The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch. 9: Double Trouble on the Chobe River

(NOTE:   Clicking on  one photo will bring up a filmstrip where you can see the photos full screen.)

When people go to Africa for the first time, they often speak of wanting to see the “Big Five.”  Websites claim that if you travel with them, you will surely see the Big Five.  It’s all about the “Big Five."   

And there’s not a bird on the list!

 

I didn’t want to see the Big Five on my first trip.  I wanted to see everything from the tiniest insect right up to the giants that walk the earth.

 

The term Big Five is a holdover from the colonial days when safaris meant guns and dead animals, and the Big Five were the most dangerous animals a hunter could stalk.  Nowadays, most of those hunts are “canned,” meaning that the animal a hunter MAY shoot is pre-selected and most likely is one its owner selected to be culled. This does not occur in all countries, as the country owns the animals in most places.

 

Today, the Big Five remain as dangerous as they were years ago.   They are the elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, and the Cape buffalo.  These animals, together with the Nile crocodile and hippopotamus, kill hundreds of people every year in Africa.   Tourists are not exempt.

 

Actually, the malarial mosquito kills more than all of the mammals, and snakes mark up a number, too.    The mammoth Nile crocodiles are an extreme danger to everything, including humans.

Anyway, late one afternoon, we’re slowly making our way down the Chobe River in the photo boat from Pangolin Photo Safaris, and the boat driver pulls over to shore so we can watch some bird action.   I’m focused on an African spoonbill that has caught something and is running away from the other birds.   In two seconds, a gray heron has stolen the fish from the spoonbill.

I am peripherally aware of one of the more cantankerous beasts in the Big Five—the Cape Buffalo.   Massive, unpredictable, and usually in a bad mood when people are around, a buffalo watches the action I’ve been photographing.

Or so I thought.

The buffalo has its eyes on a Nile crocodile that has decided to go on an overland walkabout.

Mr. Grumpy Pants, perhaps remembering that some of his kin that might have been taken by crocs when  an innocent calf was drinking, would have none of whatever the croc was up to.   Land was the buffalo’s territory; water was the crocodile’s territory.   The buffalo decides to rid the land of reptiles such as the huge, long-tailed beast now walking along, minding its own business.

The bull approaches and circles and waits for its chance to hook the croc with one of its sharp horns.   The croc defends itself by opening its mouth and displaying an enormous amount of sharp, unforgiving teeth.

 

Undeterred, the buffalo continues to spar, feint, circle, and get its horns dangerously close to all that dentine.   Undeterred, the croc does the same, except it doesn’t have horns, but more than five dozen sharp teeth.   Unfairly, I think, it can also grow new teeth if any are lost or damaged.

 

Occasionally, the battle pauses as the buffalo looks toward a couple of its herd buddies nearby, as if to beseech their aid in ridding the plains of this scaly menace.  One buffalo is lounging in a watery bog.  Another is asleep on the grass.

Pretending to sleep but one eye is open.

 

Someone with an overactive imagination might claim that neither of the herd-mates ventures a look toward their fighting buddy, and instead intentionally look in any direction other than the warrior.   Except the one that is asleep, of course, unless buffalo sleep with one eye open, which, as ornery as they are, is not at all far-fetched.

 

The battle continues.  The buffalo seems to call a detente, walks away, and the croc continues on its walkabout.

Not so fast, the buffalo decides, and the battle is engaged again.

I watch and press the shutter in stunned disbelief.   I’m reasonably sure everyone else in the two boats did also.   Our guide remarked that he'd never seen this before.

 

But then, I do have an overactive imagination.

***

Coppery-yailed coucal.

Squacco heron

Black-headed heron.

Gray-headed heron

Purple heron

Waterbucks graze as the sun sets on the Chobe River.

 

The 2025 Botswana Journals, Ch. 2: The Airlines Agony Continues

Savvy traveler that she is, Marg Wood planned for our group to spend two days in Johannesburg at City Lodge before going on to Botswana, our primary destination.  It’s a nice hotel attached to the airport, and that makes it wonderfully convenient.   As it turned out, we would be a day late, but still on track for our connections to Botswana from South Africa.

 

I neglected to mention a couple of things about the beginning of this trip.   I make it a practice to spend the night before a trip in Anchorage.   That’s because there is only one road to Anchorage (and its international airport) from where I live, and if there’s an accident, avalanche, or any other issue, the road might be closed, causing me to miss a flight.  Sure enough, it happened.   While I was blissfully unaware of a wreck that closed the highway near Anchorage the morning of my flight, I boarded my flight to Seattle.

And, while we were winging our way south to that port city, the Alaska Airlines computer systems went down. It didn’t affect my flight or my connection to Edmonton.

 

That was all before hell broke loose a few hours before the flight to Amsterdam, connecting to Johannesburg.  I told you about that morning as Marg made arrangements, including long phone calls, gathering everyone’s passport numbers, and utilizing her Platinum status with KLM.    I’m glad I was with Marg in her home when this happened, because my email from KLM said my flight was cancelled!

This is the hotel attached to the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

We got to Amsterdam and even made up some time in the air.   So much time, in fact, that as we deboarded, we saw our original flight to Joburg being boarded a couple of gates down!   We could have made it, but there were great odds that our checked baggage wouldn’t have.

We had about nine hours to wait until our new flight via Swiss Air left.  Once again, Marg and her Platinum status, and Marshel came to the rescue.   They paid for temporary passes for all to the KLM lounge, something KLM does not usually allow.   Free food, drinks, and a comfortable place to wait!  I took a nap.

I then spent the next ten hours miserable in seat 31A  as we flew to Zurich and then on before finally landing in Joburg and checking into a room at City Lodge, meeting as a group for dinner, and then getting a good night’s sleep before catching a morning flight to Kasane, Botswana, and our first safari outing.  

City Lodge reception desk

Outdoor eating, pool area

Part of the dining room

Name dropping here with no shame:   I once saw Jane Goodall walk past the dining room!!!

In the lobby

Let's get on with it!!!

 I had now been travelling for six days, but I had the next five days to enjoy the Chobe River while staying at one of my favorite places:   the Pangolin Chobe Hotel.   I think this was my third visit here, and I love it.

I was hoping to see Guts and Janine, the owner-operators, but they were away guiding a photo group.   I was pleased to see that their beloved business survived the 15-month COVID lockdown in Botswana!

It was built by photographers FOR photographers and is the only place I’ve stayed in Africa where an experienced photographer is with you on every outing to offer photo advice.

The lowly pangolin is the most trafficked animal in the world.   Its scales, made of keratin like human fingernails, are used in "traditional medicine" in parts of Africa and in Asia.   

As for blaming the pangolin for Covid, "While the pangolin is a likely intermediate host, the original source of SARS-CoV-2 is believed to be from a bat, as seen in other coronaviruses. "

I've never seen one, so I borrowed this image from the Internet.

This is the second-floor lounge.   The colored glass evokes the shape of the pangolin with its golden scales, which are much treasured.   Unfortunately, those scales have crested a crisis for the small mammal.

Creativeness is apparent throughout the lodge, as shown by these empty liquor bottles adapted to hold electric lights and the copper tubing formed as a base.

The room I shared with Sylvia.

Large bathroom with exposed copper plumbing.

 

Two large beds.   The windows offer a view of the Chobe River.

Plumbing in the bathroom.

This is where you can tell the lodge was designed by photographers--the long counter for setting up computers and photo gear and lots of outlets.

 

We had a couple of hours to unpack and unwind before our first outing on the specially designed river boats.   Here’s a teaser for the next chapter:

 

A beautiful flowering tree right where we load onto the boats.

 

 

First bird of the trip:   the elusive giant kingfisher and it has a fish in its mouth.   The giant, or Goliath,  kingfisher is 42–46 cm (16.5–18 in) long, with a large shaggy crest, a large black bill and fine white spots on black upperparts. The male has a chestnut breast band and otherwise white underparts with dark flank barring. The female has a white-spotted black breast band and a chestnut belly.

The pied (having two or more colors) kingfisher is prevalent across Africa.   From the Internet:  The pied kingfisher is apparently unique amongst kingfishers, having a bony plate that slides across their eyes when the bird hits the water. The kingfishers are fairly distinctive as a group. They have large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs, small feet, and short tails.

The freshwater Nile crocodile.   These highly aggressive ambush predators are responsible for about 1,000 human deaths every year.  Some of the largest specimens were 20 ft. long and weighed more than a ton.

Ah, crocs and birds and what else awaits us?

Photos from a previous trip to the Pangolin hotel:

Even the roof trusses evoke the curved shape of the pangolin.

The lounge.

The sunken fire pit.

The outdoor eternal pool and the fire pit.

Dining room.

Some photos of the wonderful river boats designed with photographers in mind.   Cameras are mounted on gimbals that allow the camera to move in many directions, and the chairs swivel completely around.

(Note:   Blogspot has decided that my commentary should be underlined, and I can't get away from it.   It's always something.)

Room for eight photographers.

The Chobe River can be seen from my hotel room.   Borrowed photo.

We are located along the river, quite near the border with Zimbabwe.   As you can see, the river forms Botswana's northern border with Namibia, and also a point where the borders of four countries meet--Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.