We started the morning with a safari drive through Chobe National Game Reserve. We drove on the same routes as all the safaris do, but we did it in our SUV with trailer attached to the back. This meant that we couldn't get too close to the river to see many hippos or crocs or we'd get stuck in the mud. But that didn't stop us from having a lively game drive. Nancy kept tabs of what we got to see:
Elephant: 6 herds and 2 loners
Giraffe: 1 herd and 1
Kudu: 3 lots
Hippo: 4 pods
Warthog: 12 (hakuna matata, haha)
Cape Bufflo: 1 herd and 3
Baboon: too many to count
Springbuck: herd
Guinea fowl: >20
Fish eagle: 2
Roan: 4
Gemsbok: 1
One of the elephant herds got SO close to our vehicle that I started to get really really freaked out. First of all, these big grandaddy (or grandmomma) elephants are way bigger than our car and trailer. Second, they are protecting their families and little baby elephants. And, they were clearly agitated with us driving in the middle of their path. After the spotted us, they started flapping their ears, which Nancy told me means they are defensive and mad (like that would be reassuring?). And the kids kept screaming things like 'can we reach out of the car?' Sitting in the front beside Frank, I was right beside this huge wall of muscle and leathery/wrinkly grey flesh and couldn't even speak to tell them to be quiet. Finalllllly, the herd stopped staring and flapping at us and we drove on, only to get stuck in the mud. So here we were, me, Nancy and her 6 kids, running behind the car with guinea fowl, kudu, and springbuck on either side of the road. I was like, pleasssssse get the car going and let's get out of here so I am not stabbed to death by a kudu's antlers. But the animals calmly looked up at us, bemused by these weak little people running behind a car stuck in their territory. After we got unstuck, we started to head to Francistown, Botswana, the second largest city in Botswana (next to the capital of Gabarone).
But instead of leaving the game park, we started driving on a dirt road that we thought led to Francistown. Almost an hour later, we had gotten stuck a few more times, not seen ANY signs indicating a road that we were on or a destination where we were headed, and had gone off the road altogether a few times. Nancy and Frank and I were trying to read maps but were really confused. The kids were crying and were hungry; it was 2 o clock and way past their lunch and naptime. I was too afraid to ask Frank if he bought a Botswanan SIM card in Botswana; if he hadn't, then we had no way to contact anyone that we were lost, stuck, or both, somewhere in Chobe game park. Then, out of completely nowhere, we saw a tarmac (paved road). Frank floored it to the road, and in 6 hours, we were in Francistown.
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