Safari Day!  We woke up early to catch our ride to Botswana… the elephants were out at the side of the road to greet us!

After making it through the border crossing, we caught a speedboat that would take us from Zambia to Botswana.  The boat captain is showing us a place where the four corners of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana all come together.

We were dropped off at a beautiful lodge inside Chobe National Park, where the first part of our safari was on the river.  Sort of like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland with a wide, flat-bottomed boat that skimmed across the lake.

But not like Disneyland really, because these are real alligators!

And real hippos!  Although I doubt they will bother out boat.  They look pretty sleepy.

Do you see the bird on this guy’s back?  I thought that was just in cartoons!

We met some really nice people on the boat.   There was coffee, tea, and scones when we boarded, but it was kind of funny because there was a group of teenagers who scarfed all the food down in minutes.  I’m thinking we have a few years yet before Mike and I have to worry about that with Jake and Eli.  Still, it was a reminder of what’s coming…

Jake liked talking to the captain.

Up on top of the boat was an open deck where we had a great view of the animals.  We saw Cape Buffalo,

Giraffes,

And elephants!  So many elephants!!

I could bore you so many more pictures of elephants.  Okay, I’ll stop!  How about these guys instead?

After our boat ride, we went back to the lodge for lunch.  Nshima, chicken, beef kabobs, and coconut ice cream.  Most of the other people in our group were missionaries, and I think we shocked them by our drink order…

In the afternoon we had another safari, this one a Game Drive on one of the safari vehicles.

We saw all kinds of animals!  More giraffes,

a herd of impala at the water,

Sable (these are the ones that look like unicorns),

And a whole herd of elephants walking right by the truck!

That guy is huge!

We stopped for a little bit by the river to have some cold drinks and take a pit stop in the trees.  Guys are so lucky.

Opa is allergic to sunshine, and all his sneezing is making us laugh!

it’s been a long day, and now it’s time to think about heading home. 

What an awesome experience!  We are so glad we got do this with you, Mom and Dad!