Chobe National Park, Botswana, Sept 25, 2014

Sept 24

We crossed back into Botswana and are staying at the Toro Lodge right on the river and the individual units would be fine if everything worked. We all had to move 2 or 3 times before everyone found a room which had a working shower, working air conditioner and working fan. 
However the site on the banks of the Chobe river was great.

 Next morning we were up before dawn for an early morning game drive through Chobe National Park. We sped past lots of interesting birds in an almost vain hunt for lions. Our reward was to be caught in an immense "lion jam". Chobe National Park has the largest concentration of elephants in Botswana - about 80,000 and we saw plenty.

That night an elephant which raged through the grounds despite the efforts of the staff to divert it added some excitement. Paying our bar bills in the morning proved fairly problematic. The estimates for mine ranged between 119 ($15) and 35 ($5) Pula. I eventually settled for 61 Pula.

 Dawn as we set off on a game drive in Chobe National Park

First sighting -a giraffe posing by the road.

We had warthogs strolling through the lodge grounds. The meat is very good.

A honey badger tackles a termite mound - the ants are apparently a delicacy for it.

On the prowl for the rest of breakfast

Smoked guinea fowl is a nice entree.

Part of the lion jam! The lions only made fleeting appearances from behind the bushes.

Two impalas lock antlers.

Sable antelope?

Not sure of the collective noun for impala (but I do know it is a dazzle for zebras!)

Cape buffalo

So many elephants, but you can see they

are doing it tough at the end of the dry season.

Hippopotamus and attendant birds.

Two of the many species of wading birds.

 Breakfast on the terrace.
 
 Another view of the lodge showing the Chobi River