Wild show-stoppers — baby beasts and birdlife in breathtaking Chobe

Daily Maverick

25-04-2025

Though the green season in northern Botswana means having to deal with tall grass and fewer waterhole sightings, it also means all manner of baby animals are being born. Cue cuteness overload.
It almost started in disaster. My Proflight Zambia plane from Cape Town was landing in Livingstone and going on to Lusaka. This I did not realise, and I sat blissfully ignorant in my seat, headphones on, while the flight attendants, and all the other passengers, waited for me to get off – the only person disembarking. They eventually tapped me on the shoulder and turfed me out. Just in time.
Bags collected, I was off to The David Livingstone, my lodgings on the banks of the Zambezi River. Confession time: the Zambezi, at any point from start to Mana Pools, is one of my favourite places in the world.
So I was as happy as a clam when my cruise on the Lady Livingstone set off that afternoon. Nothing like jumping in immediately, almost as you hit the airport.
River cruise
We dawdled along the river towards Mosi-oa-Tunya, as the Victoria Falls are known in the local languages of Leya and Lozi.
I sipped on a Mosi, as one must in these parts, and watched elephants, hippos, crocs and plenty of beautiful birds.
Later that night, I was struck down with an unwelcome virus and I took to my bed for two days. It was not an auspicious start to my month-long wander through the massive Kaza region, the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, the largest conservation area in the world. It stretches from Angola and Namibia in a wide band all the way through Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It's a marvellous project that is opening up ancient animal migration routes, boosting conservation through community participation and working to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.
The Botswana leg
My next stop was delayed a day, but eventually I set off for Chobe in Botswana, across the Kazangula Bridge. It has knocked several hours off the journey, and the one-stop border crossing has made it all even easier.
Although the bridge was only opened in 2021 to replace the Kazungula ferry, there are several potholes forming already and banks of tar growing ever-larger as the huge, overloaded trucks barrel along in temperatures so high you could fry an egg on the pavement.
If you have not been – and you should go – be prepared to walk through the disease control trays or disinfection mats as part of Botswana's biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, with all your shoes in your bags, before you're allowed into the country.
Vehicles have to drive across a similar mat or dip. They take this seriously. Foot-and-mouth affects cloven-hoofed animals and it can wipe out bovine populations, including buffaloes, which are a virus reservoir.
Chobe is one of those bucket-list places if safaris are your thing. And it has been ever since Liz and Dick (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) got married in the magistrate's office in Kasane, the local frontier town, half a century ago.
It was the second time they married, and they honeymooned in the national park, putting the month-old Chobe Game Lodge on the world map.
It was not my intention to visit Chobe on the legendary lovers' golden anniversary; indeed, I was entirely ignorant of this historical fact when I made my plans. But it made me happy when I learnt of it.
Chobe sightings
The animal sightings in Chobe National Park are show-stopping, and I was prepared to be wowed, even if it was green season.
For those not in the know, green season is the wet season, when the grass is high and sweet, the trees filled with leaves and buds and water is everywhere. The Zambezi teak are in bloom, their pink-purple flowers strewn across the landscape.
Animals can be more difficult to spot, because they don't need to come to waterholes and they can browse deep in the bush.
But – and this is a big one – babies are also being dropped and the birdlife is fantastic.
I saw a baby hippo trotting after its mom, so newly born it was the size of my small dog. Still wobbly on its legs, all rotund belly and cuteness.
Sure-footed little impalas bounced after their mothers while their older brothers practised their fighting skills. The afternoon air rang with the million-strong cicada choir, also looking for mates, and everywhere was the sound of birds.
Baby elephants also made my heart sing, just discovering their trunks and not quite sure what to do with them. (Did you know infant ellies suck their trunks like infant humans suck their thumbs?) They mock charge, their little ears flapping madly, and play happily in the mud.
Elephants are truly awe-inspiring. The entire herd raises the babies, protecting them and helping the mothers. Babies are precious and adored. We could learn a thing or two from elephants.
Messing about in boats
The Chobe River flows year round from its source in the Angolan Highlands all the way to the Zambezi. And it makes for some fantastic safari adventures.
Many lodges have their own river boats, but there are also independent boats you can hop on. A small boat is best for a sunset cruise. It's peaceful, quiet and gives you the best animal sightings.
I went twice, because if you can, you should. Every trip on a safari is different. I've seen the Big Five in the first 10 minutes, and no mammals at all in four hours. There are, however, always birds and bugs, two of my favourite things.
My first river cruise was washed out by an epic thunderstorm. We were not 15 minutes down the river from our mooring when the sky opened and water sluiced down in sheets. We'd forgotten to pack the rain ponchos (who would remember them on a clear and sunny day?) and there was much frantic covering of cameras with whatever could be found.
An elderly English gentleman, unperturbed, sipped on his gin and tonic under the flimsy tarpaulin and toasted the 'jolly adventure'. He was a tonic himself.
We saw nothing but raced back to the shore, to try again another time.
I was back the next day, this time an altogether more successful safari. Crocodiles lolled in the sunshine along the banks, or floated menacingly on the water.
We tootled around Sedudu Island, watching the herons, African fish eagles, kingfishers, carmine bee-eaters and African darters drying their feathers on their perches. There are more than 450 bird species on the river.
On the river banks, hippos lumbered around. They come out of the water during the day here, although they don't ever wander far and are quick to splash back in if they feel threatened.
And elephants. I saw hundreds of elephants, next to the river, in the river, browsing on the trees, grazing on the grasses. All fat and looking happy.
Big cats
In the green season there are also fewer people to clutter up sightings.
Even so, at a lion sighting one early morning, my game driver was joined by eight others. I get it; lions are the king of the jungle for good reason. Their low growl hits you with a primal fear. Bone-chilling. Freeze or flee. But still, I felt claustrophobic and a bit cheated.
But we're on a game drive and all is calm and fascinating. I've tracked lions on foot in the Waterberg in South Africa and it's an entirely different affair. As you can imagine.
There are also cheetahs and leopards, and smaller cats like caracal, but they are tricky to spot.
You can do a Chobe day trip from Livingstone or Victoria Falls, and busloads do.
To be clear, buses do not ply the bumpy dirt roads of the national park. Everyone gets off at Kazungula Bridge or at the entrance, and on safari game vehicles. Or you can opt for several days in the area; there are plenty of lodges inside the park's borders, and even more around Chobe.
I stayed at Elephant Valley Lodge in Lesomo Valley and at Jackalberry Chobe on the beautiful river bank.
Botswana is a unique place. IYKYK (if you know you know), as the kids say. DM
The writer was hosted by Africa's Eden and her flights were courtesy of Proflight Zambia. Accommodation was courtesy of The David Livingstone Safari Lodge, Elephant Valley Lodge and Jackalberry Chobe.
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.