Chobe National Park derives its name from the river that runs along its northern boundary. The area next to the river - more specifically, the section just west of Kasane—is generally referred to as the 'Chobe Riverfront'. The area is teeming with wildlife and is famous in particular for the large herds of elephants which congregate here.
That elephants love messing about in water is well known and we had observed them bathing in lakes and ponds on many occasions during our travels in southern Africa. However, we had never seen them crossing rivers. As it turned out, a boat trip along the Chobe Riverfront gave us copious opportunities to witness just that.
The two (friends?) in the photo at the top had already reached the other side of the river, but clearly decided that they preferred to splash about in the water for a little while longer.
It wasn't exactly a case of 'swimming with elephants', but we got very close to the animals—indeed, I felt that if had we been any closer we might well have ended up in the river with them!
It was magical to watch whole herds coming across.
Understandably perhaps, the baby elephants appeared more anxious about the crossing than the older members of the herd.
Once on dry land again—this was actually a small island in the river—the elephants decided it was time to re-apply the sun protection, i.e. to cover themselves with sand.
As the boat was returning to the jetty we noticed that some of the hippos, having had to give up their usual domain to the elephants, appeared to have joined forces with the buffaloes.
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