This is the last post from our Chobe-Zambezi trip in October.This post shows the scenes you are likely to see while travelling along the Chobe river between Kasane and Serondela’s picnic spot.

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”

~ Pat Conroy 

A pair of young Lechwe sparing early in the morning on Sedudu island, which is the main island just up river from Kasane.

A pair of Skimmers in full flight above their breeding island

Fish take-aways down next to Elephant Valley.

Elephant bull wading across a channel in the Chobe river with Chobe Savanna Lodge in the background.

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”

~ Lillian Smith

A pair of Carmines were hawking insects from this dead branch. They were flirting with danger! They could quite easily get tangled in the discarded fishermen’s netting caught on the branch, probably swept down during the June high water period.

Purple Heron on a reed island just up river from the rapids which are just downstream from the western side of Kasane.

Sand embankment ideal for nesting Pied Kingfishers. This embankment is under water when the river is at its highest in June.

A view from our boat looking up river toward Chobe Game Lodge.

Elephant crossing at dusk. No passport required for this family who crossed from Botswana to Namibia.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

~ Henry Miller

Just past Pygmy Geese bend we got to a Jackalberry grove next to Baboon bend.

A Hippo surfacing in liquid gold at dusk.

A fisherman’s viewpoint.

Skimmer aerial displays

“…few can sojourn long within the unspoilt wilderness of a game sanctuary, surrounded on all sides by its confiding animals, without absorbing its atmosphere; the Spirit of the Wild is quick to assert supremacy, and no man of any sensibility can resist her.”

~ James Stevenson-Hamilton (first warden of South Africa’s Sabi Nature Reserve)

Elephants and Impala herds grazing on the floodplain.

A flock of Glossy Ibis flying home in formation at dusk.

The three Jackalberry trees at the river entrance to the Chobe National Park  at around 18h30.

The sun was fading behind a bank of cloud casting  glorious splays of colour in the sky which were reflected on the water.

“One cannot resist the lure of Africa.”

~ Rudyard Kipling

On our way up river to Serondela picnic site with Botswana on our left and Namibia on our right.

Not much vegetation but some wonderful perches and good perspectives if the game were to come over the ridge.

Down near Serondela, beautiful tree-lined riverbanks teeming with birds.

Three Elephant mothers having just crossed the Chobe river with their youngsters.

A middle aged Elephant bull wandering along the sandy river bank having just crossed the river.

“Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has never felt it? How can you explain the fascination of this vast, dusty continent, whose oldest roads are elephant paths? Could it be because Africa is the place of all our beginnings, the cradle of mankind, where our species first stood upright on the savannahs of long ago?”

~Brian Jackman

A Buffalo herd on the Namibian side of the river.

Co-existence down at Puku Flats

A herd of Elephant cooling off one afternoon when it was over 40 degrees centigrade.

A wave farewell as the Elephant family disappeared over the sand ridge after crossing the river.

We had a fun-filled nine days. It was really hot, especially at Kalizo Lodge. I don’t think the temperature dropped below 40 degrees centigrade on any of the days. October is know as the “suicide ” month because it can be exceptionally hot but that is Africa!!

“When you’ve acquired a taste for dust,
The scent of our first rain,
You’re hooked for life on Africa
And you’ll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they’re around you,
Waiting in the dark.

When you long to see the elephants.
Or to hear the coucal’s song,
When the moonrise sets your blood on fire,
You’ve been away too long
It’s time to cut the traces loose
And let your heart go free
Beyond that far horizon,
Where your spirit yearns to be.

Africa is waiting – come!
Since you’ve touched the open sky
And learned to love the rustling grass,
The wild fish-eagles cry.
You’ll always hunger for the bush,
For the lion’s rasping roar,
To camp at last beneath the stars
And to be at peace once more.”
~ C. EMILY-DIBB

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike