| Hidden Paradise - Chobe Safaris | | | | especially elephants, come to quench their thirst. |
| If you are passionate about elephants, then the | | | | On our first day we went on a relaxing boat |
| Chobe National Park would be your Garden of | | | | cruise down the Chobe River. This gives you the |
| Eden. A very close friend Guillaume is a French | | | | chance to enjoy a different view of the |
| wildlife photographer who specialises in | | | | Botswana wildlife while travelling down the river. |
| photographing elephants. | | | | We saw quite a few hippos which is rather |
| The wet season | | | | frightening, considering that they can flip the |
| Every year Guillaume comes to Botswana when | | | | canoe we were on without much difficulty. Hippos |
| the migratory elephants travel through the Chobe | | | | are well known for their bad tempers, but so far |
| National Park, from the rivers to the pans, which | | | | there haven't been many attacks on any canoes |
| during the wet season, fill up with rain. It's during | | | | that our guide could recall. |
| this season that not only herds of elephants flock | | | | A few memorabilia's... |
| to this area, but wildlife photographers in great | | | | On our game drives, Guillaume had a few very |
| profusion. The amount of elephant herds to be | | | | good photo opportunities. We saw four of the Big |
| seen is a miracle of nature and I have never | | | | Five: buffalo, elephant, lions and leopards, but |
| before seen so many! It is estimated that there | | | | unfortunately not the rhino. Although there are |
| are approximately 120 000 elephants in the Chobe | | | | rhinos in Chobe, seeing one is very rare. We also |
| National Park, the highest concentration in the | | | | had the rare fortune of seeing Sable antelopes. |
| world today. | | | | Sable antelope are quite big with a shaggy mane |
| Sunsets in Botswana are always beautiful, with | | | | and ringed horns that can grow over one and a |
| bright colours of orange, yellow and pink across | | | | half metres in males. |
| the sky in contrast with the beauty of the land. I | | | | The rest of my stay was enjoyed with more |
| was going to be in the Chobe National Park for | | | | game drives and we even had the pleasure of a |
| two weeks, joining Guillaume for his one month | | | | night game drive, bird watching, the occasional try |
| stay and doing some catching up and relaxing | | | | at fishing and a walking safari. On our walking |
| during my yearly holiday. | | | | safari I came back with cuts and bruises, which I |
| Elephant Valley Lodge | | | | would like to say was not my fault, but in all |
| During our stay, we booked into the Elephant | | | | honesty, if you don't look where you are walking, |
| Valley Lodge which is approximately half an hour's | | | | the chances are you will trip over something and |
| drive from the Chobe National Park. I found it | | | | get closer to mother earth than you'd like. |
| quite amusing that at the lodge there is a tent | | | | Guillaume was the perfect gentleman and helped |
| built facing a waterhole, aptly named the | | | | me up without laughing, but I couldn't help but |
| "Discovery Channel". Waterholes offer all kinds of | | | | burst into laughter as I sat up straight. |
| wonderful entertainment when the animals, | | | | |