Day 6: Ihaha Rest Camp

It was a day of game drives. The Lady was still feeling not so well, so I decided to drive as usual. The drive in the morning was good. We saw a herd of buffalos, 3 lionesses, giraffes, herd of ellies, hippos, impalas, kudu etc. In between we lost track and ended up in the ‘secret’ camping location of the park rangers. Guards with arms, they had a suspicious look when we drove near to the camp marked ‘prohibited area’. But with our typical touristic 4x4 with a roof top tent it should have been quite obvious to them that we mean no harm.

When it became too hot at noon we took a break from driving and parked on the banks of the Chobe river in the company of baboons, crocodiles and antelopes. Both of us took a small nap. In the afternoon we decided to take a look at the Chobe Game Lodge, rumoured to be the most expensive safari lodge in Botswana. True to the rumours it was really a high end lodge. Right on the river banks, with full of luxury. It had a beautiful view of the river and the plains beyond that in the Namibian side. I wanted to take a picture of the Lady and me there, but the Lady declined. I should have expected that!

When we were driving back to the camp it started raining heavily. Once it rains it is a waste of time to do game drives as it is quite impossible to see any animals through the rains and also you hardly have any time to look out for the game as you have to pay more attention to the driving, especially when you are driving in 4x4 tracks. We drove past the camp and moved further down the track. The vegetation changed abruptly from bush land to big trees. It obviously became more difficult to search for the game.

(When I was writing down the journal at night in the camp I had to stop abruptly at this point. The Lady has already gone to bed and I was sitting outside the tent, writing my journal with my head lamps on.  Suddenly I heard a loud roar of the lion right behind the ablution block of the camp which is less than 100 m from where our tent is. It was so loud that I was shocked. The thought that the lion is so near made me jump from my seat and I climbed the ladder of the tent. From that high position I shone the torch in the direction where the roar came hope to catch a view of the lion or the pride. But it was so dark that I couldn’t see anything. The very thought that there is a lion nearby scared me from sitting outside and completing the journal that night. I finished it in the next day.)

The Lady seemed to be very tired in the afternoon and she was falling asleep in between.  For me it didn’t make any more fun to drive alone in the heavy rains. So I decided to drive back to the camp.