 |
| New deck at Chobe Game Lodge, notice the king fisher on the corner |
Sitting on a
newly built deck on the edge of the Chobe River in a comfy low seated chair on
a poofy cushion with my feet up on a foot stool, I can see all the Chobe
National Park has to offer. In front of me I see warthogs, impala, puku (a rare
antelope only found in the Chobe region), baboons, elephants, crocodiles,
monitor lizards and an array of water birds to keep any birder happy (egrets,
darters, fish eagles). Armed with my new Leica binoculars, that Paul bought me
for my birthday and anniversary celebrations this year (they’re very nice
binoculars), I could sit for hours just watching what happens to roam or fly in front
of me. It is magical!
After a recent
trip to the Chobe National Park I have a completely different impression of the
park than I had in the past. Typically we drive into the park for a day trip
and cruise around the breath-taking sights of the Chobe River front but we are
always on the move. I’ve never actually stayed in the park and doing so
left me with a completely different impression of the peacefulness of the
place.
 |
| Peaceable kingdom - warthog, impala and puku |
|
 |
| Heron, darter and monitor lizard (on log to left) |
|
We were invited
up to help map some of the new, and more remote, areas of the Chobe National
Park as the part of a new park management plan. For years the riverfront has
been congested by the ever growing number of tour operators who want to show
their clients the “best” views. At times, on previous trips to the park, it has
felt like a traffic jam of safari vehicles…not so much fun. So we are very much
in support of efforts to reduce the congestion by making alternative routes to
other areas of the park. The Wildlife Department has put in four new water
holes and a road system is developing around them that needed to be mapped. We
literally drive with our GPS, gather the data and Paul “makes” the map when we
get back to the office (using GIS – geographic information systems). At one of
these new water holes, we saw an amazing collection for elephants and sable in
the middle of the day (beautiful dark brown antelopes with crescent shaped
antlers).
 |
| Bedroom Chobe Game Lodge |
While we had
originally assumed (or at least I had assumed) we would be camping for three
nights while mapping, we actually ended up staying at Chobe Game Lodge
– one of the premier safari
lodges in Botswana and the only one located within Chobe national park (all the
other lodges in the area are in Kasane, the town that borders the park).
We were treated
to three nights of luxury, as Paul is friends with the owner, who he was doing
the mapping for. The lodge is done in a North African style (it looks more like
Morocco than Botswana) with guestrooms housed in buildings with a series of arches
with lovely dark wood furniture and elaborate decorative materials throughout. Our
room included a comfy king size bed (that you had to have a running start to
get up into) and a lovely veranda that overlooked the Chobe River.
 |
| Veranda, Chobe Game Lodge |
 |
| View from veranda, Chobe Game Lodge |
And as you might have guessed from
the title of this blog, Elizabeth Taylor did stay here once when she married
Richard Burton (maybe for the second time?). I would highly recommend it as a honeymoon
spot…if you can afford it (this time of year it is over $1000/person/night!).
Dinner included a delicious buffet
that was situated in a slightly different venue each night: one night in the
main restaurant area, another out in the open patio area by the warm light of
multiple candelabras on each table, and for our final night we were seated on a
grassy “boma” area right on the riverfront. A boma is a traditional space where
people gather for a braai (what we would call a “cook out” or barbeque). We ate
under the stars to the sound of marimbas and singing by locals. It was stunning!
On our final evening while driving
back to the lodge at sunset, we encountered a breeding herd of elephants and
had the most amazing close encounter. Turning off our engine we simply sat and
watched as young elephants kicked around in the water while others gave
themselves dirt baths, rolling around like small kids at play. Positioned on
the track between the river and a cluster of bushes and a fallen tree, to pass
us the elephants had to go up over the tree limb (often scratching
themselves along the way – each foot one-by-one, rear end, their trunk) and
come right by my window. At one point, a young female was close enough to touch
had I simply reached out the window. She seemed as curious about me as I was
about her as our eyes met and she slowly walked by. It was an amazing
experience. Sometimes it’s good to be the mapmaker’s wife!
