Day Twenty Eight - Photo River Safari - Guest Blogger - Susan Bittante

Today, most of the group enjoyed a day of relaxation. Seven of us (Michael, Bob, Rita, Noel, Lynn, Gino & myself) ventured out on an early morning (5:45 am) photographic river cruise.

We boarded the safari boat at the dock at the Chobe Safari Lodge, maneuvering over the decks of two other boats to get into ours. The boat had 8 swivel seats, firmly attached to the centre line of the floor & they pivoted 360 degrees. Attached to each seat was a telescopic arm, housing a very nifty Nikon camera. The arm reminded me of the same contraption used in a dentist's or ophthalmologist's office.

Once Lynn, our guide, assisted us with the necessary adjustments for the camera, our skipper, Smart, took us on an epic journey along the Chobe River.

As it was a photographic cruise, attention to lighting was paramount & we captured beautiful photos of the birds & animals that we have enjoyed on our African travels.

Some of the birds we filmed were the Fish Eagle, African Darter, African Jacana, Pied Kingfisher, Open-billed Stork, Yellow-billed Stork, Great White Egret, Cattle Egret, Long-toed Plover, Squacco Heron, Goliath Heron, Sacred Ibis, Egyptian Goose & the common barn swallow.

An unusual bird included the scavenger Marabou Stork, with its imposing gullet, hovering

around the carcass of a Cape Buffalo, which had died 3 months ago. Another interesting bird was the Spoon-billed Stork, whose bill was shaped like a spoon! Surprise?!

The endangered bird that we met on the island marshes is called the African Skimmer. These birds fly parallel to the water, skimming small fish from the surface. There are only 18-24 breeding pairs left in Chobe, due to boats approaching too closely & causing large wakes on the shoreline, where they lay their eggs. The birds are scared & fly off. Their eggs, left unattended, either overheat from the tropical sun, or wash away from these wakes. Our guide is involved with a conservation group, trying to educate tour boats to respect the habitat of these birds, so that the population will recover. We learned that the Red Lechwe is also an endangered antelope due to farming on the wetlands.

The Impala are one of the hardiest antelopes, as they are both grazers (grass eaters) & browsers (leaf eaters). We observed a fierce fight between two dominant males, for the right to breed with the female herd that was standing by & watching the spectacle. They locked horns & wrestled in mud, until blood was drawn& the loser was chased away!

Then, we witnessed a very unusual & impressive occurrence! There was a stampede of Cape Buffalo, obviously spooked, charging towards us from the mainland to the island, falling in the boggy marshland, picking themselves up& finally arriving at their destination. Even our guide has rarely seen this behaviour & we were most fortunate to capture it on film!

Another exciting event was motoring by a large pod of hippos & seeing several of them open their huge mouths for us! The boat was singing with all the clicking of the cameras! A couple of the hippos were either fighting or engaging in foreplay, as they continually locked their open jaws. What a sight!

We saw a very old crocodile, with it's knobby nose, estimated to be at least 50 years old!

The crocodile's only predator, the Monitor Lizard, was also basking in the sun. This blue-tongued lizard will eat the crocodile's eggs, which is why most of the 80 eggs that the crocodile lays never develop. We returned to the dock, with our photos & smiles, as we will definitely remember this wonderful river cruise!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Bye for now!

Susan Bittante, guest blogger