Chobe National Park (2nd day)

First – College Guy turns 24 today. I’m never sure if he wants well wishes from the rest of the world but I am more than happy to pass them on. Right now he is the only one in California since his sisters are in Chicago, N Y C and Barcelona. We are obviously in Botswana

Today’s adventure started out the gate at 0630 and ran till 1500+ followed by diner and entertainment tonight under the stars.

This morning seemed to be mostly birds till we headed toward the river. Crocodiles were sunning themselves and a lone hippo lay ½ buried in tall marsh grass next to the water.

Then there was the slight matter of impalas everywhere. Today we saw herds of females as well as the herds of young males. Zebras move like their equine cousins and rather briskly at that. I missed the snake sighting but had to laugh at the banded mongoose.

We saw both monkeys and baboons. The monkeys, as it turns out are faster at snatching food from picnic tables than humans are defending their daily bread.

The lion was looking majestic. She was looking like cat in the sun. The giraffes continue to amaze me but perhaps the most impressive sight were the herds of elephants (40+ in one and over 20 in the other ) heading for a long afternoon drink.

The first herd

The end of the rainy season is approaching so mating season for some species is under way. Let’s just leave it with more variety of species male dangles than I really needed to see and the permanent vision burned in my brain of male lions being faster than a teenage boy.