Chobe lapa!

Scrolling through the long reel of memories and subjects still running through our heads following our latest nine night visit to the Chobe, it’s proving difficult to find the best place to press pause and begin our latest trip report…

Do we go with that female leopard stretched out over a fallen tree trunk on the river’s edge that we photographed for ten minutes or more from the photo-boat on our very first afternoon?  Or the courting lions we cruised in to capture the following morning in gorgeous warm light at Elephant Bay, while the rest of the world was still in bed? We couldn’t believe our luck in finding such wonderfully photogenic big cats so easily and so close to us on back-to-back boat rides. It certainly made for a wonderful start to our photographic adventures…

But, hang on, what about the amazing elephants we shot marching across a dust-filled horizon; framed against the setting sun? The soft haze of swirling purples, oranges and reds in the sky that evening was stunning. Our subjects were strung out invitingly like a collage of tissue paper cut-outs. The occasion made for some wonderfully evocative image-making with just a smidgeon of negative exposure compensation to saturate the wonderfully-rich colours and perfectly silhouette the parade of pachyderms. Hang on wasn’t that the same night we had our lady leopard?

Chobe lapa!

Then there was that famous game drive through the reserve on our way back from the tented camp. We’d been forced to cut short our stay in the bush when a swarm of bees, drawn to the water in camp, made bathing impossible. Imagine taking a shower in an apiary and you’ll have some notion of our problem.  As tour leaders we were bowled over by the bravery of our uncomplaining troop, determined to embrace whatever the bush threw at them – including a pestilence of bees. We’d had such wonderful care from the staff there, and such incredible catering, including chef Eric baking a birthday cake (with bees buzzing all around him), that we were really disappointed to have to throw in the towel and end our exploration of this part of the national park. But we couldn’t risk the group’s safety and had to pull the plug. 

Had we been stupid and toughed it out, however, we would have missed the truly top-notch encounters we had on our drive back. It started with sable antelope, progressed to a surprise sighting of nine wild dogs tearing around after finishing up their kill, was followed swiftly by two male lions feasting on a baby elephant (we believe it died of natural causes) and was topped off by a further sighting of our female leopard from the first afternoon. We’re pretty sure it was the same cat, up a tree and settling down for the day in the shade with a recent kill, believed to be an otter.

Back at the hotel we discovered the bee infestation – an unusual occurrence and a result of the prolonged drought this year in Botswana – was not simply confined to our private campsite. Other safari operators were suddenly having to pull their camps and cancel future ones because of the unexpected outbreak. Thankfully that predator-filled drive back more than made up for us having to give ground to the bees.

We’ve had excellent leopard sightings in three out of four of our last visits to the Chobe and amazingly this young female ‘spotty cat’ was not to be the last of our leopard sightings on this trip. We were treated to another excellent leopard photo opp on a game drive near the Sedudu gate the following afternoon, when we were fortunate enough to witness a female stalking an impala – unsuccessfully as it turned out. And then, lo and behold, a few evenings later from the photo boat we notched up our fourth; a male this time, skulking in the bushes above the bank. Sadly, he didn’t hang around long enough for anything more than a record shot. But four leopards ain’t bad.

We rode the same lucky wave when it came to bird photography on the river too. On this visit we had a surprisingly good number of hunting birds catching fish suppers within perfect reach of our lenses. With all the practice we became as adept at landing nice captures as our subjects did getting the fish. We also had fish eagles in flight carrying bundles of reeds and grasses in their talons to repair their nests, obliging giant kingfishers posing out in the open and one rather cheeky malachite kingfisher that twice hitched a ride on the front of the boat as we followed him fishing along the banks of a sleepy backwater.

Then there was ‘Crocodile Monday’ when we saw every size of Nile crocodile going from a tiny baby of six-months old to a monster basking on the bank with huge jaws agape. We even managed some incredibly low angle shots of one of the scaly predators reclined on a high bank. With the help of our boatman we were able to drift right underneath it. Other river highlights included our first half-collared kingfisher (and in a great position) whick took the total number of kingfisher species we photographed on the trip to five, and our second-ever (and later third-ever) sighting of spotted necked otters (we didn’t count the one in the jaws of the leopard).

And to finish up we found ourselves with another wonderful group of breeding elephants to photograph into the dwindling light. The diminutive youngsters, ranged alongside the grown-ups, made for some emotive silhouettes against a blood-orange Chobe sunset. It was a classic farewell from this iconic African river.  

Chobe lapa!

Earlier in the trip Keeme, our guide on the Botswana side, told us a story during one of our coffee stops on the river about how the Chobe is said to have to got its name from the cry of the timber gangs working in the area before it became a reserve. ‘Chobe lapa!’ they would shout working in unison, summoning the strength to roll the huge trees that had been felled across the ground. Roughly translated it means ‘push together’.

We reckon that’s just how we rolled on safari…

It just remains to thank the whole Pangolin team for their huge efforts at the hotel, on the houseboat and at the bush camp in making us so welcome and ensuring our photo trip was a calorie-loaded, cooked-to-perfection, comfortable, camera-led, crazy and critter-filled stay. Extra portions of thank-yous go to our guides Laskey and Keeme for finding us the most amazing coffee spots on the Chobe – not to mention the incredible photo opportunities!

And finally… thank you from us both to the whole cast and crew of ‘I’m a photographer get me out of here’. You passed the bush trial with flying colours!  So hats off to RW (we know you rolled Phenyo in your pyjamas and smuggled him past customs) and to JM for the blue scarf trick, from boy scout to French Foreign legion in two short folds (the Blue Peter badge is winging it’s way to you). Thanks also to SV, our one-eyed fish eagle flight expert (that’s not an easy shot to pull off). To RM for neatly ensuring your husband will never ever forget your wedding anniversary again (we look forward to hearing what he gets you next year). To quiet man SS for the perfect dry humour on every occasion (you moved that camping seat around more times than a deckchair attendant on Brighton beach on a bank holiday to escape the bees). And last but not least to the lovely, ‘so lovely’ MS (as you are planning a series of blogs about our trip we can only say very nice things about you here!)  Thanks all – it was a buzz.

*Please note that our nine night Chobe photo safaris for 2020 do not include the three night stay at bush camp. This is not a result of the bee problem this year (our 2020 schedule was confirmed before this incident) it’s rather that we decided to split accommodation between the houseboat and the hotel for the foreseeable future to maximise our time on the specially-adapted photo boats and to make the most of the dynamic low angle this affords our photography on the Chobe.