Chobe River and Victoria Falls

Our family, including my husband's mother (who came to visit from the US for 3 weeks), traveled to northern Botswana last week. We explored the Chobe River and also Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side) for a few days. We had a blast!!! So much to see and experience. God's creation is amazing. I was amazed at the difference from the southern part of the country, where we live, to the northern part of the country. Guess having animals roaming around - especially elephants - and LOTS of them vs. donkeys, cows and goats - AND a huge body of water (the Chobe River) is what makes the difference. hee hee

FYI - for those who know me personally, I have a ton of pictures out on my Facebook account. Go there and see more pics of our trip. For those not on Facebook (but those who know me), just email me - or comment on this post - and I'll send a link so you can see all the pictures.

The main thing I've loaded here are some of our favorite videos of the trip. I've also loaded some of my favorite pictures of the trip (which are duplicated of FB).

To give you an overview of our itinerary:

• Tuesday morning - flew from Gabs up to Kasane
  
• Tuesday afternoon - 1st land safari at Chobe National Reserve (a HUGE reserve)
• Wednesday morning- 2nd land safari at Chobe National Reserve (left at 6:00 am sharp!)
• Wednesday afternoon - 3rd safari - but this one was on water. Really neat! Saw hippos and crocodiles up close!
• Thursday morning - traveled over to Zimbabwe to tour the Falls
• Thursday afternoon - elephant back safari (on a private reserve)
• Friday morning - tour of the Falls Craft Village (learned about the culture and lifestyles of several African tribes)
• Friday afternoon - flew back to Gabs

It would have been great to have had one more day at Victoria Falls. So much there to do and see as well. You need at least a couple of days there to even start to take in the majesty of the Falls.

Enjoy the video and pics.

The 1st African sunrise we saw on our trip - Wednesday morning. Just awesome.

The Chobe River:

Video of an elephant that was not too happy with this tree. Don't know what he didn't like - maybe the leaves weren't fresh enough?!





A rare photo - a giraffe bending down to eat. This giraffe carefully looked around for any predators before bending down to eat. A giraffe is obviously very vulnerable in this position. The only other animals around were elephants, birds and a Cape Buffalo or 2. No lions.




Hyena - another rare sighting. These are nocturnal animals. We spotted him (no pun intended!) during our morning drive.


Beautiful bird - this photo doesn't begin to capture the vibrant colors. This is called a Lilac Breasted Roller - or LBR for short!


During our morning stop to stretch legs and enjoy coffee or tea. (A game drive usually lasts 3 hours.) BTW - there are no facilites/port-a-pottys out in the wild! You know what that means! Hold it - or find a bush to hide (your behind) behind!


Me and my soulmate!


The fam!



A hippo showing off for us!

Though you can't see anything in this video - didn't think to turn the camera to night mode - just listen to the song of the African dancers. They delighted us during our 1st dinner at Chobe.





These gentlemen are playing marimbas. They greeted us with their music as we returned to the Lodge from our boat cruise safari. Wish I had bought their CD.





The girls (not US!) put this on their door one morning. They were giggling quite a bit! Thankful they get along so well and fill our surroundings with laughter.



Victoria Falls - we're just 2 peas in a pod.

The silly ones - about to dive in! NOT!



Daddy about to throw in our youngest.



The family (minus me, taking the pic). Behind them is the cloud of mist rising from the falls. We got wet from that mist, too! Very refreshing on a 95+ degree day.



A sample of the Falls. Victoria Falls is called "the smoke that thunders". Powerful and so majestic.





Portion of the Falls known as Devil's Cataract.



The Main Falls


Rainbow Falls. There isn't always a rainbow to be seen. We were extra blessed that day for the Lord to have placed a rainbow there for us - to be reminded "all God's promises are true".



Now this WASN'T a nice creature to behold. Unless you like snakes. Yes, my friend, this is a cobra. We had just started the tour (hadn't seen any of the Falls pictured above yet). Our guide saw the cobra 1st - because the snake had raised up and flared out. Our guide jumped back (AND he was only a foot or so away - the snake was on the edge of the trail where we were walking) which signaled me to look down as well. B and I had been walking along side the guide. We then backed away. I kept my eye on the snake - hoping it wouldn't chase after us. (It didn't - thank you Lord.) A nearby Park Ranger came and took care of the snake. (He threw a stick at the snake - which caused the snake to go back in to the woods.) My mom told me she had been praying for us every day during our trip. God indeed protected us.



In this video clip, we are standing on the Zimbabwe side of the Falls, and videoing the Zambia side. We were told by our guide that people pay about $50 for the day to go swimming in the 'pools' at the top of the Falls.




On to our next segment of the trip - riding the elephants. Before riding the elephants, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet them. We all touched and petted the elephants. Here we are seen with Jumbo. He lived up to his name. I think he was the largest of all the elephants. Though he isn't the one we ended up riding. I was amazed at the wire-like hair on the elephants. And, they have really, really long eyelashes. We were spoiling Jumbo.




S and R with their guide on Janet.



B and me with our guide (Richard - from Bulawayo) on Jake.


Feeding the elephants after the ride. A neat time to reward the elephants for the fun.








A pic of the girls in a hut that would be used by the Bush Men tribe as a temporary shelter. The girls are holding some items they would have used: bow, arrow, hollowed out ostrich egg -used to carry water.




I'll end with this cute picture - the girls under their mosquito net. (Malaria can be contracted in northern Botswana - where we were. We all started our anti-Malaria meds before the trip. The girls continue their daily med for 4 weeks after the trip. S and I don't have to take ours as long - only 1 week after the trip.)


Another fabulous safari! Can't wait for the next one!