Chobe National Park - Day 10

The legendary elephants of the Chobe river. 

Since we'd were going into the park for the last day, we were up as usual before sunrise and ready to go soon after. We were dropping Sudesh off on the way to the park for him to pick up a guide and head to Maun to continue his adventure.

Side on shots of the elephants drinking

Meanwhile, we arrived at the Sedudu gate, registered and headed into the park.Our plan was basically to hammer up the main road to where the lions were seen the previous day, look for the lions, and then meander back along the riverfront.

We got the strategy right as the lions were exactly where we thought they'd be, but unfortunately, they had also chosen to sleep in the bushes with only a tail flick every now and then being seen.

The Hunter and the Scavenger, Marabou and Yellow-billed storks

It didn't seem there was much else in terms of predator action as a lot of the game drive vehicles were also there. And they were causing a bit of chaos when one if the cars wouldn't start, so the guides were out the cars trying to sort it out all the while a pride of lions slept nearby, either unaware or uncaring.

We left the chaotic scene and headed back down the river in the hopes of catching some elephants coming down to drink. We positioned ourselves at an area we've known them to cross from the hills to the water and then proceeded to wait. We spent some time photographing the amusing spoonbills with their chaotic fishing strategy and also the yellow billed storks whose fishing seemed much more productive.

Looks chaotic but these yellow-billed storks are fishermen

The wait paid off when suddenly a herd of elephants appeared from the hills in single file heading down to the river to drink. We spent some quality time with them while they drank and walked along a raised bank to have a mud wallow.

By now, it was getting hot and creeping to midday. We decided to head out of the park and buy lunch at the local shop, saving our previously planned lunch for dinner instead.

Deserved prize

We also made a call to head back to Senyati in the heat of the day. That would allow us to releax a bit after lunch and also ask them to sort out a scraping tree branch on the roof that kept us awake for the better part of the night.

The Spoonbill one of the most chaotic fishing techniques.

At camp, we entertained ourselves by shooting one of the habituated banded mongoose troupes that hang around. They'd all piled into one big ball of banded mongoose in the shade of a chalet to keep cool - a very amusing sight.

The band resting in the heat of the day, except this one guy. 

So the plan was to spend a bit of time in the park but get back Senyati by early evening in case something came to drink in good light.

So back to Chobe we went but in the end it was hot and the elephants weren't really delivering on our hopes. We did see a few herds come to drink and some nice giraffe but it wasn't the massive herds that we wanted and so with a last drive we said goodbye to Chobe and headed back to Senyati for the evening.

Mucking about

For once we could set up the rooftent in light and were just finished getting organized for the evening and planning to head down to the restaurant for a drink when we spitted a herd of elephants on their way to drink. This is what we had hoped for - elephants in good light at the waterhole so we could shoot from the underground hide.

A herd arrives in good light

A lovely scene in perfect light of about 6 elephants drinking, the magic that Senyati is known for. And just as they left, another lone female arrived. This was unusual for a female to be on her own and we surmised that she is actually the matriarch or elder female of the herd that had been drinking. 

She looked like she had recently given birth but without a small calf with her we can only assume that she'd lost the calf and even though we are putting human emotions on an elephant, she actually looked a bit lost and sad.

The herd stood a distance from her but didn't move away. For a while it went on until one of the youngsters went up to her, touched her and then they all started moving away from the waterhole, with her still a distance from the herd and disappeared into the bush.

After this herd the light disappeared and we went back to the campsite to chill out and watch the waterhole from our chairs. And slowly the herds started making an appearance in the dark while we sorted out an easy dinner of chicken rolls and made sure we were packed for tomorrow's long drive.

Splashing alerted us to the buffalo herd arriving who drank separately from the elephants. And then it was an early night to the sound of the pearl spotted owlet to rest up for the long drive home.