Today we had a really early start as we had to get to Chobe National Park for a 12pm game drive and we still some distance to cover. Whereas yesterday’s road trip was filled with singing and dancing, today’s was very quiet and most of us tried to get another couple of hours sleep. Perhaps it was the early start, but perhaps it was the fact that today was our last day with the animals in Africa so the mood was a bit low.
The universe must have known this, as we were treated to fabulous animal sightings on our way into the region. We saw a big herd of elephant at the side of the road, many giraffe, zebra and other antelope. Then we saw a very rare sight – a large group of wild dogs! There were nine in total and they must have come from a feed as some of their faces were still covered in blood. There are no more than 5000 wild dogs left in the world today and they are extremely skittish (more so than lions) so we were very lucky to see them.
We arrived at the camp just in time for a quick lunch before the game drive. Our guide, Innocent, was eager to track down a leopard or some lions, but sadly we didn’t see either. We did, however, see lots of other animals, especially elephants. Botswana has the highest elephant population in the world, so there was no shortage! On one occasion they walked within arm’s length past our vehicle.
Straight after our game drive we got onto a boat for a sunset cruise. This was equally amazing and we saw more elephants, hippo, crocodiles and yet another beautiful sunset. Africa has been incredible and every day we were reminded how beautiful this part of the world is and how precious our wildlife is.
