Botswana July 23, 2018

Spent the night in a regular bed and had breakfast cooked for us. Very nice. Got some shopping sobe and then went on a boat trip on the river. Just Gerald and I and the guide called John. We were out on the water from midday until four in the afternoon. The best time of day for game viewing. Lots of Elephants but I saw Elephants crossing a river for the first time. In this case the Chobe. They disappear completely under water for about 3 minutes at a time. Then you see a trunk surface for them to breathe and it disappears again. Looks like the Lochness Monster! Eventually the Elephant will push it the bottom surface for a minute and disappear again eventually surfacing on the other bank. Herds and herds of water buffalo grazing on grass that grows in about knee deep water. These are not Cape Buffalo. Quite different especially the cows and much more docile. More like cattle in temperament. Saw some huge crocodiles baking in the sun. Took many to be safe to swim! Giraffe and quite a lot of other game as well as a large Leguavan (Water Monitor) that allowed us to get very close up. Unusual as all you ever hear is the loud splash as the hit the water, but never see them. A fun afternoon. In the late afternoon we set up camp at Senyati. Very nice as each camp site has its own bathroom with shower. Every afternoon one of the camp workers comes and lights a big fire under the boiler so there is lots of hot water. The Senyati Camp has a water hole that is artificially fed with water. It’s about fifty feet in front of the verandah so that you can sit and watch the elephant come down to drink. They also have an underground tunnel that fires to an underground bummer right at the edge of the water hole so you are about 10 feet from the elephant. Last night was full of animal sounds. It started with Leguavan and the lion and then all hell broke loose. Elephant trumpeting and screaming, lions roarinh with full throated roars. Quite exciting. Not sure if the lions were trying to get to one of the babies, of which there were quite a few, or what was going on.