Water, water everywhere....

Days 33 – 36        21^st – 24^th October

Sanctuary Chilwero is a fairly large lodge with a lovely view over the Chobe River, which is born in Angola and eventually flows into the great Zambezi at the confluence of 4 countries – Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Chobe National Park is renowned for its large population of elephants who come to the river in large numbers during the dry season, to drink and to bathe, as it is the only water available to them.

The river is wide here, with lush islands in the middle, offering grazing to herds of buffalo, impala and red lechwe.  There is also an abundance of crocs, hippos and water birds.

We had two lovely boat trips and a couple of game drives where we saw lion, leopard with cubs and – a first for us – a Roan Antelope.

On the 24^th, we said goodbye to beautiful Botswana and made the short flight to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  Having cleared customs and immigration at Vic Falls Intl Airport (which was less painful than we expected) we made a short hop to a private airstrip owned by the operators of Bayete Lodge, where we were to stay the night.  We put the plane to bed with ‘hyena boxes’ over the wheels (hyenas like eating rubber!), kindly provided by Mike Johnson, who has been an absolute legend in helping us sort paperwork for Zim, filing flight plans and giving us loads of useful information.

Shortly after our arrival, we met up with our friends Judith and Ann for lunch and a catch up on their adventures since we last saw them in Windhoek- of which there were plenty!  Then Jeremy and I went to ‘do’ Vic Falls on the Zim side, walking along the lush forest pathway, sprayed by the mist from the ‘Smoke that Thunders’ and oohing and aahing at the majestic sight before us.  We walked along till we were opposite the Devil’s Pool where we were a couple of weeks ago, hoping to wave at other nutters, but could only see one couple and the lady chickened out at the last minute!!

In the evening we met up with Judith and Ann for a drink at the Victoria Fall Hotel, looking out at the Bridge across the chasm.  Ann used to play in the gardens of the hotel as a child and shared her memories with us of romantic days of old, with ladies in gorgeous ball gowns and long white gloves, and gents in white tuxedos dancing till dawn and watching the sun rise on the magnificent veranda.  Afterwards we headed back to the Lodge for supper and more stories and laughter – last to leave as usual!!!