An African Safari - Day 5 – 14 March 2022 - In Kasane

The significant part of the day's schedule was the Game Drive in the Chobe National Park (CNP). The arrangement was that I would be picked up at 5.30 am. I got ready in time when a Land Rover, modified to carry up to 12 passengers, reached the Logan Safari lodge. The driver of the vehicle would double up as the guide too. He told me that we had a few others to pick up too on the way. We stopped at two other lodges and picked up two families of five other co-passengers, all residents of Botswana. One family was particularly chirpy and kept the others in splits too.

The day was breaking and the rising sun was gradually dressing up the horizon and the sky in ever changing hues. We reached the Park and the guide went in to sign up for the guests. I learnt from an inscribed slab at the entrance of the CNP that it started as a Game Reserve in July 1960 and was converted as the first national park in August 1967. The San were the original inhabitants of the region. A feature of the CNP is reportedly the large population of elephants.

It is here that I read about KAZA TFCA, an amazing initiative of five neighbours, namely Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, with a clear focus on transfrontier conservation and appropriate land use as well as reaping the benefits of the bi-product of tourism in the Okavango and Zambezi River basins. The area involved a land mass bigger than Germany and Austria combined or nearly twice the size of UK! The jewels in the spectacular protected area are the largest inland delta system in the world – the 15,000 sqm Okavango Delta – and one of the seven natural wonders of the world – the 1700 meter wide Victoria Falls. CNP, which is part of this ecosystem, is Botswana’s second largest park with habitats that include riverfront thickets along the Chobe River, rich grasslands, floodplains and forests of acacia, baobab and mopane trees. The Savuti Marsh, made famous by numerous wildlife documentaries, is a popular destination for tourists and the scene of dense wildlife concentrations and large zebra and wildebeest migrations.

Once the signing in was completed the driver cum guide poured water on all the high hopes we had. He said that since the park was lush with tall vegetation and there was plentiful water everywhere, the chances of seeing elephants and lions were slim. That was that. He turned out to be spot on. After a while, even seeing winged friends and a tiny squirrel were enough to get the mouths agape and sequel in delight.

Impalas were everywhere and they seems to have got used to visitors. They stood gazing and so did some baboons and a buffalo. The baboon bunch was large with babies still clinging in to their mothers. We did get to see one elephant carefully shepherding the young from one side of the road to another. That scene brought home the fact of a mother's role in society and a child's life. In the three hour tour of the park we spotted some hippos, pukus and kudus too. Just before concluding the game drive all the guests, in various safari jeeps, met under a few trees for coffee and biscuits. 

To visit the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe I have to produce a recent RTPCR test result, I was told. After returning from the game drive and breakfast I drove to the Diagnofirm clinic for the test. The young doctor at the DML, who had graduated from the University of Botswana, Gaborone, told me that the charge would be 750 BWP, almost INR 5000. When I asked him for a senior citizen discount he told me that he would give me a good one the next time around! The doctor told me that I could come by around 4 pm for the result. They also have an express service whereby the result could be obtained in one hour for double the rate.

I was keen to visit the border posts of Zimbabwe and Zambia as they were just a few km away from where I was staying. I checked with the Botswana Customs if I could keep my car at the border post the next day, take a day trip to Zimbabwe and retrieve my car in the evening. The officer was so iffy that I decided against it. At the Zambia border I wanted to go on the Kazungula Bridge to see the unique phenomenon of the quadri-point of Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. A young police officer told me that I would have to go to Customs and get a Bridge Pass. I decided against that and returned to the lodge. Later in the evening I went to the clinic and collected the RTPCR test result that certified me fit to cross the border the next day.