Another Amazing Game Drive

I just realized that I have a disturbing number of pictures
of Anne looking terrified near animals.
(Note: there are TWO elephants looming behind her.)


We came across three lionesses with cubs. They were so cute, I forgot they could kill me.

See?

But, awwww.

Then, KB got excited.
We were about to see something really cool.

A herd of Red Lechwe (antelope)
galloping across the water. Unbelievable.

This is a panoramic shot.

These letchwe were very close to the lioness and her cubs. BT and KB said that they could
coexist like this because the lions didn't have the element of surprise in their favor.
So, they won't bother trying to attack the letchwe. Lucky them.

The Elephant Whisperer

The excitement never stops! When Anne and I left the chalet to meet the group for our evening game drive, this is what we saw:

Yup. An elephant on the path. Actually, there were 4 or 5 of them. It was scary, but kind of cool.

We did a little stealth operation to get around them. Kind of a rush!

Floating

I woke up before the alarm and the beating drum of our wake up visit. I slept really well considering how nervous I was the night before.

It was cold in the chalet, no heater, but it's not nearly as cold in Botswana as it was in South Africa so it's not as bad as it could have been. Anne was still not happy, but I was feeling OK. I decided that I was going to just let myself enjoy the experience. Whatever. It's only 3 days. The place is gorgeous. It's not like being in the peace corps.

After a quick nosh, we headed out for the morning activity. Instead of the usual game drive, we were going out on a slow moving riverboat called "Lily" to check out the channels of the Santanadibe River and the flora and fauna.

Don't laugh. Those are my travellin' pants.

We didn't see any animals during the cruise, but it was a really relaxing way to spend the morning. The British family are shaping up to be good travel buddies; our ranger BT and tracker KB are really sweet.

Travellers

We had a little lesson about the various tribe of the Okavango. BT (short for Batsholelwang, whew) is part of the Hambukushu tribe which is known for cattle farming. KB is from the Bayei tribe, historically fishermen.

Anne and the boys

The only snag we hit was due to some industrious elephants who had trampled their way across the channel leaving tremendous stalks of papyrus in their wake. Our boat was in the weeds. BT and KB had some hard work ahead of them. We munched happily on dried fruit and biscuits while they freed us from the muck.

Traffic jam