Call of the Wild

I wasn't going to blog anymore from Chobe, but it's really been an amazing experience (and we are also somehow getting free internet). Turns out our new campsite is about fifty feet from a pod of hippos, which sufficiently freaked me out, but in a good way, like yeah, this is Africa. We've been told that they never get out of the water, but their loud grunts during the night are keeping our imaginations going. Similarly, on two different game drives, we were surrounded by dozens of elephants, which is truly awesome but also a little scary. Russ did a good job of keeping a respectful distance but it really would not have taken much for them to show us whose turf this was. This was after hearing a report of a guide being killed by an elephant two days ago and another story of small car that got too close to a bull who then overturned it.

These are not the jumbo tuskers we've seen in Etosha and Kruger. But big is big. We have seen more babies and youngsters than ever before. I am so utterly intrigued with elephant group behavior, and the little ones are quite entertaining. The elephant population is so large in this area; not only are they in national park but they often come into town (hard to miss all the dung). It does not seem to be a problem though.

We also saw a pack of wild dogs this morning! The first time ever was six weeks ago in South Africa. To see them twice in a lifetime is something, not to mention in one trip! They were much bigger than the ones we saw in Kruger. We also saw a herd of over one hundred buffalo, which was a spectacular scene. We must have over a hundred photos from today but cannot download them because we lost our camera cable. I am hoping to find someone who can loan us one.

It is good to be back in Botswana, speaking Setswana, and shopping with familiar brands in the supermarket with pula prices. Buying petrol has been a real pleasure as it is about half the price as anywhere else on this trip. We are looking forward to heading into Namibia soon though.