Chobe

This past Friday was a public holiday here, Sir Seretse Khama Day, honoring the founding father and first president.  I decided to head to northern Botswana and Chobe National Park, home of 55,000 elephants, for the weekend.  We left Thursday evening and got in early Friday morning.  Friday morning we went on a game drive into the park for several hours. 

It is the dry season right now, which means that it has not rained for several months.  This forces animals to move close to the Chobe River in search of food and water.

Hippos!

We also (almost literally) ran into a bull elephant in must. 

He started kicking up dust with his trunk to try and intimidate us.  We retreated gracefully. 

There were also giraffes around.

Elephant bones!  Apparently this one died recently and scavengers scattered the bones.  As they encounter them, elephants will push the bones together in a pile.  They are the only animal outside of humans to have a known death ritual.

Buffalo, not a friendly animal.

!

From a different angle.

 We then went back into town and had lunch before setting off on a boat cruise in the afternoon.

 Because there is little to eat on the mainland, many elephants swim to the islands in the middle of the river to eat.

We sat and watched them for a while. 

A herd coming down to drink.

They drank.

They threw mud on themselves.

The babies wallowed in the mud.

 With that, we headed back, camped for the night, and bused back on Saturday.  It was a great trip.  I am planning to leave on Saturday to go to Mozambique, coming back to Gabs on the 20th and flying out on the 21st, so this will probably be my last update.

A baobab tree,