by Kate Barba

For the next ten days we will be on an overland safari with Intrepid, camping in various places throughout southern Africa, starting in Victoria Falls and ending in Jo’burg.  Our tour leader is Andy, assisted by our driver Goodman.  The tour is geared towards teenagers and their families and our 10 new friends are three families from England and Scotland.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Matt are also bravely joining in as part of their godparent duties.

Our first open-air game drive taught us to brace for bumps and watch out for thorny branches!  It also introduced us to our first giraffes, impala, kudu, crocodiles, hippos, and dozens of bird species.  (They were right there!  In the wild!)  Our favorite was the family of elephants we met alongside the river and another group under the trees on the ridge above.  It was amazing to see them interacting at close range.

That evening was even better because we went on a boat safari onto the Chobe River itself.  The large pontoon boat gave us access to the reedy wetland islands and more water birds, crocodiles, and mammals.  The elephants stood ankle deep and ripped up the long grasses around them for dinner.  We saw birds nesting, dive fishing, and posing to dry their feathers.  The hippos lumbered out of water at sunset and we watched them mark their territory (gross alert: they spray watery poop behind them using their tail like a propeller for maximum coverage).  On the way home we marveled at the gorgeous sunset over Namibia while we sipped our DIY sundowners.  The day was an excellent introduction to African wildlife and the start of group bonding.

This was another place we could have spent more time, but the tour moves on and tomorrow we head into the desert to a place called “Elephant Sands”…  

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