ELEPHANT-ITUS Crossing the border into Botswana was a real culture shock. There were foot and mouth checks, polite border officials, air conditioned rooms, rows of computer screens, all resulting in an incredibly efficient service. We were now heading further towards civilisation and it came as a welcome relief. We left 15 minutes later contemplating why exactly it took us three days behind barbed wire to clear Sudanese customs! Arriving in Kasane we found amazingly stocked supermarkets, friendly people, petrol stations that almost begged you for your business, and clear road signs and markings. With good infrastructure and professional services, we knew we would like Botswana. It helped that the prices are much lower than in Zambia. After a night camping on a crocodile bank (making a night time loo trip almost impossible), we rose early and headed off to Chobe National Park. Chobe is famous for it's elephants but our experiences of parks in the rainy season meant we didn't expect to see many....how wrong we were! In the three days we spent in Chobe we saw around one hundred elephants. Most of these beautiful, yet unpredictable creatures walked within a few metres of Biggles. Several mock charged us and one gave a real charge which luckily we were able to reverse from! At our campsite on the Chobe River (one of the nicest and wildest camps we've stayed at on our trip) we had to jump into the car when a herd of nine elephants walked right through where we were camping. Along with the ellies we had baboon, lion, hyena, and warthog all around the vehicle at night. BLOODY BUGS Although it sounds ridiculous, we were unfortunate enough to time our visit in the same week as the dung beetle's breeding period! Consequently we had a crust of beetles on everything we ate or drank and the little black creatures got into our hair and clothes. The only way to cook a meal and get ready for bed was to cover ourselves in mosquito netting and add lots of black pepper to our meal so as not to notice the bloody bugs! The supposed two hour drive to the Savuti Marsh actually took us most of the day. The normal road was waterlogged and the detour had lots of elephants on the track! When we arrived at the Savuti Campsite we laughed at the 'elephant proof wall' surrounding the loo block. This eight foot brick wall was built to stop elephants destroying the taps and showerheads when trying to get water! Camilla didn't laugh so loudly later that night when she came back from a shower and was confronted by three angry elephants - she spent an hour stranded behind the protective wall waiting for them to move on!