This morning we set off on our first game drive through Chobe National Park. This park is much different from Hwange NP in Zimbabwe and Kafue NP in Zambia. For one, it is much more crowded. We felt like we owned the other two parks due the remote locations where we stayed. We only had solar power there, including for water heating. Here, we are seeing lots of other camps, plus new ones under construction, lots of safari trucks on the roads, paved roads through parts of the park, electricity, and all kinds of lights from the other camps at night. That being said, it doesn’t spoil the game viewing. We saw big herds of Zebra, Impala, and Kudu, a beautiful Sable Antelope, a big Monitor Lizard digging a hole, tons of birds, lots of giraffes, and few elephants. Apparently it’s mating season for the giraffes, and it’s show-off season for the elephants. 

Baobab Camp is named for the beautiful huge Baobab trees here. They truly are the tree of life. The elephants use them for water when water is scarce, and even people have used them for water by stripping off pieces of bark and squeezing the water out of it. We saw one that looked like someone had taken a giant bite right out of it, but really it was just lots of animals chewing on it. The giant Baobab trees we saw today were likely 2000 to 3000 years old, according to our guides. I’ve seen them depicted in cartoon movies many times, and I now see that they hit the nail on the head when they drew them and the Acacia tress. I’m telling you, The Lion King got sooooooo many things right, including how Pumba bounces when he walks. The one thing they missed though, was how sweet the little hyena’s faces actually are.