Been There, Done That

Friday, April 4, 2014

Chobe Sunset Cruise

Today we had a fairly long drive to Chobe National Park, which is the 3rd largest park in Botswana, and has one of the highest concentrations of game in all of Africa.  It was also its first national park.  We arrived just in time for our 3 hour sunset cruise on the Chobe River on the border of Namibia.
Warthog sex!
Our 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour....
Nice relaxing time with my peeps.
African Darters
African Darter drying his wings
African Fish Eagle
Kalahari Elephant and baby. 
The elephant population here is thriving from only a few thousand in 1990, to more than 50,000 today.
White-fronted Bee-Eater
Check out how huge this Kalahari Elephant is compared to the impalas.  Kalahari Elephants are the largest of all known elephants.  They are characterized by their brittle ivory and short tusks, probably due to low calcium concentrations in the soil.
Cape Buffalo, also known as the African Buffalo  Known within Africa as one of the "big five." “The Black Death” or “widowmaker”, the African buffalo is widely regarded as a very dangerous animal, as it gores and kills over 200 people every year. Buffaloes are sometimes reported to kill more people in Africa than any other animal, although the same claim is also made of  hippos and crocodiles. 
Nile Crocodile
The Nile Monitor Lizard is the largest lizard in Africa.  They will eat practically anything: insects, reptiles, frogs, small mammals up to the size of domestic cats, birds and eggs, carrion and rubbish.  They also catch fish and are among the most important predators of crocodile eggs. They have been observed using teamwork for this; one distracts the mother crocodile while others rush in to dig up the nest.
Egyptian Geese
Male Kudu
A pair of female Kudu.
Another Nile Crocodile sunning himself.
Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

Love the playing elephants!
Elephants at play


The hippo (Greek for river horse) is the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos. It was considered a female deity of pregnancy in ancient Egypt, but in modern times has been wiped out of that country because of the damage it inflicts on crops. The hippo continues to thrive in other parts of Africa.
The hippo is responsible for more human fatalities in Africa than any other large animal. Male hippos actively defend their territories which run along the banks of rivers and lakes. Females have also been known to get extremely aggressive if they sense anyone coming in between their babies, who stay in the water while she feeds on the shore. Hippos can run at speeds of over 20 miles an hour and they have enormous jaws which host up to 20 inch canines.
Scary hippos going underwater.

Hide and seek with the elephant
The river bank of Namibia
One more crocodile
Sunset on the Chobe River

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