Chobe

Ted. While in Africa, we wanted to visit at least one national park to see the animals. Once we decided to visit Victoria Falls, the choice was easy because one entrance to world famous Chobe National Park is in Kasane, Botswana, just 50 miles from Vic Falls. As Judy has mentioned, that decision led us to meet some very interesting people. But now I am going to talk about the animals.

Chobe National Park covers 4,500 square miles making it about a third larger than Yellowstone and nearly as big as Connecticut. Virtually every African animal you can name is found here but the park is known for having the largest concentration of elephants on the continent. We were not prepared to take one of the lengthy (and expensive) safaris so chose a couple of mini tours. One evening we took a “sunset cruise” on the Chobe River and one morning we rode around in the back of a truck on a “game drive.”

We saw a wide range of critters including crocodiles, hippos, monitor lizards, Cape buffalo, warthogs, baboons, several varieties of eagles and three types of antelope; impalas, kudus and pukus. 

We didn’t see any cats (although they probably saw us) but we did see a number of elephants up close and personal. It was thrilling and our guides made sure nothing was missed. The animals seemed to ignore the boats and trucks filled with tourists and it was surprising how close we could get. Now – getting out of a truck might initiate a different reaction but I didn’t see anyone trying that! We can only imagine how wonderful a lengthy safari might be but will need to save that adventure for another time.