This weekend a few of us took a weekend road trip into Botswana a short drive across the border from Livingstone. Our mini adventure began without a hitch, passing through various police check points without issue. A few kilometres from the border we were stopped again and this time were not quite so lucky. The police were insistent that we needed a particular piece of paper we didn't have and our driver spent quite some time trying to convince them otherwise. After some further negotiation from Kelly were on our way.

Full of excitement to be trundling along again our hopes were soon dashed when the truck broke down in the middle of Mosi-oa-Tunya national park and we'd still not made it to the border! Thankfully 'Doc', our driver, was a bit of a genius when it comes to engines and managed to change the filter (or something like that) and the trip resumed again!

The border crossing at Kasangula involves crossing the Zambezi on a little barge; soon we were in Botswana, home of Chobe National Park, St Louis larger, lots of diamonds and wildlife. A quick dash to our lodge and we had 10 minutes to get organised for a sunset river cruise.

Perched on garden chairs on an open sided boat that looked like a larger version of the boat from 'Gentle Ben' and we were on our way. The trip was stunning; within a few minutes we had seen a single Hippo out of the water, quickly followed by a sizable Crocodile. As we drifted on Elephants were crossing the river to graze on an island, seeing them swimming was a bit of a treat. As we pootled along we came across plenty more Hippo's, Giraffe, Elephants, Crocks, Fish Eagles and Buffalo. It was simply fabulous. Clear skies and a setting sun ensured another Kodak moment as the sun went down.

The next morning we were up early at ridiculous O'clock (otherwise known as 5.15am) for a game drive in the park. James and Helen declined to attend with Ninja Helen and bandit James taking their places, masquerading as us by wearing all our clothes. It was simply bone chillingly freezing at that time of the morning and the drive was rather excruciating. The five of us were completely wrapped up and we still froze. Unfortunately the game was pretty elusive and we were glad to return to the lodge for some breakfast and a hot shower!

All too soon we were heading back over the border to Zambia.