Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Apr 08 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

We spent a night on the Zambezi near Livingstone in southern Zambia. Countries to the north and west of Zambia had received more rain than usual for this time of year and a lot of the rain was carried by tributaries into the Zambezi. The owners of the lodge where we set up camp claimed they had never seen the water so high. The name of the lodge was Taita Falcon Lodge, so no guesses why we chose it. The rare Taita Falcon was once frequently seen there and Peregrine Falcons and Verreaux’s Eagles have nested there in the past. We sat overlooking the Zambezi running through its large gorge in the hope of seeing some of these raptors. Sadly, we just got a distance glimpse of a Peregrine and a Harrier Hawk flew beneath us down in the gorge. But what a view!

A slightly lopsided view of the Zambezi

We intended to cross the Zambezi by Ferry to get into Botswana. The amount of water in the Zambezi made this impossible and we had to make a 200km detour through Namibia. We had to cross several borders, each having its different hassle until we finally crossed from Namibia to Botswana at Ngoma. From there, we were excited to see that we could drive through Chobe National Park to get to Kasane where we planned to spend the night. It was the end of the day, so we couldn’t dawdle. On the 56km stretch through the park, we saw our first Sable Antelopes. It was quite a large herd grazing in the bush about 200m from the car. We also saw quite a few eagles and as we crossed the park boundary, an elephant. Outside the park, in Kasane town, we were amazed to see street lights and big main roads covered in elephant dung. We even saw a tree that had been knocked down by elephants in the middle of the parking lot of a shopping centre!

A 5 a.m. start the next day got us to the park at 5:30 a.m. and about 1km into the park we saw three hyenas, a mother and two youngsters. It was still dark and we slowed the car down to a stop and watched them. The mother was huge and she walked right up to my window and stared in at me. I edged a little away from the window and looked back at her.

Another kilometre or two and we got to the riverside. The Chobe River had more water in it than in living memory for most people in the area. Whole campsites were under water. It didn’t make our game drive along the riverfront any less interesting though! As it got a little lighter, we were lucky enough to see two Honey Badgers crossing the road. And as the day grew warmer, Bateleur Eagles and Vultures filled the sky and Martial Eagles could be seen perching on dead trees. We saw our first Lechwe, an endangered antelope that is adapted to wetlands. A couple of female lions hid their kill in some bushes. Huge herds of buffalo and elephants foraged by the river’s edge and played in the water. A Shikra descended upon an unsuspecting small bird and flew away with its catch. A Peregrine Falcon sat in a tree eating its kill. I also sighted my first African Hobby, distant though it was. All in our first day in Chobe NP!

Elephants playing in the water

Sunset over Chobe River

Tags: chobe national park, first African Hobby sighting, flooded zambezi