See elephants on a Chobe River boat cruise

19/7/2016

Boat cruise on the Chobe River, Botswana

By Roxanne Reid
Chobe National Park has the highest concentration of elephants in Africa. Because they love water, one of the best ways to see them is on a Chobe River boat cruise. Best of all, if you stay at Chobe Game Lodge you can experience the river and its wildlife on a whisper-quiet electric boat.

When we arrived at Chobe Game Lodge at lunchtime about 50 elephant were splashing about in the water near the end of an elevated boardwalk that hugs the river for some 250 metres. I say boardwalk, but although it looks like wood it’s actually made from about two million recycled plastic bags. Point scored for the environment.

Traditional dancing, Chobe Game Lodge, Botswana

Lunch in the Boma that overlooks the river ended on a high note with a performance by Matsosa Ngwao, a traditional song and dance group. Their energy was impressive, their rhythms infectious – a great way to show that Chobe and Botswana aren’t just about wildlife and conservation, they’re about people, culture and community too.

The lodge
Chobe Game Lodge was built in the 1970s by Southern Sun and is now part of Desert & Delta Safaris. The décor has a Moorish flavour, awash with arches, multi-coloured sofas, patterned rugs and heavy wooden chests. Our room had exotic inlaid tables, a sitting room and a small patio with a view of gardens kept lush using recycled grey water. Another point scored for the environment.

But we hardly spent time there. We were too busy enjoying boat trips, game drives, an eco tour behind the scenes to find out more about the lodge’s environmental efforts (more points), or just chilling on the boardwalk watching animals come and go.

Electric boats
Our guide Gobe Motshidisi was one of a team of 16 female guides, part of the lodge’s commitment to gender equality and empowerment. The man they report to, environmentalist John Aves, told me they’re good communicators and their lack of testosterone means they’re usually more careful with their equipment than many a macho male guide.

Our afternoon trip on the river in a solar-charged electric boat was much quieter than it would have been in a boat with a petrol or diesel engine. A bonus was that it produced no carbon dioxide emissions – yet another point scored for the environment.

Gobe took us closer to the elephants we’d seen from the boardwalk when we arrived. Some were bathing or drinking, others eating grass on an island in the river. She explained how elephants make channels and dig for minerals in the soil at the edge of the island, changing their environment.

Some elephants walked back to the mainland and a small calf entered the water behind its mother. It struggled to keep up, its little trunk moving above the surface like a snorkel. Mom came back and gently helped it on to land.

Then drama erupted back on the island. A bull elephant was chasing a cow, trumpeting his desire and trying to mount her. She wanted nothing to do with him and splashed through the water in her rush to the mainland. Undeterred, he followed and they disappeared into the bushes where we could still hear him complaining.

The commotion set off a sub-adult bull that started flapping his ears and trunk, trumpeting, kicking up sand and chasing anything from a flock of guineafowl to other elephants. We left him to his tantrum and glided silently upriver till Gobe spotted a water monitor on the bank and we went in closer. ‘It eats beetles, fish, birds, anything it can overpower,’ she said.

Water monitor

More elephants were drinking at the water’s edge upriver. A young croc floated in the water like a piece of wood, silently, hardly breaking the water surface, just its back and face visible. ‘They can be up to 6m when full-grown,’ said Gobe.

A troop of baboons of all ages drank – cautiously because they’re rightly afraid of crocs – and rummaged indelicately through elephant droppings. Two kudu, a mom and her daughter, practised running and high jumping. It looked like they were having fun although this kind of practice has a serious intent – it might one day save the youngster’s life.

Pied kingfisher

We saw a host of kingfishers from brown-hooded and pied to malachite, even a giant kingfisher that called out as it flew low over the water. It’s almost impossible to spend time on the river without seeing at least a dozen African fish-eagles. ‘They mate for life but won't share a meal,’ Gobe said, as we watched a pair on an island. One was ripping a fish apart, the other staring but not getting even a morsel.

African fish-eagles

Boating on the Chobe River is relaxing, a great option if you’re tired of galumphing about on game drives. It also gives you a chance to see animals from a different perspective. Because we were so quiet in the electric boat we got really close without scaring them off.

At sunset we saw hippos among the water lilies and giraffes silhouetted against the sun. This was classic Africa, Prozac for the soul, a reminder of how necessary nature is to make us feel connected and fully alive.

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