From Nata we drove to Kasane, returned the hired vehicle to the airport and got Chobe Safari lodge to pick us up to take us to the hotel. We were here for 8 nights in our favourite Kasane accommodation……Chobe Safari lodge. Ive been going there for the past 35 years, both my parents and my son have had the pleasure of enjoying it. Over the past 11 years it has been my husbands favourite place to holiday.
We take their safaris which are reasonably priced at US$45 per person for 3 hours. This year we arranged 7 half day(6 hours) safaris from 12-6pm. Dorkus, head of activities, kindly arranged it for us ….by booking all 7 days it was agreed with “Bush Trackers”, the Safari company the lodge commissions, that we would just pay for the 2 of us and we didn’t have to pay for a 3rd or 4th person. Dorkus (who always sorts our problems out for us, whether they are activity or hotel related, I secretly call her the General Manager, as she really provides excellent customer service far better than the Accomodation/bookings manager does !!) also arranged for us to have the same driver each day…his name was ‘Same Arron’, a young 24 year old driver and guide …..he was brilliant. He gave us the best Safari adventure we’ve ever had, which is the highest praise we can give. I never drive in Chobe as it takes a level of skill I’ve never had….the last time I drove in Chobe was some years ago, I got stuck in the soft sand and after several hours waiting for another vehicle to come by( no cell phone signal) they tried to help us and ended up having to radio for help…it took 3 vehicles to get us out, a lot of digging, use of metal planks and jacks…..I swore I’d never drive it again…and I haven’t…
That evening we decided to take the sundowner game viewing cruise. We do like this cruise and always do at least one when we visit. However, we often find it a bit of a booze cruise which isn’t our style….This time we were fortunate and we set off on a smaller boat watching the big groups go out on the bigger boats. We took to the Chobe River, passing our Safari Room accommodation.
We spent a very pleasant 3 hours, with a good safari guide pointing out the wonderful sights, both on the islands, in the water and on the main river bank.
Of course the most amazing wildlife viewed when on the water are the elephants, who swim out to the islands for the sweeter grass, their trunks acting as snorkels, they can often be seen in Lily pad areas pulling up the sweet roots… it is a sight second to none.
One of the most fabulous sights when you are on a boat on the Chobe River is the sun sets… they are always different and always mesmerising.
Just when you think the day is done… on the river bank another awesome sight…
Over the next 7 days ‘Same’ showed us some wonderful sites, taking us in all sorts of directions across the park, to places we had never seen before. It was exciting, thrilling and the wildlife was magnificent.
Day 16
On Johns birthday he received flowers in our room and a card from the hotel they were trying hard to make amends for a mix up with our room when we booked in ….they had allocated us a river view room which had been totally unsuitable – you had to stand on the dressing table chair to reach the aircon unit to adjust the temperature, there was no remote control, the toilet was, what we in the UK install in schools for small young children..not good for a 6ft2, 70 year old man..these rooms were being renovated…only the one we were given was still awaiting renovation….I had complained and the Accommodation/bookings Manager had been far from helpful (very unusual for this hotel, it is the first time we’d come across this in all the years we had been visiting). I spoke to the customer services assistant who tried her very best but was obviously intimidated by the Accomodation/ bookings Manager…..we’d ended up sitting on the sofas near the activities office waiting to be allocated a different room …our wait was 5 hours !!!!!….. Unacceptable by anyones standards…a waste of our holiday time.
Dorkus had seen us there and realising I was upset came to enquire what the problem was. She quickly went away to sort it out and came back telling us the number of a Safari room we would be moved to and she told us it was just being cleaned. 10 minutes later she came to tell us she had arranged for us to get the key from reception and our bags were being transferred as we spoke…we had a lovely room, the same as we have always had…
Dorkus, saved the day and was definitely our hero from then on……why the Accommodations/bookings Manager couldn’t have been more professional and done this 5 hours earlier is unknown…she seemed to be power crazy…..we felt very sorry for the Customer Services advisor…however I digress….Back to Johns birthday, day 16 of our adventure.
The card and flowers were a nice touch. At 12 noon we waited in reception for ‘Same’…he appeared and said he was sorry he would be 10 minutes late…”no worries” we replied…..He arrived 10 minutes later with a parcel which he gave to John and wished him a happy birthday….wow…John opened it and it was a wonderful wooden carving of Africa with the Big 5 carved out..it was fantastic a real generous gift we were both very touched by the gesture and the gift, which now hangs proudly, at home, on our living room door.
We set of on the 6 hour Safari….Same booked in at the main gate then continued to drive the tar road which goes towards Namibia…We’d not been along this road on Safari before…we encounter some elephant, before Same turned off to the right onto a little used track through thick Bush land…
We spotted a Sable antelope at a distance along with a couple of elephant. After some time we turned right again and noticed a solar panel and pump. This evidently is one of very few in Chobe, as the Parks management prefer the animals to naturally migrate to and fro according to where the water is. Not far from here was a small waterhole being fed from the pump. It was teaming with elephant…they were drinking, bathing throwing mud around…taking absolutely no notice of us.. the smell, sounds, sight was amazing, we even got included in a bit of a mud bath!!!
Driving around the back of the elephant we noticed a large breeding herd of Sable Antelope laid down and grazing in the shade of the trees. These are Johns favourite antelope, actually probably his favourite species of wild life. ‘Same’ knew this and also had prior knowledge of where this big herd are often found, he had kept this treat for Johns special day.
We had never seen a breeding herd before and we sat there amongst the elephant watching them and these amazing Sable for well over an hour….what a treat a real special moment, another once in a life time memory made….Thank you so much ‘Same’, you really are an unbelievably kind, considerate, polite young man.
We continued the rest of the days Safari with more great wildlife spots.
Supper back at the lodge afforded us another bouquet of flowers on the table. Our meal ended with a birthday cake being paraded through the restaurant and the kitchen and serving staff serenading John, around our table, with several local songs and a robust version of Happy Birthday whilst beating a drum and dancing…..was John a bit embarrassed? Well! Of course he was but it had to be done…a lovely memory had been created of a very special day.
Day 17 to 21
The rest of our Safaris with ‘Same’ were all eventful and memorable…we saw great prides of lions, herds of buffaloes, both towers and journeys of Giraffe, we got warned off by 2 not so friendly bull elephants, watched swimming, bathing, mud-throwing elephants, saw no-end of wildebeest, zebra, impala and one of my favourite Puku (native to Chobe)… It really is our heaven on earth
Our 8 days flew by and far to quickly, soon, it was time to say a tearful goodbye to Same Arron, Best ever Safari guide/driver, and we had a bear hug from Dorkus, in our opinion Chobe Safari Lodge’s most prized employee. Then it was time to head for the airport with heavy hearts and the hope that we would be back in two years time……the only thing which could prevent us is the cost as it is getting more and more expensive but to date it hasn’t stop us exploring Botswana and it’s wonderful wildlife…you just have to be a bit more organised and cross reference prices so you don’t pay a fortune. Having said that this was a Celebratory Trip and we did once in a life time activities ..so we did spend a fortune…but Botswana can be seen a lot cheaper by doing less and not staying as long…our next trip will be more the norm for us…just a visit to Chobe and hopefully Chobe Safari lodge as long as it hasn’t priced itself out of our reach.
Our Botswana Adventure was over for another year… we flew back to South Africa to continue our Safari by spending time in Kruger National Park…if you would like to continue to follow our adventure you’ll find the blog under South Africa. Thank you to all who have followed this amazing trip, we hope you enjoyed it.
2 J's World of Adventure 