A Quick Trip to Botswana

Max, our game drive ranger. 

Today I was up in time to be picked up at 7:30 for a trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. It’s about an hour’s drive from Vic Falls to the border. Once there, we got off the bus, walked through Zimbabwe Immigration to exit, and then through Botswana Immigration to enter the country. This was all part of an organized tour, so it was fairly simple.




On the Botswana side, a partner tour company loaded us up for a 20-minute drive to a game lodge on the Kwando River. First we boarded a riverboat for a two-hour tour. The river forms the border of Chobe National Park in that area, with Namibia on the other side.

This area is geopolitically interesting in that the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe all come together within a relatively small area, with Angola not far off.



On the cruise we saw lots of hippos and crocs and some elephants, along with a number of birds and water monitors. Afterward we had a buffet lunch.

After lunch we headed out for a two-and-a-half-hour game drive through Chobe. I wasn’t expecting to see much since it was midday, but I was pleasantly surprised. We saw kudu, impala, guinea fowl (and plenty of other birds), baboons, one jackal, warthogs, buffalo, lots of giraffe, and tons 😉 of elephants — even a resting lioness.






My sighting of the day, though, came neither on the cruise nor the game drive. It was on the side of the road as we drove to the border. I spotted several southern ground hornbills. They’re fairly large birds and, I gather, not a common sight. It was quick, but I managed to get a far off photo as we zipped past. But I saw them!




After the game drive we headed straight for the border in the game-drive truck, processed back into Zimbabwe, and I was dropped off at my hotel.

After getting cleaned up, having a cocktail, and eating a little dinner, I headed to bed. Tomorrow is my last full day of the trip.

I had two hiccups today. First, I forgot my passport when they picked me up this morning. Luckily I remembered before we left town, and the driver took me back to get it. Second, when re-entering Zimbabwe I found out I’d bought only a single-entry visa. It was a $50 mistake, but at least I could get back in.


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