Another round at Chobe Park

  

We had such a wonderful time being with Ty and Shandra Averett!!! Cannot thank them enough!!

The animals did not disappoint! In fact, we saw many more this time than last time!!!

      Just as many or more herds of elephants!

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A wart hog! And the most feared animal and one of the Big Five...the Cape Buffalo! We saw one herd in the distance of thousands of Cape Buffalo! It was a sight but too far away to capture a good picture!

Giraffes are beautiful animals. They seem so graceful, even with their long legs and necks!

Many prides of lions! In the picture below you can see a lion in a stalking stance. It apparently had seen a lone impala near the water. We watched it for quite a while creep up ever so slowly. The other lions soon joined. Then something spooked the impala and it took off running and the lions just gave up and laid down again, waiting for their next chance.

  

  

This pride of lions were just lying under this tree, sleeping; maybe flipping a tail now and then. It took us a little while to see it, but not very far away and further into the trees was a dead elephant. There was quite the odor but at first we thought it was the lions; then we realized it was the elephant. Evidently, the lions had eaten their fill and were just resting. They sure didn't seem to mind the vehicles that pulled up to take pictures. Of course, no one gets out of the vehicle. I would have been nervous but no one else seemed to care that most of the vehicles were open safari vehicles. We just rolled our windows down and snapped away!!

I think this is a kudu.

This was probably the most incredible sighting of all!!! There is a LEOPARD lying in this tree! He didn't care either that one vehicle would pull up under the tree, take pictures and then pull out so another vehicle could pull in and do the same. Yes, we took our turn also.  We were so close! It was amazing!

Of course the monkeys were out in full force. Don't crinkle a candy wrapper! Don't leave a window down on your vehicle! Keep all bags zipped tight! Hang onto cameras and cell phones tightly! Otherwise, these daring creatures will snap it away faster than you can blink your eyes!!! While we were parked here, a monkey stole some lady's camera and ran with it up into a tree. I don't know if she ever got it back.

 

In the late afternoon and into the evening we went on a boat safari. This is where you can get SO CLOSE to the crocodiles and hippopotamuses. Too close for my comfort sometimes but it was cool!!

The boat guide was awesome to get us to places that we could snap beautiful sunset photos!!

 

I think the Averett's were amazed at what we saw. It is an opportunity few get! National Geographic doesn't do this experience justice! 

              This elephant decided to go to the opposite shore so we watched it cross. It got super close!

We ate at "The Old House." It was okay food. This was my plate of fish (breem) and chips. Hal ate what I couldn't and loved every bite!

The next day we drove back across the border (Botswana to Zambia) and went to Victoria Falls. What a contrast from thee months ago!! It was nearly dry!!! No rain forest this time. Most of the trees had lost their leaves. And it was hot!!! 100 degrees!

Dinner near the Zambezi River.

  

We spent the night in this African villa/motel. A pretty nice place, actually. And this African warrior watched over us as we slept! 😏

   

We got up early and crossed the border again; this time into Zimbabwe. Border crossings are not very fun!  Someone had told us that Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side was much better this time of year. Sure enough, the short walk to the falls was beautiful. Occasionally, we could feel the mist from the falls.

I had to take a picture of the guard rails...just old pieces of wood made into a fence. Not the most safe place to be but it was cute and fit the setting just perfectly!

Yes!!! Much better!

  

If you look close at the picture on the right, you can see people standing on the edge of the falls!!! There is a 335 feet drop! I guess there is a little place where the water pools so people go there! No thank you!!!

One thing we saw while on our drive back home was this display of fruits and vegetables. The picture does not do it justice! It was really pretty! Full of tomatoes, oranges, potatoes, cassave and lots more that I don't recognize.