Back from Botswana

 Michael - Alternate Thursdays

We're just back in Knysna from a magnificent trip to Botswana. We went with two friends who are as keen on the African Bush as we are, and were guided by Peter Comley, who knows as much about the wildlife of the country as anyone and a lot more than almost everyone. 

We flew to Kasane on the Chobe River in the north of the country, and over the next two weeks we visited almost all my favorite places there except for the Okavango itself. Fortunately, there had been plenty of rain and the Zambezi was running high. That's important because it reverses the flow of the Chobe pushing water up the erstwhile tributary which starts to flow to the west. That turns the Chobe floodplain into a paradise of animals and birds until the Zambezi sinks and the Chobe starts running east again.

It will take me a while to get my head around the trip, so in the meanwhile here are a selection of pictures. Hopefully they will give an idea of what two weeks in the Chobe can be like.

African skimmer on an island

Glossy Ibis fishing

(and showing off some gloss)

Coexistence

Not too early for a snack

Subadult lioness

Yes, that is the wing mirror

Time for a cuddle

Now it's serious. A wildebeest is in sight

Everyone has to eat

Puku, rare in the Chobe

What's up?

Nothing like mud!

Baobabs

A pack of African Hunting Dogs with puppies