We were in front of our hotel the next morning 5 minutes before Frank was scheduled to pick us up. We still felt badly about leaving Frank waiting for us a few days ago, even though it wasn’t our fault, so we made sure to get in front of the hotel a little early.

Problem was, there was also a behind the hotel, and that’s where Frank was.

So fifteen minutes later, Frank came in and found a hotel worker and asked about us, the worker went and looked for us at our room, and eventually she found us out front. Sigh. Sorry Frank, we didn’t realize there was a back!

It was much faster getting to Chobe than getting to Hwange a few days before. Out of Livingstone, it’s just a short drive to the Botswana border at Kazungula. Our KAZA Visas we got in Harare allowed us to take day-trips into Botswana via the Kazungula crossing and not have to pay when coming back into Zambia, which is how this day-trip safari came together.

Driving to the border is just part of the trip: the crossing itself is by boat. They’re currently building a bridge to replace this, but for now it’s still boat. So Frank parked the car, led us through the border post to get our stamps, then we got on a tiny passenger boat to cross.

On the other side, we got our entrance stamps to Botswana–third country in two days!–and Frank found our ride to the park. It was a short drive, maybe ten minutes at the most, to the tour offices where we began the morning portion of our two-part tour of Chobe.

Floating Down the Chobe River

The morning portion of the tour was a 2-hour boat ride down the Chobe river. Frank wasn’t coming along on the tours this time, so he left us at the office and said he’d be there to pick us up in the afternoon when we were finished. We were introduced to our driver for the morning which… ah God, I’ve forgotten his name, I’m the worst, so we’ll call him… Sam? Sam told us we’d be the only ones on the tour, just like when we were in Hwange. Hopefully no boats crashed and needed our assistance! He took us to the boat, where he had biscotti and coffee waiting for us. Let’s start the tour!

The boat ride was beautiful, peaceful, and amazing. It was much warmer than when we were in Hwange, so we didn’t freeze. Sam was a fantastic guide, full of knowledge and incredible at spotting animals, especially birds. How do you see all the birds, man?! At one point, when we were on our way back, we were cruising along at high speed when suddenly Sam hit the brakes, turned left, and motored over into the brush, where he pointed out a tiny little bird, which I then struggled to see. How the hell did you see that?!

The water of the river is smooth, clear, and beautiful, and the surroundings so green. We found impala and baboons by the river side, water buffalo making their way across the wetlands and through the river, and so many hippopotamuses, clumped together in piles.

There were also, continuing the theme from Hwange, tons and tons of elephants.

The Chobe river makes up the border between Botswana and a thin sliver of Namibia called the Caprivi Strip. Botswana has strong protections for elephants, outlawing their hunting, and thus the elephant population in Chobe is very strong. Namibia has no such protections, so elephants make their way into Botswana to safety.

Lunch at Chobe Safari Lodge

Sam docked us at the Chobe Safari Lodge hotel, where we had lunch set up for us. Lunch consisted of a beautiful buffet, with tons of desserts that were huge magnets for bees. Just so. Many. Bees.

The food, and tourists who were not careful with it, were also huge magnets for baboons. All through the lodge, you could see baboons perched high in the rafters, sneaking around, and occasionally racing down to steal some unprotected food.

The Safari Lodge Hotel seems like a lovely place to stay and take in a safari or two. Erika and I both agreed that we’d definitely recommend it, as the hotel seems affordable (where a lot are not), and Chobe is a fantastic place for a safari, where you are basically guaranteed to see massive numbers of animals.

A Drive Through a Zoo?

Before lunch, Sam had bid us goodbye, as he didn’t think he’d be going along for the second part of our day, a drive in an open safari jeep through the park. But, it turns out he did come along, and we were thrilled when he greeted us and led us to the jeep.

For the drive, we mostly followed the river into the park, before turning around eventually and heading back. It was the afternoon, and was the dry season for the area, which meant numerous animals would be making their way to the river for water. And that’s exactly what happened.

My goodness, I can’t believe how many animals! Sometimes you’d forget that you weren’t in a zoo, there were that many animals. You didn’t need to look hard, they were everywhere.

“What are you guys hoping to see today?” our driver asked before we had started. Obviously, we said the big cats, though we had no expectation of actually seeing them. “Well, you never know,” he said. He continued to tease it throughout the day, and spent a lot of time radioing to other drivers. It was obvious something was up.

And something was up. There were lions that he’d already known about, and saved until last to take us to. Honestly, spoiled by our lions in Hwange, there wasn’t much to these guys–they mostly hid in the grass, a good ways off the path, so you could barely see them. Yeah, that’s right, I’m so spoiled that I’m complaining about seeing freaking lions. I’m the worst.

What’s Next?

Chobe is awesome. The boat ride down the river, especially, was something special, and worth it all on its own. Hwange is a little harder to get to and enjoy in a day-trip way, but Chobe we can’t recommend more. Actually, I’d almost go so far as to recommend it as your base point, then take day trips to Victoria Falls from there.

Anyway, after another great safari, next is back to see Victoria Falls again! We go visit the falls from the Zambia side this time, on our last full day in the Victoria Falls area. We hope you enjoyed this post on Chobe, and that you come back soon!