One of the highlights to any trip to Southern Africa is a safari. It may be cliche, but there's something magical about about seeing huge animals in the wild. We spent some time in Kruger National Park in South Africa, but when our friends told us about Chobe National Park we knew we had to visit. Located in northern Botswana, Chobe is easily accessible from Livingstone in Zambia. While the park is large (almost the size of Connecticut), we stuck to the "Chobe river waterfront" area in the northeast corner of the park. In order to delve a bit deeper into the park, we opted for an overnight camping trip - who could resist the chance to sleep with elephants?
After a 45 minute drive through Zambia, we arrived at the Kazungula border crossing where Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana all meet. The border here is the only official crossing between Zambia and Botswana. Currently, there is no bridge (although one is being constructed) and trucks line up for days to cross between the two countries via a few small barges that travel back and forth. Below is a short video showing the queue to cross the river. Seeing things like this really reminds you that you're in a developing country - it's easy to take for granted the infrastructure system in the United States and Europe. Could you imagine if a tiny pontoon ferry was the only way for trucks to get from Michigan to Ontario?
Our first view of Botswana, from the river.
Fortunately, people don't have the same issues crossing as freight. Our driver dropped us off at a small boat and we were whisked across the Zambezi river (past hippos!) into Botswana, where we met our tour organizer, Big Sam. Big Sam came highly recommended by our friend Annika, who went on a similar trip a few weeks earlier. David made all the arrangements for the trip via email before arriving in Africa. With limited means of communication while in Zambia, and considering we hadn't paid yet, we were just a bit worried. An email saying "meet here I'll pick you up" from someone with shaky English three weeks past is hardly a guarantee that something will happen... but we were very pleased with how professional our driver, ferryman and Big Sam and his staff were.
The itinerary for day one of the trip was morning tea, a game drive, lunch, an afternoon boat ride, an evening game drive, then dinner and camping. For day two we'd go on a morning game drive and then return to Zambia.
To start day one, Big Sam dropped us off at the Chobe Safari Lodge in the small town of Kasane for tea and muffins. Afterward, we headed out for our morning game drive inside the national park with our guide, Petros. Petros was awesome! He knew so much about the animals and Chobe National Park. He made the experience a thousand times better than if we had tried to drive ourselves or arrange multiple separate activities.
The area we visited first was along the riverfront. During the wet season, much of this area is flooded with water. During the dry season large grassy islands and wetlands are exposed providing a gathering point for all the wildlife in the park. Elephants, buffalo and hippos freely move between the exposed islands and the mainland. Other animals aren't fans of swimming and tend to stay near the shore, not crossing into the exposed grassland islands. The confluence of water, food and large groups of herbivores makes for good hunting grounds for leopards and lions.
A quick stop for breakfast at the Chobe Safari Lodge.
Chobe River from the Chobe Safari Lodge.
Elephants were everywhere (there are around 100,000 of them in Chobe), and they were mixed with impala and baboons. A veritable cornucopia of animals!
It's spring in Southern Africa and baby elephants were abundant.
David and some elephants.
A sable. Our favorite type of antelope. Beautiful colors.
This is what the "roads" looked like in Chobe. Rough going and a lot of sand. We almost got stuck a couple of times.
Watch out, elephants crossing.
Mud bath time.
We got really close to some of the elephants.
It wasn't just elephants. There were other animals too.
Check out the horns on that kudu. Each twist represents about a year of growth.
And then... we saw lions!
During the heat of the day, the lions like to hang out in the thickets to rest. Petros was awesome and spotted this well-hidden pride.
There was a whole pride of lions chilling.
A bit down the road we found a few stragglers. Here's a large female...
...and here's the male of the pride. Not sure if he's winking or his eye is a bit messed up. Either way he's got street cred!
Before we entered Chobe, Petros went over the rules with us. Rule number one was that you can't go off the main roads within the park...well, to see the lions we may have cheated a bit. Ignoring that one rule became a regular occurrence. Honestly, the roads are all dirt anyway, so who's to say what is or isn't a road?
With our mission of finding some lions a success (a strong desire since we saw none in Kruger), it was time to head back to the Chobe Safari Lodge for lunch. Along the way we snapped a few more shots of some animals.
A very skittish hartebeest.
This guy was posing for us.
More sable antelope. Beautiful animals.
We took the upper road out. You can more clearly see the floodplains and islands with Namibia in the distance.
It was getting a little hot and these elephants were taking a siesta. Elephants can sleep standing or lying down.
After a buffet lunch at the Chobe Safari Lodge, which included some game meat like eland, we got back in the truck and drove to a boat for the second tour of the day. Since so much of the wildlife at Chobe focuses around the water it makes sense to get on the water to see it! Boat tours are a must-do in this park and you can hardly skip a stone without hitting a hippo or elephant. In fact, the boat ride is how we technically can claim to have been to Namibia. While we didn't step foot there, we passed within its border on the water. The video below shows a typical scene from our experience:
There were a lot of birds, like this African darter.
That's a face only a mother could love.
A hippo entering the water when we got a little too close for his comfort.
Just chill'axin.
In case you thought swimming might be nice... big nope!
This big guy claimed a small island for himself!
Hi Mr. Elephant! Such a cool experience seeing these huge creatures in the water.
Panorama of an island of elephants. They didn't seem to care about us too much.
Just to prove we actually were here... these aren't photos from the internet!
Ahhh...cool water.
Peek-a-Boo!
After our boat tour, we got back in the truck for one more game drive on our way to our camping spot for the evening. We saw quite a few more animals, and spent about an hour trying to track down a leopard, to no avail (with major time breaking rule #1 again). Eventually it was getting dark and another rule of the park was that you can't drive after sunset. Petros had to floor it to get us to our campsite before it was completely dark. With just the three of us and Petros in the vehicle, we got plenty of air-time on big bumps! It was like a roller coaster!
A big sand pit in the road - I don't think my Ford Fiesta would make it through here.
This little guy didn't like how close we were, and did an adorable little threat display!
Did I mention elephants are really big?
Yeah... they were *really* close.
Sun setting across a dry mudhole.
And then we saw the pride of lions from earlier! As the sun set and it started to cool down, they went out on the prowl.
It was an amazing experience, with the pride walking on both sides of our truck.
A little too close for comfort... but they mostly ignored us.
There's 'ol winky the lion!
At the campsite everything was already set up for us. Initially, we assumed we'd be joining a group of campers, but the campsite was just for us! Two tents, a bush shower and toilet (think a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on top of it), a fire and a picnic table. A man (his name was Six and it took every ounce of David's will to not tell him the joke about why 6 is afraid of 7) had set up everything for us and was cooking us dinner. We had no idea we'd be so pampered.
That night we slept with all our flaps open so we could see the stars and nearly full moon and feel the cool breeze. Despite being 100F during the day, by morning it was chilly. We heard a lot of birds and animals. A few times in the night we were awakened to the sound of breaking twigs as groups of elephants passed near our camp. It was a tremendous experience!
Made it to camp and sat around the fire for a bit.
Nighttime at our campsite. It was just out in the open.
The next morning we packed up and got in the truck for our final game drive on the way out of the park. Our main goal was to track down a leopard. Not very many people spend the night in the park, so it was completely quiet when we first started driving. It was neat to see animals with no other trucks or tourists in sight.
Good morning, Botswana! See our camouflaged toilet in the background? It was a hole in the ground.
Crunch nutzy - the breakfast of champions?
How is this guy always so darned photogenic? As a side note, you can really see how little there is between us and the animals.
A family of baboons at sunrise.
What's that down by the water?! More lions!
This was a different pride than the one we saw the previous day. Are those...cubs?!
So cute! They made adorable little roars/growls.
Mommy lion is taking the kids out for a morning stroll.
So adorable.
It was an unreal experience seeing this pride in the complete silence of the early morning. They walked from the waterfront back across the road, passing on both sides of our truck. Nobody else was around yet, but after our driver used the radio to call in the find, a few more trucks eventually showed up. Here's a video of the lions and cubs:
Gesundheit! Actually, she's not sneezing, she's exhibiting the odd flehmen response.
A young male. He will soon be kicked out of the pride.
Just after we finished looking at the lions, Paul spotted this leopard!
With this sighting, we managed to see all of the Big Five. Good job, Paul!
This is how you know someone found a leopard. Our silent morning was interrupted by 15 other trucks full of tourists.
Just monkeying around.
Glass-like morning calm on this Chobe River tributary.
On our way out of the park we drove through Kasane, Botswana. One soda to rule them all....
Our trip to Chobe was a huge success in terms of animal viewing. We spotted both lions and a leopard, thus completing our "big five" sightings. In addition to the big cats, we also saw a huge number of elephants. including calves. They were some of our favorite animals - the babies are adorable, and the full grown males are absolutely massive. There's something oddly very human about the way they use their trunks (like we use our hands) to do everything from pick up small items to flinging mud to cool off. We have a whole new respect for these amazing animals.
While we really liked Kruger National Park in South Africa, we preferred Chobe for a few reasons. It's much more off the beaten path, so it has fewer visitors and feels much less crowded. While Kruger is really well developed and has paved roads and restaurants, Chobe has rough dirt roads and is much less developed, adding to the feeling of being far from civilization. Finally, the huge herds of elephants in Chobe are an impressive sight, we saw dozens of lions, and it's a really unique experience to view the animals from a boat in the river. If you're planning a trip to this part of the world Chobe is a must see!
It's no secret that waterfalls are awesome. We've seen quite a few impressive cascades - from Hanakapi'ai falls and Wailua falls in Hawaii, to the underground Ruby falls on the Tennessee/Georgia border and Hwanseongul cave falls in South Korea, La Mina falls in Puerto Rico, and the massive Niagara Falls, we've always enjoyed marveling at these wonders of nature. So when we were planning a trip to Southern Africa, we knew the Victoria falls (a UNESCO site) had to be on the list. While it's not the tallest waterfall, and also not the widest waterfall, it is classified as having the largest sheet of falling water on earth.
We were initially disappointed when we saw that autumn is the dry and hot season, and the Zambezi river loses a huge amount of its flow. But then we read that this is actually the best time of the year to go. During the rainy season, the river is so torrential that the falls produce huge curtains of mist and spray that rise above the gorge - making it almost impossible to actually see the falls themselves. Because of this spray, in the local language the falls are know as Mosi-oa-Tunya - "the Smoke that Thunders." The dry season is also the only time of year when you can visit the mind-blowing devil's pool. So we booked a few nights in Livingstone, Zambia and planned our visit to the falls!
Getting off the plane from Cape Town you immediately notice it's much hotter in Livingstone! Temperatures during our visit were around 100F in the afternoons (but hey! It's a dry heat). How better to cool off than to head straight for the devil's pool! This was a really awesome experience! It runs about $130 per person and includes a boat ride to Livingstone Island where you take a short swim to a rock outcrop near the actual pool. After hanging out in the pool for a few minutes you're treated to drinks and snacks before being returned to the hotel.
Hanging out at the Green Tree Lodge in Livingstone, prepping for the Devil's Pool.
Sleeping at the Green Tree Lodge was...fun? Zambia has for-real malaria...cue the mosquito nets!
This sign helps to show the vast difference in water flow depending on the season.
It's very apparent that it's the dry season - this would normally be a river bed.
Even in the dry season, you can see the mist rising from the chasm.
Hmm, the falls are just a trickle from here.
We took a boat out to Livingstone Island for our trip to the devil's pool.
From here the water flow starts to look more impressive - and with a double rainbow!
The devil's pool is right on the edge of the falls!
Not for the faint of heart.
The three of us hanging out in a little nook of the devil's pool.
Here's a video our guide took of us. We truly were on the edge of the abyss! Paul doesn't hesitate to lean over the edge, much to David's dismay.
After drying off, we were treated to drinks on Livingstone Island. Local beer (Mosi lager) and gin and tonic.
The mist of the falls rises over the river.
After an overnight camping trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana, we returned to Livingstone for another half day of sight-seeing before spending a day on the Zimbabwe side of the border for some more direct views of the waterfall and shopping in the town of Victoria Falls.
Livingstone is a pleasant town of around 100,000 people. It's driven mostly by tourism, but it's still a real city with plenty of everyday activity. It's a nice place to hang out and relax for a bit. An added perk is that this city is pretty safe, we felt ok walking around by ourselves, even at night. Take care though as sidewalks aren't always present and it can be dark with no streetlights. The downtown has restaurants, shops and grocery stores and is very lively.
When we went out to restaurants or shops in Livingstone the availability of electricity was always iffy. Zambia receives most of its power from hydroelectric sources and is currently having supply issues. The power in Livingstone was out most days from 2pm - 10 pm. This was an issue when we visited Lusaka as well. Our hotel in Livingstone had a generator, so we weren't too troubled by the lack of power overall...but it did prevent Paul from getting some draft beer one evening!
The Livingstone Museum is quite good, with exhibits about the history of the area and the country.
Nope! That's Paul! Most illustrations were roughly drawn here. It was old-timey.
Paul on the bridge to the "knife's edge" on the Zambia side of the falls. This part of the river is mostly dry in their spring season.
We could see the main part of the falls in the distance, but we'd have to go to Zimbabwe to get a closer look.
We hiked down to the "boiling pot" in the Zambezi river for a great view of the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, built in 1905!
Dinner in Livingstone at Cafe Zambezi. The local beer was not the best, but hey, it's waterfall themed!
One of David's favorite meals of the trip; peanut curry chicken with greens.
Roasted chicken, green, and nshima (thick corn porridge - the big white lump behind the plate).
Yet another weird African soda. This was called Hubbly Bubbly and tasted like bubblegum.
Our last full day in the Victoria Falls area we crossed from Zambia into Zimbabwe to view the falls from the other side. This time of year the waterfall is best viewed from the Zimbabwe side; so despite our mixed feelings on the Zimbabwean dictator Mugabe, we decided to cross over and check it out for ourselves.
Zimbabwe used to be a relatively stable country, but a few years ago their economy completely collapsed, inflation was something insane like 1000% per day and overnight the nation converted to the US dollar. Note that we do not mean that they pegged their dollar to the US dollar...they literally use the US dollar now. It comes out of their ATMs. People tried to sell us souvenir $1 billion notes all over the place. In the process anyone who had worked their whole life and established pensions or trusts in the Zimbabwe currency were outta luck. There's more to say about this, but we'll leave it here and invite you to read up on it online.
That said, we did have a lovely 6 hour visit to Zimbabwe, where we visited the Zim side of the falls and the super touristy town of Victoria Falls. Specifically, we really loved the Elephant Walk shops and artist village and made out with some nice souvenirs.
Crossing the bridge into Zimbabwe, this is the view down to the boiling pot. The previous day we were standing near the bottom right of this picture.
Crossing over from Zambia, a relatively stable democracy, to Zimbabwe, which essentially has a dictator.
David and Christina at the entrance to the falls on the Zimbabwe side.
You get a good view of most parts of the main falls, from directly across the canyon.
Ahh! A hungry hungry hippo!
A panoramic view of the main portion of the falls.
Even in the dry season, it's a huge amount of water!
Obligatory Victoria Falls jumping photo! David's making a weird face...
They let you get right up to the edge at the "danger point" viewing area.
Paul standing on the edge.
And Christina standing on the edge. Don't look down!
There's the devils pool!
That was us just a few days earlier.
See the tiny people perched on the edge in the upper right? Terrifying!
We don't usually give too much logistical travel advice on this blog, but since things can be a little tricky here (wi-fi is unreliable and the internet doesn't have a lot of information anyway), the following information may be helpful. Victoria Falls should be a must-see for anyone visiting Southern Africa. It's a site of a lifetime, and we guarantee you will be in awe. When you visit, make sure you go to both sides of the falls to get the complete picture. Even though there wasn't much water on the Zambia side, you can get a sense for how huge this waterfall is (1.7 km wide in the wet season and 100m deep) and you can only visit the devil's pool from this side. Make sure you book the devil's pool in advance! Spaces fill up and you can't guarantee you'll get to go when you want. Your accommodation should be able to do this for you.
As for visas, we did have some issues with Zambian immigration (we passed into Zambia three times due to border crossing into Botswana and Zimbabwe). We'd recommend that you carry enough US dollars to pay all visa fees. Some stations don't have credit card machines, and those that did weren't reliable. Save yourself the hassle and bring some dollars. Sometime soon overnight stays in Botswana will be added to the Kaza Visa (which allows access to Zambia and Zimbabwe). Either way, you should get a Kaza Visa to see both sides of the falls for a slightly cheaper fee. Since we stayed overnight in Botswana, we had to buy two separate Zambia visas which was frustrating.
As for currency, Victoria Falls is on the border of three countries with three different currencies. Some people prefer payment in one type or another, which can be logistically difficult, but generally multiple currencies are accepted. ATMs aren't hard to find so don't worry about changing money ahead of time.
Finally, do be prepared to deal with aggressive street vendors, some of the worst we've seen. Several times we approached some tourist shops to just turn around and leave after we were accosted by 20 different men trying to get us to come into their shop. Even walking across the Victoria Falls bridge someone tried to get David to trade his shoes for a pile of wooden animal carvings.
