We have left Victoria Falls and found our way to Cresta Mowana, a lodge bedside the Chobe River in Botswana. Once we got going the road transfer took about an hour and a half. It involved a crossing of the border between Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Australians need a visa to get into Zimbabwe, but not Botswana. We had got a single entry visa for Zimbabwe before leaving Australia and had used it when coming in on the train from South Africa to Victoria Falls. It was a quick rubber stamp job exiting Zimbabwe.

Getting into Botswana did though involve a bit of paper and foot work. We had to complete a two page questionnaire to self declare that we did not have Monkey Pox symptoms, we didn’t seem to have any. We then had to walk through a shoe bath to disinfect for Foot & Mouth disease, as well as dunk the soles of any other shoes we had. We were told Botswana was a big exporter of beef to Europe and were somewhat focussed on keeping the disease out, ‘like you in Australia’.

The slight issue we had though was we did not have a visa to get back into Zimbabwe, we needed to do that for a flight from there to Kenya the next day. Told there were no worries in getting a visa at the border on the way back, just had to have $US60. We would have to wait and see!

The local Chobe tourist info centre.

’Mowana’ means ‘tree of life’ (Cresta is a hotel chain) and there is a big boab in the courtyard of the hotel. An even bigger one is at the road entrance into the property. Our room has a great view out over the river and the Namibian flood plains on the other side. The Chobe River is a tributary of the Zambezi and forms the border between Botswana and Namibia.

The trip here is go go. On arrival we have a quick late lunch before departing on a sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River into the Chobe NP. Botswana has the biggest concentration of Elephants in Africa, in excess of 80,000 and a lot of them are here in this park. So we hoped to see some.

Crocodiles abound as does the Hippo, and we see one open its jaws, in the video below. It goes for a little while, the action is towards the end.

The Cape Buffalo is also plentiful. This Big 5 member is not a water buffalo like Crocodile Dundee subdued in the movie. The Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal in Africa.

Also quite a lot of bird life, this one is a bit like a sea eagle back home, but here by the river.

But, back to the elephants, here is a baby beside the mother.

The whole herd then commenced a crossing of the river. They all lined up and away they went. Why? The guide suggested it was to get to the other side to feed on the shrubs and trees, where they had been was all grasses and they needed woody stuff for their diet. It looked spectacular, about half way the baby decided to turn back and all the other elephants circled around and ‘encouraged’ him/her on! That is what all the commotion in the water is about. All made it to the other side!

After this performance we headed back to the lodge as the sun went down.

In the morning we have 5am rise to join a morning game drive in the Park.