Birthday gifts beyond value..

It has taken me over a month to put this blog post together - it's just been one of those very fast-moving months again! It was actually my birthday rather a long time ago, on the first of  July, and I enjoyed my day right here on our own dorstep, for once. At extreme first light, we left home and drove the few necessary kilometres to enter our own National Park which is, after all, one of Southern Africa's sought after tourism destinations.. There is nothing more beautiful than the early light on the bush, during a perfect winter's morning.

We first drove through the transit route, in order to startup  at the top end. The grass at this time of year is so typically savannah-like... accessorised with a zebra...

... and another one ready to slide into the stripey vegetation at any minute, should we our presence become too worrying..

Entering at the Ngoma gate means being far away from the busier areas of the park.. here is a beautiful view out over the river - water from the seasonal floods was still covering the floodplain.

We came across a fallen baobab. Interesting to see the fibrous insides of  its massive trunk.

We decided to take the next track down from the ridge, and as we reached river bank level, this is the face that gazed curiously at me as we approached! What a privilege to watch this gorgeous lioness, all on our own without any other vehicles around.

Here is a view from the river, looking up to the baobabs on the rocky ridge

Up on the ridge again, we watched a traditional dugout (mokoro) gliding through the still water. These people are normally in Namibian waters, as the river is shared between the two countries and right here the Botswana side is purely national park. Sometimes the boundaries become a little blurred in this riverine world..

This group of baboons were enjoying a patch of morning sun. 

More flood plain views - waterbuck on the opposite bank.

I am being a bit of a purist and only posting photos that I took, and resisting stealing better images although we were sharing the camera and each had different opportunities depending on which side of the car the subject appeared.. My lilac breasted roller had a leaf too close to its head for my liking, but still an absolutely gorgeous bird!

This magnificent kudu bull shows how he can blend into the trees and foliage with his spiralled horns and sneaky stripes.

A dainty Chobe Bushbuck politely waited politely for us to take a picture and move on  by..

I have so many giraffe photos... here is a slightly different one.

Compulsory elephant picture. Can one ever have enough photographs of them?

Brunch time. This picnic spot, looking down on the river, more or less marks the transition into the busier part of the Park, where you will usually encounter commercial game drives.

Right next to the bench hovered this beautiful starling who was extremely attentive, in the hope of scoring leftovers!

Taking the river route, the banks were absoutely crammed with birdlife, and every type of water loving creature you could think of.  This white crowned lapwing obligingly stood still for a very long time for its photograph!

Here is an impressive tusker of a warthog..the Park warthogs are so much more groomed looking than their town dwelling relatives!

Buffalo enjoying a wade in the water

These impala might be plentiful, and around every corner, but they are exquisitely beautiful animals.

One of the river viewpoints. I love this photo, as for me it is quite a typical scene.

Onto the really well travelled tracks now - but this is always one of my very favourite views.

We made our way down to the river again, where pods of hippos were enjoying the shallows..

We really took our time, photographing, identifiying and simply absorbing it all. As the afternoon progressed, the river started to glisten sliver.

We parked  up on the ridge and waited for the sun to set. In the late afternoon light, this adorable little blue waxbill hopped around for ages just under my window, not in the least worried about my presence, and allowed me to snap away!

Sunset was worth waiting for. The elephants pictured above were still there, making lovely photos for the tourists heading home on their sunset boat trips...

The changing colours of the sunset. Smoke in the air makes for some stunning sunsets at this time of year.

Before it got too dark, we had to call it a day, and make our way to the Park gate, in order to leave before closing time.. back to the tar roads and civilisation, just a few minutes away from home.

It was actually awe inspiring, to experience the sheer biodiversity of our unique area. It was wonderful seeing the wild creatures protected, and still living more or less their same natural and timeless existence along this beautiful river, despite all the many many acknowledged failings, and criticisms, and all that may not be done to completely protect and conserve our wildlife round here. It's not perfect, but I definitely felt a bit of hope at a time where I sometimes let the fate of the earth's wild places and animals get me down... I could have posted every photo of every animal and creature that we observed that day, but I have refrained for the sake of a manageable blogpost. My birthday gifts stay with me...

I'll be back when I can! Weekend greetings to all reading this..