Chobe National Park, Botswana

Went on an excellent morning game drive here as soon as we arrived. The park was full of dead trees, reaching up eerily above the bushy smaller trees and scrub. Botswana has a non-culling policy, so the growing elephant population has done great damage. But as our guide said, "nature will take care of it."

Not surprisingly, we saw lots of elephants. Also kudu and a sable and a baby crocodile. There were marshall eagles and fish eagles and lots of pretty little birds I can't name. The Chobe river is still in flood, so there was plenty of water to add variety to the scenic wonders of the park. It was hard to tell which was the river and what was just flood-plain, but in amongst it all were some distant crocs and hippos.

In the afternoon we returned to the park for a game cruise. Again there was lots to see and oodles of lush scenery to soak up. Most of all there were elephants. Hundreds of them. All along the bank we saw groups coming down to drink from the river. Adults tried to shield babies. Babies suddenly shot off in a wobbly galloping toddle. And gradually the golden tones of sunset gave everything a wonderful warm glow.

A fabulous day. (Yes, another one!) A beautiful park, with so much to see. Only limits of time stop me waxing on...

Back at the campsite, I spent a very pleasant evening with a dashing (well, rather appealing) Afrikaaner called Willie :) Do all these Afrikaaners look as if they're warming up on the touchline and about to spring into action, or is it just the ones I've been meeting?