If I were to liken our trip to a three-course meal (it's always about food), the safari would be the main course. As with all three-course meals, there is the appetizer. Botswana – or more specifically the Chobe National Park in Botswana – was the appetizer to the main course of our trip. Not because the national parks in Botswana is inferior to the ones in South Africa, but because we only had one full day there, versus an entire week in the South African national parks later in our trip.

Upon completing the 800-km drive from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, we flew to Kasane, a small town at the edge of the Chobe National Park. We stayed at a simple, self-catering accommodation just outside the national park – nothing as fancy as the game reserve lodges that’s usually located within the park itself. That just means we needed to take care of our own food and organize the game drives ourselves. It is however a significantly cheaper way to see the animals.

Our day started very early – at 5.30 am before the sun was up. We were picked up in an open-top Land Rover by our driver / guide. That’s when we realized it gets bloody cold in Africa. It was probably 7 to 8 Celsius but felt more like 0. Because it was open-top, the wind intensifies the cold. We had our winter jackets on but we still couldn’t feel our fingers and ears after just a few minutes. Thank goodness for the thick blankets that our guide provided us. We’re such noobs.

We spent a good 3 hours driving around a small section of the national park. It’s nothing like a zoo or even the city safaris we’ve been to, where we would expect to see different animals around every corner. Here, we spent a good 90% of the time driving around looking for the animals. And when we do find an animal, it would usually be too nervous to hang around for long. The Chobe National Park is well over 10,000 square kilometres so it does provide a lot of space for the animals (excluding the birds which we saw plenty of throughout the drive) to roam around.

During the 10% of the time that we did see the land animals, there were impalas, kudus, baboons, buffalos, warthogs (Pumba from the Lion King), elephants and hippos. The highlight for me were the hippos. Here are some fun fact about them – hippos have killed more humans than any other species in Africa. They are by far the deadliest animal here. They kill their victims – animals and humans alike – by chomping down on them with their massive jaws and teeth (their canines can grow to well a foot long!). They are incredibly fast on land, being able to run up to 30+ km/h on their short legs. They’re also extremely protective of their babies. So you can imagine our excitement – which quickly turned into apprehension – when we came across a mother and her baby making their way into the water. When the mother noticed us approaching, she turned towards us and threatened to charge us. Our guide slammed on the breaks. We then watched both mother and baby continue their way peacefully into the water.

In the afternoon, we opted to see the animals on the Chobe River that flows through the national park. As it’s the dry winter season, the animals tend to gravitate towards the river to drink. Hence, the river is a great way to see the animals during this time of the year. Elephants, buffalos, giraffes, crocodiles, many species of birds. The highlight was watching an elephant swim across the river. Didn’t know that elephants could swim? Neither did we. Elephants actually use their trunks as a snorkel to breathe while underwater. It was really cool to watch.Overall, our one day at Chobe was a great start to our main safari experience. We look forward to what the one week at South Africa’s Kruger National Park have in store for us.