Thursday, May 15. Leaving Khwai for Chobe National Park – Savuti Area
Our last morning in Khwai was another bright, chilly gorgeous beginning. We see herds of wildebeests, lovely impala, sand grouse, guinea hens and lots of hornbills. We head back to our lovely camp in Khwai and assist Lawrence and Degree pack up the Green Mamba with all of the gear. They make such fast work of this job! We drive along the Khwai River and up the sand ridge to the Savuti Marsh. Making our way through the Mababe Depression we have fun making up stories about the animals we saw and their various mental ailments – The zebras needed group therapy; the lovely Batalliers needed couples therapy and for the Giraffes, lost conical therapy. Silliness. It is a gorgeous ride….very hilly and even somewhat challenging with our heavy load. We see new birds, and after we arrive at our camp in Savuti we head out and have our nightly “sundowners” under a lovely Baobab Tree. We take lots of pictures. I think that Bridget will really like to paint this. I wish she were here. There are huge outcroppings of rock that are deep orange and brown…beautiful in the sunlight.
Our camp is tucked into some big trees by the river and at night I can here elephants sloshing around- surreal. We visit some marshy areas and just take in the birds….they are amazing in their flight and color…there are so many….so far we have seen 75 species of birds….Clinton just rattles them all off…mom would love this part of our adventure. I have an ongoing messy list all of the birds. It is incredible – today we see some new ones – the Secretary Bird, Marshall Eagles, the Fulvous Duck, Goliath Herron, Comb Ducks and the Glossy Ibis. We head back and have a wonderful dinner. We have had all kinds of wonderful Brei for dinner – steak, chicken and pork chops and also some wonderful chicken and lamb stew. Matt and Tim would love the authentic shepherd’s pie made in the Dutch oven over the Mopani fire served with fluffy delicious freshly baked bread complements of Lawrence and Degree. I have no idea how they manage to get the temperature perfect for baking- but they do! Everything is So delicious with a nice glass of South African Jordan Estates Red – I think we have been having a wonderful blend of Cab and Merlot- very nice – Tim would approve. Dinner is always delicious and always served lamp lit and el fresco. Perfecto!
