but then we will have to cross the “tar” road. I like it how they call the asphalt road for “The tar road” around here. It is not like we're calling the roads in Sweden for asphalt roads. We had to take the “tar” road to get here from the border and we will have to take the  “tar” road on Friday when we're going to the airport for my flight from Kasane to Ghoha Hills Lodge.
Safari Air and I expect this to be nothing less than a Indiana Jones adventure. Well, anyway, we left the water hole bound for the “tar” road. We just have to cross the “tar” road to reach the water holes, but there are one or two further down the “tar” road. So we will start with these. We drive through a TEAK forest and we had an elephant crossing in front of us and my Guide though it was the very same one that had blew his horn. We drove on for 5 to 10 minutes and we reached the road leading to the “tar” road. I don't know  if I want to call it a road. It is 2 tracks in the ground surrounded by at least 40 cm lose sand.
I asked my Guide about the big bird nests and we stopped at a tree. She told me it was spider nests and not birds nest.  - How big is that spider?
- Half my thumb Yes, you learn something new every day on safari. We continued towards the “tar” road and we met two other vehicles on the way. As long as you stay in the tracks it is no problems, but trying to get on the side of the road is the problem. My Guide, well it is not the first time she drives the 4 wheel drive around these parts and it worked out just fine.  We meet another jeep
 We see a antelope I have never seen before - Only see on the other side of the “tar” road
Of course, I have forgot the name of the antelope - But it is the fourth antelope I have seen in Africa: Impala, Kudu, Eland and now this
 Buffalo want to cross the “tar” road with 100 of his friends
 Buffalo want to cross the “tar” road with 100 of his friends
 Buffalo want to cross the “tar” road with 100 of his friends
 My third new animal today and the second new Antelope
Of course, I have forgot the name of the antelope - But I think it was Steeenbok, smallest antelope in Botswana
 A beautiful bird that we remember form the safari in Tanzania
Even more beautiful when it is flying, but impossible to focus when taking pictures
 A beautiful tree on the way to the water hole
we turned left when we came out on the “tar” road and we drove for about 10 minutes when we saw a buffalo on the road side. It looked like he wanted to cross the road and we pulled over as the animals have the right of way. Must have been at least hundred buffalos hiding in the tree  line. The biggest group of buffalo I have seen and it took a while for them to cross the road.
But we're in no hurry and it was a beautiful sight with all the buffaloes. I saw 2 new antelopes during our ride to the water hole and that means that I have seen 5 different antelopes in Botswana. Of course Impala. Then the Kudu and Eland. The last two, well, I think I have forgot the names. OK, I  forgot the names a few seconds after my Guide told me the names.
But one of them are the smallest antelope in Botswana. We passed my favourite bird, the one that turns in to an explosion of beautiful blue when flying. We arrived to the water hole and we were both disappointed. No animals, except for a frog that made sound like it should be in the size of a tractor. I tried to  investigate, but as soon as I approached the water the frog turned silent.
There were also an eagle soaring above us looking for food, maybe the frog? Botswana and I have never seen so many eagles and other birds of prey before. There are so many different kind of  storks and other big birds so it looks like ostriches.
And talking about ostrich, we hope to see ostriches when we go to the other water holes after breakfast. Breakfast and they had asked me what I wanted to bring for our safari. And as I'm on diet I told them tat I only needed some bread, diet drinks and water. This humble request had turned in to three containers and when my Guide opened the first container I asked what it was. - This is our breakfast and lunch - For who? - For us - It is food for a whole soccer team! AND I'M ON DIET! I said. But actually, I was happy because I was hungry after all the excitement. And it was excellent food, Chobe Game Lodge is really 5 stars all the way. They are not providing any service for the guests, THEY ARE FOOCKING PAPMERING US! Fantastic is not enough to describe the hotel. I have never experienced something like this, well,  Victoria Falls Hotel. Maybe it is something in the culture here in South Africa because it have been fantastic. Well, instead of wasting their hard earned dollars and life in Pattaya they should try to have a holiday around here.
OK, we finished our breakfast and I felt like a million. We decided to continue the dirt road further in to the jungle to see if we would spot something interesting. We were soon really in the middle of nowhere but nothing interesting to see, well, more of the 2 new antelopes. They are only on this side of the “tar” road and I will be the only one back at Chobe Game Lodge that had seen them.  Elephant bones
 Elephant bones
We decided to turn back to the “tar” road and go back to the next exit for more water holes. We passed bones that looked to be from 2 or 3 elephants behind some bushes on the way back to  the “tar” road. It looked where strange, why would 2 or 3 elephants go to die on the same place?
My Guide thought that it might be true with the elephant grave yards. Well, I don't know about that. We continued towards the “tar” road and we passed a group of buffaloes that was much bigger than the group crossing the “tar” road I also asked my Guide to stop so I could take a picture of some big black birds with read heads.  They looked beautiful and I decided to try to take a picture even though they were far away. And I was quite happy with the pictures. But don't ask me about the name, but I remember that my Guide told me it was the same family as the flying chilli pepper bird.
Back on the “tar” road we turned left and we had a truck with the “Anti Poaching” team behind us, but they turned right when reaching the “tar” road. It took us about 15 minutes to reach the  intersection where we had been coming out from the “river side” of the “tar” road.
River side is a forest of TEAK wood tree and they are grey in all the green. Must be worth a fortune. And it is beautiful red brown wood. The tree is not very nice to watch, but the tree the elephants have butted down shines red brown. Very beautiful, of course, not as beautiful as my kitchen floor. We turned left at the intersection instead of right back to the river side.  The first water hole is dry
 Yet another buffalo skull
 We reached the first water hole after 5 minutes and as expected, the water hole was dry, not enough rain yet. But the government have built pumps at some of the waterholes and there is  always water pumped to the water holes with solar driven pumps.
Some years there had been some terrible drought almost whipping out all the animals. Remember the elephants from my elephant back safari? They were saved after one of those drought. Well, anyway, next water hole have one of those solar driven pumps and we drove for about 20 minutes before we reached the water hole. The water hole was full of zebras and giraffes and they got scared when we came. The zebras ran away and the giraffes took cover behind a tree. We stopped the engine and we waited, took a while before the giraffes dare to come for a drink. But only one of the Zebras dares to come back.
We spent quite some time at the water hole, I have seen enough giraffes to last me for a life time, but never when they have been drinking water and this looked very good. What a good day this  have turned out to be. I had the time of my life.
We left the water hole and we continued deeper in to the wilderness, and we have not seen any car. We drove for quite some time and we reached a second water hole, but here was only vultures and some Marabou Storks. We left after 10 minutes and we  went deeper and deeper in to the wilderness. Here had not been any people for a very long time. We passed small forest with a terrible noise from some big flying insects. Was like they were flying by chance because they hit the car and us all the time.
They sounded like crying babies and I shat myself first time I got hit as I thought we had a crying baby in the car. We drove on and on and we saw our third new antelope for today, the second biggest antelope in Botswana after the eland antelope and I'm  pretty sure the call this antelope for the Ron antelope, but not 100% sure.
We saw some zebras and a giraffe and some more of the Ron antelope, but the last hour of driving we didn't see anything and we had been in the car for more than 8 hours. We had seen al ot and my arse was sore. It is not like driving on the highway in the bush. We almost got stuck when we should turn around, deep sand and even though we had a 4 wheel drive it was hard to turn around. We were hungry and we decided to stop for a by now very late lunch. Hungry and a sore ass, we needed both food and to stretch our legs  We stop for a very late lunch
I discovered some tracks on the dirt road and I thought it might be a lion. But my Guide told me  it was tracks from a hyena. I was not disappointed, but it was far less exciting than lion tracks.
I felt much better after our lunch and I was grateful that the staff at Chobe Game Lodge had filled up the containers with all the food. And I felt very good when we left the lunch place behind. 
We were almost back at our hotel when we saw another jeep from Chobe Game Lodge. They were looking at a mud hole and there were a group of elephants playing in the mud. They are using it to cool down themselves in the sunshine and as sun screen. By now we had been on the roads for 11 hours and I wanted to get back to my room at Chobe Game Lodge. Dinner, fantastic food and I had way too much again. One of the girls in the management brought me my e-cig. They had repaired it for me. I had bought a new e-cig, but as I'm a Cheap Charlie I wanted to use the old one as long as possible. Of course, I forgot my new e-vic. But hey managed to repair it and I turned cartwheel back to my room after dinner. OK, not exactly, I could hardly move after all the food I had promised myself not to eat. OK, we're not looking forward to the 04:30 wake-up call tomorrow, but we're looking forward to the safari. Tomorrow we will go in the opposite direction along Chobe River. So click HERE for some of that game driving excitement. 
    
  You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||