Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death


Hypo-community
Hippos semi-submerged in the Chobe River.
River Safari I
Visitors to PN Chobe admire the scenery and fauna from the middle of the Chobe River.
Pachyderm Hierarchy
Elephants file up to one of the many islets left by the lower flow of the Chobe River.
Game Drive
Jeep safari on the Chobe river bank.
with an eye wide open
Warning crocodile on high bank of Chobe.
Bulls Girl
Young girl from a tribal village on the banks of the Chobe River.
island elephants
Elephants graze on an islet in the middle of the Chobe River.
Big Wings, Bigger Beak
Band of Marabus flies over the plain on the banks of the river.
River Safari II
Visitors to Chobe National Park aboard a boat that takes them on a river safari.
Dead nature
Abandoned nest at the top of a dry tree in the Caprivi range.
Hypo-Protection
Juvenile hippopotamus stays close to the parent during the closest passage of boats.
Face to face
Passengers on a river safari admire elephants on an islet in the middle of the Chobe.
leggy elegance
A Yellow-billed Stork in the Chobe River.
Hierarchy of Pachyderm II
Elephants vie for a kind of river throne on a grassy island in the middle of the Chobe River.
African tones
Birds perched on the branches of a dry tree leaning over the Chobe River.
Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.

When asked about the reasons for remarrying Elisabeth Taylor, just 16 months after they divorced after 10 years of married life, Richard Burton replied, "You can't hit two sticks of dynamite against each other without hoping they don't burst."

The couple chose a place few wary Americans would remember, as the explosive civil war then raged in Rhodesia, a state enacted by minority white settlers to prevent the direct handover of power from Britain to indigenous leaders. A state not recognized by most of the international community.

Burton and Taylor boarded a private jet in the South Africa and flew to that same territory, the Zimbabwe of today).

They then crossed to Botswana. They celebrated their second wedding ceremony in Kasane, a city as unlikely as it is used to coexisting with unions.

Kasane is situated on the Four Corners of Africa, at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi. The actors' honeymoon was spent at the Chobe Game Lodge, on the bank of the homonymous river.

Aware of the natural beauty of their land and the number of times Taylor has been divorced, the tswanas from those places reiterate that the diva “was much better at choosing places than husbands”.

village girl, chobe national park, botswana

Young girl from a tribal village on the banks of the Chobe River.

The Riverside Convenience of Chobe Lodge

We were on our way to that same hostel. Botswana's dignified roads proved to us the economic gap between the sparsely inhabited but heavily populated nation. diamond of the tswanas and the duo Zim-Zam to the north. They allowed us to advance at amazing speeds. It wouldn't be long before we heard the joke too.

The Chobe Lodge opened in 1974. It welcomed the couple in October 1975. A few years later, it was closed due to the spread of the already long Liberation War in Zimbabwe.

For seven years, it kept its doors sealed, its gardens given over to the bush and the elephants that trampled them on their way to the river.

With the end of the conflict, two young South Africans bought him, recovered the tradition of the famous wedding and propelled him to an inevitable world star.

The river that gave meaning to its construction and success flowed over the decades, indifferent to military skirmishes and the covers of society magazines, dependent only on the capricious weather of the region.

elephants lined up, chobe national park, botswana

Elephants file up to one of the many islets left by the lower flow of the Chobe River.

The Chobe River Meteorological Fluctuations

The Chobe is supplied by several perennial water sources. Even so, its flow volume fluctuates drastically from the dry season (usually from May to October) to the rainy season.

Animals try to adjust as best they can, but as we've seen and seen again in countless television documentaries, overall, the quality of their lives declines as the blazing sun intensifies the drought and the river shrinks.

Yellow-billed Stork, Chobe National Park, Botswana

A Yellow-billed Stork in the Chobe River.

No species has to reason out there to avoid the suffocating heat that sets in from mid-morning onwards. Most of the animals carefully approach the banks by the fresh air.

Accordingly, the river trips carried out by the lodge are either early risers or – like the first one we took part in – at the end of the afternoon.

passengers and wildlife, chobe national park, botswana

Visitors to PN Chobe admire the scenery and fauna from the middle of the Chobe River.

Embarkation for a Glorious River Safari

The vessel sets sail from the small dock. He immerses himself in the river under the scrutinizing gaze of an osprey atop a dead log. We follow close to the water.

Moments later, we are confronted by herds of buffalo and elephant grazing fresh grass. Unexpectedly, the river bank rises.

In a flash, we started to admire them from the bottom up. Some specimens take measurements from the grassed pedestal.

elephants on an island, chobe national park, botswana

Elephants vie for a kind of river throne on a grassy island in the middle of the Chobe River.

As do, from the opposite side, curious elephants, kings and lords of small green islands from which intimidated crocodiles hurl themselves.

The ferry continues its long trail between Botswana and Namíbia, meanwhile under a magenta sky that reflects off the water and stains large colonies of almost submerged hippopotamuses.

hippopotami, chobe national park, botswana

Hippos semi-submerged in the Chobe River.

We can only see their ears and eyes outside, strangely pink with the coming twilight and the time to return to the harbor.

And Chobe's Complementary Game Drive

With the next dawn, we board a jeep instead of the ferry. Overland, we explore a vast riverside area covered by gazelles and some predators, part of a game drives – that's what the English-speakers call it – that didn't bring big news.

jeep safari, chobe national park, botswana

Jeep safari on the Chobe river bank.

In the meantime, we return to Kasane with the primary objective of crossing the Chobe and the border to Namibia, through the unusual Caprivi strip, a kind of cartographic spear that the Germans speared in Africa, during the colonial era.

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the territory we approached as we crossed the Chobe was integrated into Bechuanaland, the modern-day Botswana.

In 1890, Germany set out to join the island of Zanzibar – then British – to her colony Tanzania.

After several diplomatic trials, the British agreed to cede Caprivi and to give the Germans direct access to the Zambezi River. In return, they preserved Zanzibar and seized Heligoland, another remote island in the North Sea.

We settled at Chobe Savanna Lodge. There, the river sceneries are similar to those at Chobe Lodge.

river safari visitors, chobe national park, botswana

Visitors to Chobe National Park aboard a boat that takes them on a river safari.

The great novelty and emotion to match takes place when, during a new river safari, the raft invades the territory of some hippos and one of them storms furiously against the vessel.

The attack makes us lose our balance. It forces the skipper to move away using the maximum power of the engines. Luckily, it doesn't last long. Once the danger is past, it feeds countless opportunistic jokes.

A Chobe's Unexpected But Deserved Scare

Already in full disembarkation, at sunset and in an exaggerated photographic mode, we follow the line of passengers, when we observe the beauty of a dead tree against the sunset.

dry tree birds, chobe national park, botswana

Birds perched on the branches of a dry tree leaning over the Chobe River.

For a moment, we lose awareness of where we are. We left the line and walked a few dozen meters in the direction of that tree, always by the river.

Faced with the subject, we couldn't resist approaching the water and crouching down, in order to make the branches stand out against the sky. We are involved in this framing process when we notice several pairs of rounded sparkles in the water.

crocodile, chobe national park, botswana

Warning crocodile on high bank of Chobe.

At a glance, we are caught up in the dramatic return of reason. We were a mere meter and a half, two meters at all, from crocodiles that could be both juvenile and the largest to inhabit the Chobe.

We take a measured step backwards. Recovered the safety of greater distance and vertical posture. We retreated shivering into the fortified interior of Chobe Lodge. We had survived that moment of unexpected madness.

The next one might not go so well.

Cape Cross, Namíbia

The Most Turbulent of the African Colonies

Diogo Cão landed in this cape of Africa in 1486, installed a pattern and turned around. The immediate coastline to the north and south was German, South African, and finally Namibian. Indifferent to successive transfers of nationality, one of the largest seal colonies in the world has maintained its hold there and animates it with deafening marine barks and endless tantrums.
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Okavango Delta, Not all rivers reach the sea, Mokoros
Safari
Okavango Delta, Botswana

Not all rivers reach the sea

Third longest river in southern Africa, the Okavango rises in the Angolan Bié plateau and runs 1600km to the southeast. It gets lost in the Kalahari Desert where it irrigates a dazzling wetland teeming with wildlife.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
holy plain, Bagan, Myanmar
Architecture & Design
Bagan, Myanmar

The Plain of Pagodas, Temples and other Heavenly Redemptions

Burmese religiosity has always been based on a commitment to redemption. In Bagan, wealthy and fearful believers continue to erect pagodas in hopes of winning the benevolence of the gods.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

The Pueblos del Sur Locainas, Their Dances and Co.

From the beginning of the XNUMXth century, with Hispanic settlers and, more recently, with Portuguese emigrants, customs and traditions well known in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in northern Portugal, were consolidated in the Pueblos del Sur.
cozy Vegas
Cities
Las Vegas, USA

World Capital of Weddings vs Sin City

The greed of the game, the lust of prostitution and the widespread ostentation are all part of Las Vegas. Like the chapels that have neither eyes nor ears and promote eccentric, quick and cheap marriages.
Meal
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Busy intersection of Tokyo, Japan
Culture
Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
The Toy Train story
Traveling
Siliguri a Darjeeling, India

The Himalayan Toy Train Still Running

Neither the steep slope of some stretches nor the modernity stop it. From Siliguri, in the tropical foothills of the great Asian mountain range, the Darjeeling, with its peaks in sight, the most famous of the Indian Toy Trains has ensured for 117 years, day after day, an arduous dream journey. Traveling through the area, we climb aboard and let ourselves be enchanted.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Ethnic
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
At the end of the afternoon
History
Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique  

The Island of Ali Musa Bin Bique. Pardon... of Mozambique

With the arrival of Vasco da Gama in the extreme south-east of Africa, the Portuguese took over an island that had previously been ruled by an Arab emir, who ended up misrepresenting the name. The emir lost his territory and office. Mozambique - the molded name - remains on the resplendent island where it all began and also baptized the nation that Portuguese colonization ended up forming.
Elafonisi, Crete, Greece
Islands
Chania to Elafonisi, Crete, Greece

A Crete-style Beach Trip

Discovering the Cretan west, we left Chania, followed the Topolia gorge and less marked gorges. A few kilometers later, we reach a Mediterranean corner of watercolor and dream, that of the island of Elafonisi and its lagoon.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Winter White
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
Serra Dourada, Cerrado, Goiás, Brazil
Nature
Serra Dourada, Goiás, Brazil

Where the Cerrado Waves Golden

One of the types of South America savannah, the Cerrado extends over more than a fifth of the Brazilian territory, which supplies much of its fresh water. Located in the heart of the Central Plateau and the state of Goiás, the Serra Dourada State Park shines double.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Hell's Bend of Fish River Canyon, Namibia
Natural Parks
Fish River Canyon, Namíbia

The Namibian Guts of Africa

When nothing makes you foreseeable, a vast river ravine burrows the southern end of the Namíbia. At 160km long, 27km wide and, at intervals, 550 meters deep, the Fish River Canyon is the Grand Canyon of Africa. And one of the biggest canyons on the face of the Earth.
Kukenam reward
UNESCO World Heritage
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

Persist on top of Mte. Roraima extraterrestrial scenarios that have withstood millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never set foot on it.
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, Bollywood Scenery, Heartthrob's Eye
Characters
Ooty, India

In Bollywood's Nearly Ideal Setting

The conflict with Pakistan and the threat of terrorism made filming in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh a drama. In Ooty, we see how this former British colonial station took the lead.
Promise?
Beaches
Goa, India

To Goa, Quickly and in Strength

A sudden longing for Indo-Portuguese tropical heritage makes us travel in various transports but almost non-stop, from Lisbon to the famous Anjuna beach. Only there, at great cost, were we able to rest.
Tawang Monastery, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Religion
Tawang, India

The Mystic Valley of Deep Discord

On the northern edge of the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang is home to dramatic mountain scenery, ethnic Mompa villages and majestic Buddhist monasteries. Even if Chinese rivals have not passed him since 1962, Beijing look at this domain as part of your Tibet. Accordingly, religiosity and spiritualism there have long shared with a strong militarism.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
U Bein Bridge, Amarapura, Myanmar
Society
u-bein BridgeMyanmar

The Twilight of the Bridge of Life

At 1.2 km, the oldest and longest wooden bridge in the world allows the Burmese of Amarapura to experience Lake Taungthaman. But 160 years after its construction, U Bein is in its twilight.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Hippopotamus in Anôr Lagoon, Orango Island, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau
Wildlife
Kéré Island to Orango, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau

In Search of the Lacustrine-Marine and Sacred Bijagós Hippos

They are the most lethal mammals in Africa and, in the Bijagós archipelago, preserved and venerated. Due to our particular admiration, we joined an expedition in their quest. Departing from the island of Kéré and ending up inland from Orango.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
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