The wide waters of the Chobe River form the northern boundary of the national park of the same name. They divide Botswana from its neighbour Namibia to the north. But of course the wildlife that teems on its shores, in its waters and in the skies above knows no national borders. And nor does the sun, which sets and rises on all.
For the week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of Sunrise and Sunset I want to share with you the two memorable cruises we took on the Chobe while staying at the Chobe Game Lodge.
Sunset
On our first afternoon at the lodge we took a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, departing at 3.30 from the jetty. All the boats are electric, out of environmental concerns, and all the guides female, to support local families with employment opportunities. We were joined on the cruise by a family of four from Helsinki.
When we departed the sun was still quite high in the sky and my focus, and that of my camera, was on the birdlife both on the water and on shore.
A herd of elephants came down to the water to drink, lick salt from the rocks, and sand bathe. There were several youngsters among them, including one who seemed very reluctant to step into the water, like a holidaymaker trying to brave a too-cold sea!
Another youngster got very carried away with his sand bath, flinging the sand everywhere in his enthusiasm.
A ‘pod’ of hippos was eating grass in the shallows. Two young males kept breaking off from their meal to indulge in some playful sparing, which was very entertaining to watch.
As the sun started to set a large number of impala came down to the same salt-lick where we had seen the elephants earlier, glowing in the light of the setting sun. The colours and shapes reminded me a little of a cave painting!
The sunset itself was of course another highlight. I will let the photos speak for themselves.
Sunrise
A couple of days later we had the opportunity to see the river at sunrise. Chobe Game Lodge was experimenting with a potential new activity for guests, a sunrise cruise on the river, and we played guinea pigs. We were warned we may not see much wildlife, but we did! We also enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and had breakfast on the river. It was very cold at first but really worth doing – a beautiful outing.
Our guide was the same one who had escorted us on our sunset cruise two days before, Gao (pronounced ‘How’). There were just the two of us on this trip. No one else had chosen this option over that of a game drive, perhaps put off by the explanatory leaflet which indicated that we might not see much wildlife beyond the water birds.
Gao cast off and set off in an easterly direction, towards the sunrise. We could hear hippos grunting and soon saw a small pod in the long grass to our right, though it wasn’t yet light enough to take decent photos. Besides, it was the sky and the just-rising sun which occupied our cameras for a while at least.
Once the sun was properly up we turned our attention to the hippos. Gao took the boat closer so we could watch them enjoying their breakfast. Hippos spend the night grazing on shore so these would just now have come down to the river. Their skin dries out easily so once the sun comes up they need to be in the water.
Not far from the hippos Gao pointed out a pair of puku on the shore. These are relatively rare in Botswana – the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species rates them as ‘near threatened’ and says that their population is decreasing overall, although increasing here in Chobe NP. It seemed the male might be trying to mate with the female but he soon returned to grazing. Later we heard them call, in a high-pitched voice like a football referee’s whistle, to a third puku further up the shore.
There were lots of birds around now, and a water monitor lizard was basking on a log, warming his body after the cold night. The Brown-hooded Kingfisher was a first for me.
Then we came across a troop of baboons and spent quite some time watching them interact. The adults were grooming each other while the babies played. Checking with Gao I learned that these youngsters would be about a month or a little more in age. I took far too many photos here, they were just too cute!
We arrived at the salt lick area where we had seen elephants and impala on our sunset cruise. This morning there were just impala here, a very large herd.
Here we had breakfast while floating on the river and watching the impala. It was a magical end to our sunrise cruise.
These photos of sunset and sunrise on the Chobe Rover were taken in July, shortly after the winter solstice in Botswana. But this close to the equator the difference in length between summer days and winter ones is much less noticeable than further north. My sunset photos were taken around 17.00 and the sunrise ones at about 6.00.
I visited Botswana in 2018
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Kirstin
WOWZA! Amazing photos and post.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much Kirstin, I’m very happy you liked this 🙂
giacomoasinello
Absolutely stunning photography.
Sarah Wilkie
Wow, thanks for that complement 😊😊
Tracey
Just beautiful! Always a treat to see your photographs. I especially love all these creatures.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Tracey, I appreciate the complement 🙂 So glad you enjoyed my creatures!
leightontravels
Some beguiling shots Sarah. Definitely jealous of the amount of travel you’ve managed to do across Africa. One day…
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks – I’m sure you’ll manage to see plenty of Africa in due course with the amount of travelling you do (in ‘normal’ times, that is of course!)
salsaworldtraveler
These are great photos. Africa has the most amazing wildlife and some of the world’s most spectacular scenery. Thanks for giving us a look.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 😊 You’re right on both counts – I love African wildlife and landscapes and never tire of them!
gaiainaction
Beautiful and interesting photos and story Sarah. A wonderful Post!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much 😊
Rose
Gorgeous photos! The skies have such a deep hue of orange both at sunset and sunrise. 🧡 And all your ‘critter’ pictures are endearing.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Rose – I think there’s something about African skies (maybe dust in the air from that dry environment?) that makes the sunsets and sunrises especially vibrant 😀
wetanddustyroads
Wow Sarah, these are just amazingly beautiful photo’s!
Love that impala picture (that indeed looks like a cave painting 😄). I’m a sunset girl, but looking at both your sunset and sunrise photo’s … well, it’s difficult to choose, because each time of day has its own surprises and beauty!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much 😊 If I can get up for them I love sunrises as much as sunsets, and whichever it is I always take far too many photos!
thehungrytravellers.blog
Fabulous photos Sarah, loved the Elephants
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – they’re my favourites too, as you might have noticed!
rkrontheroad
Amazing shots, one more striking than the next! Watching at the water hole seems to have been the perfect place to catch so many.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks – I guess you can say that the Chobe River is a waterhole of sorts but it’s a very big one 😆
Terri Webster Schrandt
Wow, Sarah, the animals coming out to feed and water at sunset and sunrise are truly amazing! They are smart aren’t they, as they know when to do this instinctively. Great point about the daylight at the equator, another fascinating phenomenon. You were up early for that sunrise cruise, but so worth it I’m sure! I just loved the elephants and monkies–such intelligence! Beautiful sunrise and sunsets–the orange glows are spectacular!
Sarah Wilkie
So glad you liked this Terri! I’ve been meaning to share these experiences for some time and your challenge theme gave me the push I needed to sort out some photos and get on with it 😆 I find it’s nearly always worth getting up early on holiday and actually it was the norm for this trip – most days we were up and out before breakfast on some sort of activity like a game drive or boat trip!
Susanne Swanson
Wow! Your pictures are fabulous! What a joy to see so much wildlife!
Sarah Wilkie
It was indeed! And as you can imagine, I took loads of photos – it was a tough task editing them down to just a few (OK more than a few!) for this post 😀
wanderlustig
Stunning photos 😊. Thank you for sharing. Did you travel individually to Botswana ?
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you liked them! Our trip was arranged through UK-based specialists Real Africa. We travelled alone (that is, not on a group tour) but made all the arrangements such as lodges and transfers, including flights down to the Okavango, through them. At the lodges all activities are included. At Chobe we typically went out on safari drives in groups of around ten, while at Xugana Lodge in the Okavango we did all our trips out with two other couples. Does that cover what you were interested to know? If nt I’m happy to expand / answer more questions 🙂
Lesley
Wonderful photos Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Lesley 🙂