Monday, October 6, 2014

So many animals in Botswana...

We saw so many different animals in Chobe National Park. There were 2 types of mongooses, the banded (striped) mongoose and the slender mongoose, pictured below. Yes, it is kind of slender compared to the banded ones!


There were lots of warthogs wandering around the lodge property. In my subjective opinion, they are not very pretty animals. I don't think we ever got a good photo of their faces.


There were lots of Cape buffalo in Chobe too. I guess I would include them in the same category as the warthogs, although they do have impressive horns. Like the warthogs, they also seem calm and peaceful.


We saw vicious predators like this crocodile which looks pretty harmless sunning itself on the riverbank. Mark estimated it to be more than 8 feet long. African crocodiles are apex predators, meaning that they are on the top of their food chain.


This monitor lizard blended into the grass perfectly--I think we only noticed it once it began walking. I'd guess that it was at least 4 feet long.

 
We saw zebras in Chobe but the herds were not as large as I had hoped to see. I love their black and white stripes!
 
 
We even got to see a bushbuck, which is a smaller member of the antelope family. Unlike most antelopes, bushbucks are solitary animals that do not form herds.
 

These animals all had excellent camouflage for their habitat. Whenever we noticed them standing still at a distance, they actually were hard to see with the sun and shadows of the grass and bushes.
 
 





No comments:

Post a Comment