Chobe National Park, Botswana - Days 5 and 6

The last part of our Chobe and Victoria Falls trip is to the Chobe National Park in Botswana.  Not many people mention Botswana when it comes to safaris but Botswana has some excellent places to see animals.  The most well-known area is the Okovango Delta, which has been featured in many wildlife shows.  After heavy rainfall in Angola, the water flows south and flood this delta.  Vegetation grows, which then attracts all kinds of wildlife.  Chobe is connected to the Okovango Delta so animals go back and forth between the two areas.  We drove along the Chobe river, where a variety of animals were seen there.

You need to sanitize your shoes when you cross the order into Botswana for fear of foot and mouth disease

A shopping center in one of the small towns

Our guide at Chobe

Information on the park

Two young elephants playing

Hippos are usually submerged in water.  They are very dangerous

Crocodiles by the river

Lots of baboons doing monkey business

Water Buck

This is how the giraffe gets low enough to eat - watch the front legs

Impalas are beautiful and graceful animals

 On the last day (day 7), it was driving back to Johannesburg to drop everyone off.  On the way, we saw a herd of elephants crossing the road.  They are so common here, it's not a big deal.

Elephants are so common we saw a herd of them crossing the road

A little more about Botswana.  The citizens here called themselves Batswana.  70% of the slightly-over 2 million population claimed themselves to be Christians.  The country is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which consists of about 70% of its land.  The economy is mainly dependent on mining and tourism.  Like many African countries, it has also been devastated by the HIV/AIDS virus.  Its capital city is called Gaborone, in the southeastern part of the country, not far from the South African border.