Chobe

Doris is driven by Jacques, a veteran of African overlanding at 28; while his girlfriend, Celia, is the “tour leader”. Our six fellow travellers are Ed, a 64 year old Australian (although he's still claiming to be 46); kiwi mother and son team, Ann and Luke; American friends, Emerald and Megan; and finally another Aussie, Yola. Yola and Emerald are currently studying in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively.

To cover distant we often set off very early (5am), which means taking down the tent in the pitch black, and rolling up the damp canvas with numb hands. We are split into four teams, three of which rotated cooking, cleaning and washing-up, while the forth (myself and Luke) lifted the heavy stuff in and out of the truck. It's a little bit like being in the army, with the twist that you are paying them.














From Maun we rattled north-east towards the Chobe river and national park. After an overnight transit stop on route, we stopped for breakfast on the side of the road, where one couldn't help noticing that diesel was spraying out from the engine compartment; as it turned out one of the filters has cracked, and as the system is under high pressure, the result was a ornamental fountain of diesel. Fortunately, Jacques had a spare filter, and repairs were made quickly.














We arrived in plenty of time for our sunset cruise on the Chobe river, which forms the northern border with improbably shaped Namibia. The river had plenty of crocodiles and hippos, neither of which was inclined to put on much of a show beyond wallowing on the mud banks. The elephants were more active, with a juvenile in musk proudly showing off his fifth leg, before squaring off for a bit of play fighting.

Very early the next morning we had a game drive. Now despite knowing how cold these things are, I still didn't wear enough clothes – my thermals weren't cutting it, and everyone else brought along their sleeping bags. After half-an-hour of only seeing antelopes, I was regretting leaving the tent (I'm so over antelopes). Then our guide got a call on the radio, and we rushed off.


















What we found was a dozen other safari vehicles, jockeying for position around a pride of lions. The lions, two females with cubs and two males, were tracking a large herd of buffalos. Among the herd was a limping calf, who seemed to have breakfast stamped on his head. One of the females began a run, however, soon she was in retreat with several large bulls chasing her. These charges and counter-charges went on for over an hour, with the herd of safari vehicles fighting for the best position (the herd of buffalos seemed less interested in moving).














With an apparent stalemate reached the lionesses settled down in the grass with their cubs, who were content to play in a ever so cute way. Meanwhile a male (who took no part in the hunt) wandered into a group of impala, who seemed completely at easy with his presence – they can easy out run lions (but not leopards), so have no fear standing close to them.














Despise the bitter cold, it was our best lion viewing yet – just a shame Limpy the buffalo didn't end up as breakfast.