By Roxanne Reid
Chobe National Park. It’s the place to go to see really jumbo elephants and get good photo opportunities with hippo, crocs and water birds along the river. But the biggest drawback is having to drive the same road over and over in a loop; for us, national parks are as much about changing landscape as they are about animals.
Chobe National Park. It’s the place to go to see really jumbo elephants and get good photo opportunities with hippo, crocs and water birds along the river. But the biggest drawback is having to drive the same road over and over in a loop; for us, national parks are as much about changing landscape as they are about animals.
On our first drive, we took the bumpy windy track along the river, finding a riot of hippo, crocs, buffalo, giraffe and water birds like yellowbilled and openbill stork, white-faced duck, jacana, even fish eagle and African skimmer. We found a buffalo carcass too, the head facing us, shining white teeth grinning in macabre fashion.
Away from the river, we had a number of vulture sightings, like two white-headed vultures with their pink faces and blue-and-red bills, doggedly pecking at an apparently dried-out jawbone that they still managed to extract some pinkish tidbits from.
There was a lone sable bull too, beautifully shiny and proud but altogether too wary of us to wait around to be admired. And there were some nice breeding herds of elephant, a few tiny ones scampering to keep up with the adults on their journey across the dry veld towards the river for water.
There was a lone sable bull too, beautifully shiny and proud but altogether too wary of us to wait around to be admired. And there were some nice breeding herds of elephant, a few tiny ones scampering to keep up with the adults on their journey across the dry veld towards the river for water.
A sub-adult elephant held us at bay for about 20 minutes, kicking at the sand in the road but never taking it in his trunk and throwing it over himself for a dust bath. Perhaps he was just in a difficult mood and wanted to show us it was his patch.
We were already pining for the Luangwa landscape with its pretty trees. Chobe in July was all dry bush and lots of sand. Although game viewing was good, we got the impression that the main reason people go there is so they can pretend they’re wild manne, Kingsley Holgate in their 4x4s, racing through deep sand as if they deserve a medal just for making it through. Somewhere for all those gadget men from Gauteng and Limpopo to go and play with their toys – after driving on good tar all the way to get there!
We pondered whether our experience of Chobe would have been different if we’d gone there before we went to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Perhaps it would. If we’d come here direct from the Kruger National Park, for instance, we’d probably have been struck by Chobe’s wildness and the loveliness of the river drive, despite the monotone dry veld.
But after the beauty and remoteness of Luangwa, which is truly timeless untamed Africa, Chobe felt just a little bland.
But after the beauty and remoteness of Luangwa, which is truly timeless untamed Africa, Chobe felt just a little bland.
Need to know
1. Apart from Ihaha campsite inside the park, most of your camping options are outside the borders of the park. You will then enter the park on a day-entry permit, which in July 2012 cost us 120 pula (R127) per person plus 50 pula (R53) for our foreign-registered vehicle.
2. Two to three days at Chobe are probably enough, even if you’re staying at Ihaha campsite inside the park, which would extend your options for game drives a little further west.
You might also like:
How to choose a campsite at Chobe
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
1. Apart from Ihaha campsite inside the park, most of your camping options are outside the borders of the park. You will then enter the park on a day-entry permit, which in July 2012 cost us 120 pula (R127) per person plus 50 pula (R53) for our foreign-registered vehicle.
2. Two to three days at Chobe are probably enough, even if you’re staying at Ihaha campsite inside the park, which would extend your options for game drives a little further west.
You might also like:
How to choose a campsite at Chobe
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
