My friends came to visit me while in Zambia, so of course we had to visit Victoria Falls. Since this was their first time in Africa, I knew we had to find time to go on safari. One of the more popular safaris while in Livingstone is the Chobe National Park Day Trip Safari in Botswana. We only had a day to spare so it was the perfect option. Why Botswana? It's very easy to get to Botswana from Livingstone. Zambia shares borders with eight other countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. During the day trip safari, half of your day is spent on land and the second half is spent doing a river safari, which I think is really unique.
Boat to Botswana
The adventure company, Bushtracks, picked us up from our hotel and off we went. We drove for about an hour and a half to Zambia's border post, where our guide had our passports stamped to exit Zambia. We then took a boat across the river and voila! We were in Botswana.
We had to go through Botswana's border control to have our passports stamped for entry. After which, they made us stand in a container that had some solution to prevent the transmission of Foot and Mouth Disease. It was very strange, but we went along with it. As soon as we started driving, we ran into elephants along the side of the road! It was a sign of good things to come.
We continued on to Chobe, but first, we stopped along the road for tea and crumpets. Now, we were ready for our adventure into the park. We saw several elephants, giraffes, zebras, kudus, antelope, buffaloes, and hippos. It was all very exciting (minus the continuous fly swatting).
After about an hour and a half in the park, we went to Chobe Safari Lodge for their buffet lunch. They had stir fry and salad stations in addition to your choice of meat, which included fish and impala. I couldn't eat the impala because I just saw them frolicking in the park! Poor impalas. The lunch was nothing to write home about but it was decent enough to sustain us for the rest of the day. After lunch, we headed down to the dock behind the lodge to commence with the river portion of our safari.
Immediately we found crocodiles, lots of hippos, more elephants, and buffaloes. It was awesome watching animals in their natural habitats. Seriously, watching an elephant clean mud off its grass could entertain me for minutes on end. We stayed on the river for about two hours and headed back to the lodge.
While we didn't see any lions, rhinos or leopards (that area isn't known for rhinos or leopards, but I thought we may catch a lion!), overall it was a great day. I highly recommend the Chobe Day Trip if you're looking for a variety of scenery and only have a day to make your safari dreams come true. Check out more safari pictures below! And if you're going on your first safari, read my safari-certified tips here.
Photo Credit: East of the Mississippi