The best day of my life...

...was last Thursday, the day we drove into Chobe National Park. We'd made the 12-hour drive from Gabs to Kasane (right on the Zimbabwe border) the day before, and now we were going into the park on a safari truck to camp for 2 nights. Even before we got to the park entrance we saw several elephants browsing off the side of the road. It felt like we had entered Jurassic Park; the elephants may as well have been dinosaurs for how amazed we were to see them. As we drove through the park along the Chobe River, though, elephants became commonplace: there are some 60,000 in the park, the highest concentration in the world, and we saw multiple herds bathing and drinking at the river. Giraffes, hippos, antelope, and baboons were also all around us. I had my head stuck out the side of the covered pickup the entire time, taking more pictures than I know what to do with and marveling that I was now doing exactly what I'd wanted to do for 21 years.

After 3 hours we arrived at our campsite, right on the Chobe River. This was camping as I'd never experienced it before: our tents had been already set up and filled with mattresses and blankets; there was a dining table with tablecloth all set for teatime; and the campsite staff were busy cooking us dinner. Luxury in the middle of the wilderness - now that's the life. While we ate at camp a hippo came out of the river just beyond our campsite; the next day I saw a herd of elephants come to bathe at the same spot. Really, the best camping ever.

For our full day in Chobe, we had two game drives, morning and afternoon. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy off and on so there weren't as many animals as there might have been, but now we were on a mission. Or should I say, a lion hunt. We followed tracks in the sand unsuccessfully during our first drive, but then in the afternoon found a lioness just as she ran under a bush to lie down. The real kicker, though, came on our morning drive out of the park the next day, when we found a male lion laying in the grass! He lifted his head to look at us for a minute, and I got some nice pics. One of the trip highlights for sure.

That afternoon we took a river cruise down the Chobe, riding up next to hippo pods and crocs. The next day we crossed into Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls, which is actually a bunch of connected giant waterfalls that you walk around a paved pathway to see. It was sooo beautiful. Some of the falls even created their own rainstorms, so we got thoroughly drenched. Pretty nice when you're in what feels like a tropical jungle.

On Monday we came back to Gabs for another orientation before we go to stay in Mochudi tomorrow. Mochudi is a village of about 40,000, and we'll each be working full-time with a social organization for the three weeks we're there. I'll be working with an HIV/AIDS care group, which seems very interesting but also makes me nervous - I have no experience that could prepare me for working with terminally ill patients every day. We start on Monday.

I also just got the name of my next host family. I have a mom (no dad), grown siblings (the youngest is 20, and studies at the U of Botswana), and a one-year old granddaughter. Should be interesting.... it's so weird though to think about living with another family when I still miss my Manyana fam! But my adventure continues. Once I get settled into Mochudi I'll hopefully be able to update on life in the Big Motse! Sala sentle for now.