Grand Africa Cruise Trip Day 64/96 - Day #4 at Chobe - Boating, Packing, Flying
It was almost like sleeping in. Today, we started at 6:00 versus 5:30 the last three days. Woo! This morning, rather than a game drive, it was a sunrise boat ride, our last activity at Chobe Game Lodge before a long day of travel to Cape Town, South Africa to rejoin Seabourn Sojourn.
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| A lovely sky to start our last day at Chobe |
Lebo pulled the boat away from the pier and we started our day right at 6:00.
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| An African darter, or anhinga, working on breakfast |
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| It is hard to eat when it is stuck on your beak |
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| An unimpressed baboon watched the fun |
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| Giant kingfisher |
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| We saw lots of hippos again today |
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| And lots of impalas |
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| And lots of hippos and impalas |
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| A fish eagle hollered a nice farewell to us |
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| Another fish eagle appeared to have an itchy beak |
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| Better |
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| African harrier-hawk - another new sighting for us |
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| Egyptian geese |
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| A white-crowned lapwing |
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| Another fish eagle, posed nicely against the sky |
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| And it was kind enough to share its perch with an African harrier-hawk and two other small birds |
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| It's good to be the alpha bird |
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| The African harrier-hawk relocated |
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| Flying with a buddy |
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| Egyptian goose |
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| The grey go-away-bird or grey lourie |
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| Our only croc sighting in two days |
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| The Goliath heron - it was much bigger than the great blue herons we have at home and is the largest of all the herons |
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| More hippos |
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| A Hamerkop picking up twigs to build or repair a nest |
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| This was another new sighting for us |
And just like that, the two hours flew by and we returned to the lodge. We had breakfast and returned to the room to pack for our long travel day to Cape Town and Seabourn Sojourn.
We departed the Chobe Game Lodge at 11:15 and drove the 12.3 kilometers to Kasane International Airport for our first flight to Johannesburg.
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| Leaving the lodge |
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| The road out |
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| Warthogs came to bid us farewell |
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| Departing the Chobe National Park |
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| Arriving at the airport for our flight from Kasane, Botswana to Johannesburg, South Africa |
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| There we are - 4Z307 Airlink to Johannesburg |
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| We really take water for granted in the U.S. |
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| After getting an exit stamp in our passports, we had a tarmac boarding |
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| Leaving Botswana |
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| Arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa |
We cleared immigration into South Africa, rechecked our bags, went through security screening again, and boarded our second Airlink flight of the day to Cape Town.
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| When flying in South African skies, you drink South African beer |
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| Sunset over Table Mountain |
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| Touching down |
The process at the airport was best described as a disaster. The ten of us have been traveling today for nine hours. We're tired. We're ornery. We just want to get to the ship. Our essentially useless guide for the week, Thabo, had no idea where our bus was, how to get in touch with anyone who could help, or any answers whatsoever. We tried contacting the ship, but Seabourn's systems weren't working and the phone number that should ring on Sojourn was ringing on Pursuit, another ship entirely.
Arlona took the time to browse the shops, spotting a leopard, since we got shut out seeing one in the wild.
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| I'll allow it |
After more than a half-hour of having no idea what was happening, our driver found us, they loaded us in a van and got us to the ship.
Destination Services was waiting for us. They took our luggage and got it to our rooms.
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| A welcome back from our cabin stewards and Destination Services |
We tossed out things in the room and headed to the Observation Bar to have a welcome-back cocktail. We stayed for about 90 minutes to wind down from the travel day.
The summary of our week-long overland tour is as follows.
The organization, both from Seabourn and their subcontractors, in a word, sucked. The itinerary that Seabourn provided had little relation to reality. The guide that was with us for the week was barely above useless. The end of the trip was just short of a disaster. All of that notwithstanding, the lodges were outstanding and the game drives and tours were fantastic. The excursion, as a whole, was amazing. It's a shame that the organization and finish tarnished the luster of an otherwise amazing trip.
As far as sightings go, we failed to see the African Big 5. We saw elephants, rhinos, African buffalos, and lions. We didn't see a leopard but we did see a leopard tortoise and a cheetah. I still think it was a win.
We remain in Cape Town tonight and tomorrow, sailing tomorrow evening. We'll see what we feel like tomorrow and that will define what we do. It's good to be back on the ship after an amazing trip.
Leopards are the toughest to see. We never saw one in our two week trip. Great pictures. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
ReplyDeleteThe leopard is famously the hardest. That being said when we went on safari in Masai Mara in August 2022 we saw five leopards (and the rest of the big five) but did not see a cheetah until we were leaving.
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