Enough of African Wildlife

Our trip to the Okavango Delta was cancelled due to 2 tourists having recently been killed by hippopotamuses (or is it hippopotami?).  We were told this was because the water levels were low, but they did not seem very low to us; probably more about stearing well clear of any potential trouble for tourists.  I did however spend a memorable evening drinking gin and tonic and watching out for swimming hippopotamuses in the Okavango River at Bagani with fellow travellers.  Another special moment.

Our delta trip was replaced with another game drive, the highlight of which was definitely seeing a pack of 16 wild dogs, an endangered species.  The local paper reported on a "rare sighting" of 10 dogs together in the wild.  We saw 16.  Apparently they hunt together as a group killing largish mammals such as wildebeest and springbok. Over 80% of their attempted hunts end in success - for the lion this is only 10%.

There were lots of amazing birds too – I didn’t realise there were so many.  Our guide's book of African mammals included 800 species; the bird book was 4000. We all loved this one but I can't remember its name; it was very common.

In the evening we went on a boat trip.  We spent a long time watching a family of elephants come down to the river to drink.  The youngsters also decided to take a dip and refused to get out when their parents had finished which was somewhat amusing.   

The trip was interrupted by a particularly ferocious thunder storm.  The pre-storm oppressiveness provided an interesting photo opportunity.  Despite not seeing crocodiles and hippopotami close up, it was a fun 3 hour trip.  

The next day meant yet another game drive, this time in the infamous Chobe national park.  Felt a little sorry for our local guide as everytime he pointed out a elephant or a zebra or a kodu or a giraffe in the distance, we all said “drive on – seen it all before!”  Shows how spoilt we were!  There were baboons all over the place which was a little bit new but the only special moment was a scarily close encounter with a family of elephants as they crossed the road as they protected their youngster.  We also got pretty close to a  giraffe.  On the whole, Chobe in the wet season is not a good idea!

Seeing wild animals close up is always going to be amazing but I am not sure I will go on safari again.  Unless I can guarantee seeing a Leopard that is.  That it is the wet season does not help – the best viewing is when the animals are forced to come to the waterholes.  I enjoyed being there out of season though – we did feel on each game drive that for the most part we were the only ones in the park tracking down the wildlife – it felt like an adventure.