We left our Livingstone hotel, The
Waterfront, at around 10:20 PM. Our vehicle was a comfortable, large-ish bus
with lots of seats. We rode for about an hour until we got to the Zambian
border. There, we went into the customs office so they could check us out of
the country.
The road had ended and we were
facing the Chobe River. There, a boat was waiting to take us across. For some
reason I was a bit nervous about the crossing and I was glad it was a short
one. We had a hard time getting started and 3 men had to push us off.
From the river, in 4 different
directions, the guides pointed out Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana.
After about a 5-7 minute crossing, we arrived in Botswana where we had to line
up to get our passport stamped once again. Then we transferred to another
vehicle, an open air one and headed to the restaurant where we were going to
have lunch. It was called ‘The Old House’ and it was a cute B&B with great
food.
When we were done, we transferred
to yet another vehicle and headed to an ATM machine in order to withdraw the
Botswana currency which is pula. We also stopped at a Spar grocery store. I was
intrigued by the loud noise people were making by the door and went to
investigate, of course! Women were putting loaves of bread they had bought into
a machine that slice it for them. Then they bagged it and off they went. I
longed to photograph the women doing this but settled on a photo of the machine
itself.
After that, we headed to our lodge
for the night. It is called Pangolin Photo Safaris and they are right by the
Chobe River. Due to space constraints, there was no room for Donna and I in the
main lodge. We get to stay in a tent which has the most amazing view!
To reach it, you must walk across
the lawn, down a path (with elephant dung on it), then climb a ladder onto a
wooden platform. There are 2 beds and a bathroom with a flush toilet, a sink
and a shower. The floor is made from slats and the shower water runs through
them to the ground below. And the view, did I mention the view??!!!
We had just enough time to get a few things
together, then we were off again. The 5 of us had pre-booked a river photo
safari ahead of time. Although I have a very nice camera, I was more than
willing to try something new and I am so glad I did!
The boat we were on had swivel
seats, with swivel photo mounts, and we were given Nikon cameras with a 150-500
lens! Then we set off down the Chobe River. Oh my gosh! I was in heaven!!
We
got so close to elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and many amazing birds.
Sometimes even when zooming out,
we were too close to fill the frame with the animal! Everyone was super excited
with the scenery and what their wonderful camera and lens could do. I was
tickled pink that they were enthralled with photography and the prospect of
getting such fabulous shots. We looked and felt like a bunch of National
Geographic professional photographers! I took 926 photos with the Nikon (and a
few on my own 2 cameras). Ooh la la!
We got to watch elephants
swimming, took some amazing bird shots, and we were startled by a hippo that
got too close to our boat. Oh, to be able to do this every day!
The sunset was gorgeous, as usual.
Then we headed back to the lodge for drinks, supper and hopefully a good sleep
in our cool little tent.
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