Today is my last full day at Chobe Game Lodge.  I have the morning game drive then an extended game drive this afternoon.  The morning starts again at 5am with coffee then leaving at 6am for the game drive.  It’s a cloudy morning, a little windy but not too cold.  For the first 1 hour 45 minutes not much was out.  All we saw was impalas, buffalo, guinea fowl and giraffes.  We start tracking lions to find a male courting a female.  The female was in total control of the courtship, making the male work for everything.

The clouds cleared and wind died down around 8am for a beautiful morning.  I hope it stays nice for the long game drive the afternoon.  We watched the courtship for about 45 minutes.  It got very congested with 10 game drive vehicles jockeying for a good view.  On the way back to the lodge we see 3 marabou storks in the bush.

We don’t leave until about 1:30pm, so I work on photos and start writing some blog posts.  I meet James and John for lunch at the upper eating around at 1pm.  We leave for the extended safari at 1:51pm, RB is our driver.  The plan is to drive to Ihaha, a camp site inside Chobe National Park.  There are giraffes everywhere starting the afternoon drive.  We also see impalas, white crowned shrike, buffalo and monkeys.  A group of giraffes standing is called a tower of giraffes, a group of giraffes walking is called a journey of giraffes.  The group crosses the water once we start moving their way.  There are giraffes on the Namibia side and James asks RB to stop the vehicle so I can get out for a photo.  The hope is to get a photo of me with the giraffes in the back ground.  The photo turned out amazing.  We continue driving along the water seeing a flock of white faced ducks.

We make it to Ihaha at 4pm.  We get out of the vehicle for a drink and snacks.  The view is spectacular.  There is carmine bee eaters in a tree were we stopped.

We start heading back to the lodge at 4:30pm.  We drive back along the river seeing kudu and elephants.  A beautiful lioness is slowly walking stalking the kudu.  The same lioness we saw this morning.  She is using a small sand pile and tree to camouflage herself.  The kudu does see the danger but for some reason is slowly walking towards the lioness.  The lioness makes a run at the kudu but the kudu runs off into the bush.

The chances of one lioness bringing down a kudu are very slim, they usually hunt together.  The female does the majority of the hunting while the male patrols and protects the pride.  We have a nice sunset before returning to the lodge.  We see over 100 giraffes on the extended drive.

Dinner is down at the riverside boma tonight but first I’m meeting James for drinks.  I meet a few people that James knows, Fran, Stuart and their daughter Kate.  We head down to dinner where John joins us.  After dinner James pushes me up the deck and walkway to watch the opening World Cup game.  The bar is located up 4 steps to a landing then up 20 steps to the bar.  James and Trevor carry me in my chair holding the frame up the steps.  Not the best or safest way but we made it.  Fran, Stuart, Kate and James all left around halftime.  I stayed for the entire game watching Brazil beat Croatia 3-1.  I get carried down the steps by Trevor and Chris the same way as I was carried up.