Exploring the Chobe River: A Wildlife Adventure

This is the second time I have visited Botswana’s Chobe Game Lodge along the Chobe River. The first was a few years ago at the end of the driest and hottest season – October. The lodge itself is beautiful, and is fortunate enough to be situated inside of Chobe National Park. After a morning of car travel from Zambia, we are greeted with a delicious, cucumber & mint refresher as well as warm hand towels to clean the dust off our hands and faces.

In the evening, our small group takes a boat ride along the Chobe River. Elephants are abundant, as are birds, Kudu, Crocodiles and Baboons. I will write a separate post about the birds of Southern Africa later, as this would be way too long for all of you if I included my bird photos!

The Elephants, or “Ellies”, as I will henceforth call them, travel down to this river every day to drink, bathe and cool off. The river is the life blood of all species here in Botswana. They come running down with their old and with their new.

Kitso is one of the famous new female safari guides that Chobe Game Lodge hires every year. She proves herself to be an intrepid guide who finds us the best animal and bird viewing opportunities in the area. Below is a male Kudu who just took a long drink from the river. Our group is mesmerized by his large, curly horns.

She then spots a herd of ellies who are about to cross the river. Our group watches the herd as one enters first, then all of the others follow. It is a deep river, and we are a bit worried about the youngest elephant, but as it turns out, he or she was okay and got to the other side without incident. Below, the largest one emerges on the other side.

At the end of our first day at Chobe, a baboon eats fruit in a tree near the river bank.

Very early the next morning, we climb up into the Safari vehicles and set out on a game drive with Kitso. She hears on the radio that there are lions in the area, and then we see the lion tracks.

Kitso delivers us to this particular pride of lions with speed and finesse, as she maneuvers her vehicle into a wonderful spot from where can view some lion parents with their cubs. These lions are part of The Broken Tail Pride.

Lions are fantastic parents. They play with their cubs in order to teach them how to survive later in life, and also how to get along with other members of the pride. Here, the mother lion plays with her cub.

Below, the young father lion tussles with his cub, too. They are both covered in sand.

We then drive to another area to watch the same pride.

The lions enter in from the right of our vehicle, and they walk right across the road in front of us. They are used to people in vehicles watching them, and are completely nonchalant about the gang of Paparazzi following them.

Further down the river, we see a female Kudu and Sheryl and I notice the Ears.

We always enjoy seeing Giraffes.

I’ve made an exception for the Kori Bustard, which is the National Bird of Botswana. It is known as “bird of the Chiefs”, kgori in the local language of Setswana. It is a large bird, standing around 2-3 feet tall.

The end of our 2nd day on the Chobe River.

On our last game drive at Chobe, I spot a female lion near the river and say to the group, “there’s a lion and it’s carrying something in its mouth.” It turns out to be a Warthog that a mother lion had just killed for her young, and she is slowly carrying it back to her cubs. It takes a lot of effort on her part.

The cubs are away from the pride, under a tree near our vehicle, and she drops the animal every 20 steps or so to take a break because she is exhausted.

She drags the unfortunate warthog across the road in front of us!

One of the Lucky Warthogs that got away!

The mother lion finally gets the meal to her cubs. They eat, and then it is time for them to take a nap.

Below, Momma herself collapses after a job well done!

It turns out that this momma cat and her two cubs are also part of the Broken Tail Pride. Two weeks later, they will rejoin the rest of the pride. But when they are young, she keeps them hidden and away from the rest of the group for their protection.

One of the other female lions in the Broken Tail Pride.

At the end of our last day in Botswana, the entire pride turns and walks into the sunset.

A fitting end to an incredible day.