Elephant Back Safari

On Sunday, I went on a mini safari on an elephant's back. It was absolutely fantastic! But of course, we got the naughty elephant. All the other elephants just walked the path occasionally pausing to eat some branches. So the people were looking at animals and taking photos. My elephant....it would take off without warning to run into the trees to rip off branches to eat. Then it would lean sideways, so we were horizontal to the ground. At one point, the saddle slid off the elephant and we had to pull it back on. We were definitely the entertainment of the trip!

Chobe Safari

Yesterday I went on my own to Chobe Park in Botswana. My driver picked me up at my hotel and drove me an hour to the Zambia border. After getting my visa stamped out, I took a motorboat across the river to Botswana. There were lines of tractor trailers waiting to take the boat over to Botswana. The big boat can only carry one truck at a time, so they have to wait 3 or 4 days to cross. So what do they do while they wait? Drink and prostitutes. Now you know how HIV was spread by truck drivers across Africa. On my boat, I met 2 Spanish guys who were doing an overnight safari, 2 Austrialian women, a British couple, and 3 older American women. We were met at the other side by a different driver who took us through immigration (lots of stamps in the passport) and we wiped out feet for foot-and-mouth disease. Then we were off! We went to the Chobe Safari Lodge (gorgeous) where we climbed into out riverboat to start off. We spent the morning on the water. We saw tons and tons and tons of hippos. There were piles of them everywhere! And baby hippos too! They would stand in the shallow water. The babies couldn't stand so they would only bob up for air every few minutes. Another boat got to close to a baby hippo and a big male hippo charged the boat, snarling and leaping out of the water. We also saw lots of impala (a type of antelope) and birds. We also saw a elephant giving itself a mud bath in the water. Then we went back to the lodge and had lunch (Impala Stew)....delicious! Then it was off in the open side jeep. And we saw loads of elephants. I mean loads. Over 200. Easily. There were herds wandering around us on all sides. And lots of baby elephants too. A big male elephant tried to charge our jeep at one point. The elephants walk very very quietly, almost silently. But they eat SO noisily! Ripping off branches and then chomping. There were also many giraffe, my favorite! They were all different shades of browns. So graceful! And huge! We also saw warthogs (think Pummba from the Lion King). So ugly, they're cute! We saw water buffalo, Kulu, Sable, Impalas, Bushbuck. So many animals! Oh yay and dung beetles! The male beetle rolls a ball of elephant dung to attract the female. Then she will ride on top as he rolls it. Then they mate and she lays the eggs inside. Then they bury the ball of dung. All very romantic! haha! Oh yes! And we saw tons of baboons! Not at all like the monkeys I saw last weekend. These guys were huge! Almost the same size as the Impala. And they run so quickly. The baboons carry the babies on their backs....its was adorable. Okay I think thats it. It was amazing. Its my favorite place on earth. I already want to go back. And I will! In two years!! :)

My day safari in Chobe park in Botswana! More pics and details to come! :)