The Other Side of the River

Phew, we made it to the other side of the River and were met by the Safari guy, who helped us through the next round of immigration procedures.  Again, we queued up to be ignored by the people on the other side of the glass, and handed over our passports and visas (no one so far has looked at our medical records).  I am very excited that I am getting some stamps in my brand new passport - feel like a legitimate world traveller.  Next we had to go wipe our feet - no, not a ancient African tradition, it is one of the precautions that they have set up to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease in the country.  We even had to drive the van through a trough of water to wash the tires.  I have to tell you, it might be a legitimate way to prevent hoof and mouth disease, but wiping my feet on the filthy antiseptic soaked rags felt more like I was contaminating them than cleaning them.

Property in towns and cities is surrounded by walls (usually with glass and barbwire along the top) and a big metal door that you have to drive through (like the doors in the Wizard of Oz) and the Safari Outfitter place was no different.  Once inside the walls (which did not look so hot from the outside), we entered a little oasis, complete with swimming pool (and robot vacuum!).  We had a nice little breakfast (our second of the day, but who is counting- just seems like you cannot refuse food in Africa!).  We took a short walk down to the Chobe River where a double decker boat is waiting.  Our boat has a captain and two guides who did a great job of answering all our questions and giving us fun facts about the animals we were seeing.  The nine of us have full run of the boat.

We sat on our deck chairs and headed out (once again stopping to register at some official looking station) into the waters.  We didn't get very before our guide spots a crocodile on the river bank.  There are a number of tour boats in the area and at some point the whole thing seems Disney-like.  A little further down (where some other boats have stopped) we see our first big bachelor!  The land in the area is all parched and dry and we watch as this huge tusked elephant approaches the water to drink.....at least we think that is why he is approaching.  Our guide explains that the island in the middle of the Chobe is prime feeding territory and these big animals swim to the Island to eat.  Really?  Sure enough, the elephant enters the water and begins to walk deeper and deeper, until he is swimming (Janet says he is doing the buterfly, but I am pretty sure he was doing the breast stroke), dipping his head under the water and leaving his trunk up, like a snorkel!  I am feeling like Marlin Perkins - whispering as he approaches the Island and moves back up on land.  (Insert commercial break for Mutual of Omaha)

As we traveled around the Island we saw three of the big five (those are the 5 animals that can and will kill you if provoked, the elephant, hippo and Cape buffalo. (We did not see the leopard or rhino).  Four of them will give you a warning shot, but the Cape Buffalo prefers to just get down to business, thus they call him "the boss."  We also spotted some of the Ugly 5:  Malibu Stork, baboon (who are just running all over the place), and Warthog (we do not see the wildebeest or hyena- but we do hear them at night). There were lots of little impala around - what we in the safari business call "fast food"  Hippos were laying around like a big pile of rocks.  It truly is a National Geographic moment when you can see the hippos with the white birds around them, Elephants in the background, small impala on the edges and a couple of Pumbas running along the edge of the water.  

We're feeling pretty good about how our animal spotting is going as we arrive back at base for lunch.  This time we load up in a safari jeep right out of Jurassic Park and head on down the road.  We entered the park from the land side to get a new perspective.  Linda (who is channeling my dad) has been spotting all kinds of animals all day.  She is the first to see a giraffe (which I swear sounds like Your Ass when Janet says it, must be her French accent).  Now we see elephants playing, fighting, showering, one even gets a little aggressive on my side of the jeep ("just act unafraid" Really?  Didn't you just tell us these things kill people?).  

The bottom line is that the animals in this park look like God and Dr. Seuss worked together on their creation.  We have deer, they have deer with big spiral horns (Kudu), between the long necks and deelybobbers on their heads, the giraffes have a silly look, hippos have ridiculously small ears for a one ton animal, elephants?  Well the trunk just says it all - imagine sucking up water with your nose and blowing it into your mouth, or sucking up dirt to throw on your back and then using it as your utensil.  Yup, God does have a sense of humor.

We did not see any big cats, but did see the carcass of an impala up in a tree after a cougar? had it for breakfast.  Zebras are not in the area during this time of year.  Tom, the driver takes care of us though and pulled off on the side of a local zoo so we could see a lion and slowed down in the middle of traffic so we could see a zebra in another area.  TIA.  Driving in Africa could be a whole separate book.

Back to Waterberry for a little pampering....