Day 6, Chobe National Park late afternoon safari drive.
We head out in the safari vehicle to go to Chobe National Park for the last time.
Below is the park entrance. Our driver had to check in and out each time we went for a safari drive.
We had had such an experience with the elephant crossing this morning that on this late afternoon trip, we plan to just enjoy our last visit to the animals in this park. Chobe is fairly dense with wildlife, and the elephants (especially) seem pretty used to having tourists watching them. This afternoon we again see giraffes, kudu, impala, vultures and other birds, and hippos. We are always on the watch for leopards, looking up in trees. I'll share just a few photos: species we hadn't seen before, that I hadn't photographed well before, or photos that I especially like from that day. (The last animal we saw was a surprise and a special, rare treat. But I'll get to that.)
We saw a black sable antelope, an endangered species:
A kori bustard bird:
I can't resist photographing giraffes:
We had seen a banded mongoose, but I had yet to get a good photo.
I'm not sure, but this elephant might be in musth. Note the dark line down the side of his face, and darkened stains on his rear legs. Musth is a periodic sexual aggression condition in bull elephants. I remember a stinky smell, too, another sign of musth.
Far in the distance were two hippos with open mouths. The sun was sinking and taking the light away, but you might get a kick out of this photo anyway.
We were almost out of the park when suddenly the guide pulled over to the side. Hyena, he said. And ssssshh! There was a mother hyena and her babies in a den in a culvert under the road. We strained to take pictures in the fading light. Then each safari jeep coming up behind us wondered what we were looking at, stopped, and made noise until we shushed them. The mother hyena was quite stressed. We didn't stay long because we knew we were bothering her. It was yet another amazing sight.
I switched to movie mode. If you listen closely, you can hear the high-pitched mewling of the babies at the beginning and the end of the clip. About a third of the way through, one of the babies briefly appears in the bottom left of the frame.
After this unexpected sighting, we finally returned for our last dinner and night in the Mowana lodge in Botswana. Tomorrow, off to a new country.
Navigation: first safari blog entry
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Below is the park entrance. Our driver had to check in and out each time we went for a safari drive.
We had had such an experience with the elephant crossing this morning that on this late afternoon trip, we plan to just enjoy our last visit to the animals in this park. Chobe is fairly dense with wildlife, and the elephants (especially) seem pretty used to having tourists watching them. This afternoon we again see giraffes, kudu, impala, vultures and other birds, and hippos. We are always on the watch for leopards, looking up in trees. I'll share just a few photos: species we hadn't seen before, that I hadn't photographed well before, or photos that I especially like from that day. (The last animal we saw was a surprise and a special, rare treat. But I'll get to that.)
We saw a black sable antelope, an endangered species:
A kori bustard bird:
I can't resist photographing giraffes:
We had seen a banded mongoose, but I had yet to get a good photo.
I'm not sure, but this elephant might be in musth. Note the dark line down the side of his face, and darkened stains on his rear legs. Musth is a periodic sexual aggression condition in bull elephants. I remember a stinky smell, too, another sign of musth.
Far in the distance were two hippos with open mouths. The sun was sinking and taking the light away, but you might get a kick out of this photo anyway.
We were almost out of the park when suddenly the guide pulled over to the side. Hyena, he said. And ssssshh! There was a mother hyena and her babies in a den in a culvert under the road. We strained to take pictures in the fading light. Then each safari jeep coming up behind us wondered what we were looking at, stopped, and made noise until we shushed them. The mother hyena was quite stressed. We didn't stay long because we knew we were bothering her. It was yet another amazing sight.
I switched to movie mode. If you listen closely, you can hear the high-pitched mewling of the babies at the beginning and the end of the clip. About a third of the way through, one of the babies briefly appears in the bottom left of the frame.
After this unexpected sighting, we finally returned for our last dinner and night in the Mowana lodge in Botswana. Tomorrow, off to a new country.
Navigation: first safari blog entry
Next blog entry
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