A quick minibus trip over the border and there was the start point of a boat trip on the Chobe River (a tributary of the Zambezi) which forms the border between Botswana and Namibia.
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| African darter (Snake bird) |
This part of the trip was dominated by sightings of large numbers of elephants and hippos, but we also saw other fauna that lives close to the water.
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| Nile crocodile |
As the water is shallow permanent hippos are plentiful.
They cannot swim and walk on the bottom, sometimes underwater (they can hold their breath for up to 6 minutes).
The one in the picture is not tired - the open mouth is a warning that the boat was too close.
It is worth heeding the warning as a hippo, although a herbivore, can bite a man in half.
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| Botswana flag on Sedudu Island |
Sedudu (or Kasikili) Island in the river was disputed between Namibia and Botswana. The dispute went to the International Court in The Hague which determined that the main flow of the river was on the Namibian side of the island and ruled in favour of Botswana. A Botswana flag is kept flying on the island to assert the sovereignty.
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| Elephants by the river |
There must have been 100 elephants by the side of the river, in two groups comprising mainly females, juveniles and calves.
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| Elephants and hippos share the area |
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| Mother and calf |
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| Young males testing their martial arts. |
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| Spur-winged goose |
After an excellent lunch we set off in a game viewing truck for a land-based view of the park.
Chobe as renowned for hippos and elephants.
But we viewed species that we had not sighted before - prehaps we are becoming twitchers
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| African jacana |
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| Sable antelope - adore those scimitar horns |
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| Marabou stork about to take flight |
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