If we thought the flight into the delta was spectacular, we never imagined it could be surpassed by the flight out. We sat on a log near the Oddballs landing strip and saw a small plane land smoothly. After unloading provisions, we were the only two passengers aboard this 4-seater for the one hour flight to Kasane. There we were on our own private plane! We flew out of the watery delta and then over a forested area, not seeing any sign of habitation during the entire flight. Botswana is the size of France but has a population of less than two million, so it’s not surprising that there are large empty spaces.
We arrived at the Chobe Marina Lodge— the antitheses of Oddballs Camp! We had a luxury room with all the mod cons, but the best was having a balcony overlooking the river. We received all the honeymoon treats including a nice bottle of South African bubbly—and celebrate we did!
Chobe National Park is know for its large herds of elephants and buffalo, so we were excited to get game watching. On our first evening, we went on a river cruise and saw hippos in the water, hippos out of the water munching on the lush green grass and hippos chasing hippos. For an animal that is usually seen as eyes and ears peeping above the waterline, we were thrilled! It was an exciting start to our stay in Kasane, a modest but pleasant Botswanan town.
We went on several game drives and were treated to lion viewings! The best was a beautiful young lion pair who seemed to enjoy posing for us. The thousands of elephants eluded us, but we did see a few. The guides seemed to take great delight in driving as close as possible them-- it is completely unnerving when such a massive creature heads straight toward the safari vehicle. We loved the hippo and lion sightings, but were longing for more elephants…..
In Part 3, we cross the border into Zimbabwe.
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