sometimes you're lucky

and that is what I was in the following photos from Chobe Park in Botswana.  our guide Chamu said it was all about luck when it comes to seeing the animals but this post is more about luck when actually clicking the shutter. 

here are some examples:
this is a lovely sunset but I find the subtlety of the colors even more appealing in the second photo plus it has the added dimension of showing the human scale in the silhouette

here is a sweet faced kudu who just happened to look right at me and then decided I wasn't a threat to her grazing and went on eating

this was happenstance- I really was working on the stork but the bird nearby took off just as I snapped the photo and then I had the same luck with the egret when he decided he had enough of posing

the zebras below were artfully posed in a nice threesome as were the elephants below them and the giraffes below that 

here I got the crocodile right when he opened his mouth to show his nasty pointed teeth!

and the lizard with his tongue out feeding on something too small for me to see!

we did learn the difference between many varieties of antelope- below an impala followed by a puku and then a kudu:

but here is one of my favorite photos - right time right place- an elephant relieving himself - and boy does he look relieved!  see how his eyes are rolled back into his head- LOL

I have lots more good photos from Chobe but this is a sample to whet your appetite

another travel day

we left the camp early as we need to cross borders on this big travel day.  we took our small planes back to Livingstone (Vic Falls) Zambia airport - roughly a two hour flight and then transferred out of the country by bus into the Vic Falls Zimbabwe airport.  From there we took another small plane flight to Hwange National Park.  The Zimbabwe crossing was relatively smooth as we had double entry visas from the last time.

We arrive at Makalolo Plains camp (also known as Linkwasha II) and are given the honeymoon suite- LOL.

we start with tea and a game drive since our drives will be limited here due to one day scheduled as a day out in a local village. 

Right away we go to the watering hole near the camp- in this park there is no natural water.  In the dry season they pump water from the underground aquifer into large watering holes throughout the park to support the animals in getting what they need.  Here we see a large herd of elephants drinking before moving on.  We also see the usual impala and zebra and a few giraffe.

Since we had several game drives in the two days in a row- I will post our highlights before going on to the day we visited the school and village- during our drive back from the village we saw cheetah number two so stay tuned.

and here is our day time cheetah---- isn't he/she magnificent?

so on now to the school and village day- see you soon in Ngamo village - 

delta day

The big drive starts with breakfast outside and it is very chilly.  We get into our jeeps and head out we fairly quickly find tracks of a lion which we follow for about an hour before we catch up with him.  He is alone.  He apparently is separated from his group and is looking around for them.  He does not appear to be hungry so the guide thinks he is searching for his group. 

Later on, just before morning coffee/tea time we find the bachelor pride of three lions – the dominant and two younger brothers.  We watch them for a while and when the other guy doesn’t show up we head out of their range to have our tea.  By the time we are done we thought the lone male would have joined them but the three have moved on.



From there we go around the park we are seeking the leopard – the elusive leopard and the only one we haven’t seen of the big four- as there are no longer the big five as the rhino population has been decimated by poaching and hunting.  So we have seen the elephant and lions and Cape buffalo but no leopard yet.  This afternoon we see elephants bathing and zebra herds and lots and lots of impala.  LOL – so many we all are getting very blasé about it. 

We do learn a lot about birds and plants and various details of the giraffe and elephant life.  We return quite late to camp and head to our tents for a brief rest until dinner in the lodge.  Again an early night for another early morning tomorrow.