Lions in Chobe National Park, Chobe Safari Lodge Game Drive 6 am

Puku on alert, where are those lions?




Ahh, here they come, how awesome!






And, wouldn't you know it, here come the dang game drive vehicles. The guides radio each other when they find something big like lions.


Early morning game drive with Chobe Safari Lodge


We had been invited to go on boat ride on the Chobe river Sunday afternoon. We needed to pay our
park entry fee and Finn had suggested it might be cheaper to go through the Lodge than pay 130 pula
each for the entry as individuals. We decided to do the early morning game drive with Chobe Safari
Lodge. Finn was correct---we paid only 70 pula for the entrance fee through the Lodge. Of course, we
had to pay for the game drive also.

Got up early and fixed our coffee, heated a roll and went up to reception to go on the drive. It was very
cold that morning and I had on t-shirt, shirt, sweater, long sleeve shirt, and windbreaker! I also was
wearing my winter hat. Fortunately, I had a blanket to cover my legs. It was especially cold as we drove
to the park.

There were only six of us in our vehicle which was nice. In the beginning we were not seeing much in the
way of game but were enjoying the rising of the sun over the river. You can see how much the water is still
up and the lushness of the place.

The guides do communicate with each other by radio and alert each other when they have something in
sight. Our guide had told us we might not see any "cats" because they are usually seen later in the day,
when suddenly we could see off in the distance what looked like animals jumping across the plains. It
was lions! They did not catch what they were after and stopped and come right at our safari vehicle. they
were very, very close!

We got to enjoy watching them along with several other vehicles that had come driving up. The two we were
watching were females and our driver said the males are staying with the young cubs. We then continued
on our drive. We saw a huge male kudu with four females. He was so kind as to pose for us until we had
all gotten our shots.






Finally we experienced the Kori Bustard, the largest flying bird in Africa actually flying, scared up by a lion!

We saw two different kinds of vultures, but did not see any evidence there had been a kill in the area. We also
saw our first jackals for this trip. As we were driving back from the park, there were three elephants in the
bushes by the road. All in all, a very nice game drive.

Ground hornbills along the Luangwa River

One morning we were awakened to a new sound we had not heard. We were sure that it was a non-human sound. Robert went to try and see if he could find what it was making the noise. He came running back to report that it was ground hornbills walking along the riverbank. We as silently as we could walked down to the area by the permanent tents and watched them as they came past. They were making a "booming" type noise and the red throat pouch would puff out as they boomed. Robert said they looked like a group of monks moving down the river because they were so stately looking! We watched them until they moved out of sight on down the river. We heard them a second morning and they were across the river and we were not able to see them as well and they did not boom quite as long.

It was three adults and one immature ground hornbill. The reason we knew it was not a female is that she has blue on her throat patch. We incorrectly assumed because they were called ground hornbills they could not fly or at least not very well. We were surprised to see them flying while we were on our night drive. They are very stately in flight and have beautiful white wing patches visible.

Birding South Luangwa National Park : Sacred Ibis, Yellow billed Storks

Birding South Luangwa National Park : Sacred Ibis, Yellow billed Storks

Our early morning routine has been to fix a pot of coffee and then go sit on the river bluff and watch what wildlife is about. We have had two good mornings enjoying the antics of a yellow-billed stork. He wades through the water and appears to be fishing. He does some amazing acrobatics almost--balancing on one leg and lifting one wing as if for balance. We were able to watch him through the spotting scope and his colors are quite nice. His back has a pale pastel pink color to it and the feathers look scalloped and fluffy. We noticed there was pale turquoise on the end of his tail feathers. Up close his face is very vivid colors, red stripe, orange then the yellow bill. His eye is orange or so it appears. He does not seem to be frightened of people as he got quite close to us. In flight they are very beautiful to watch as well.


Another bird we have enjoyed watching is the sacred ibis. His colors are black and white feathers with a black head and beak. They are very graceful as they move about the area searching for food. When they fly they are so very graceful looking and make flying seem so effortless.