Floodplain views - the rising river

Every day, en route to work, we choose to take the scenic road down the hill and enjoy the view out over the beautiful Chobe river floodplain.

View from the top of the hill, just before descending to river level. Neighbouring country Namibia is on the other side.

I find that a good start and mood for the day is highly encouraged by simply appreciating this beautiful view (and baobab) while driving down to our destination at river bank level.

Right now it's time for our annual floods to arrive, and it seems that exceptionally high levels are expected this year. Huge amounts of water are coming down from Angola, and other catchment areas, as we are part of the great Zambezi river system.

The Chobe river suddenly transforms from a meandering blue ribbon, obediently following its channel through the green floodplain, into massive sheets of water which spread out and cover the flat basin with a shimmering, reflective surface. As one can imagine, this watery sheet has the ability to take on any number of colours and moods, according to the state of the sky above it, and this makes for some incredible sunsets. More on that in future posts, I'm sure!

Last Sunday we took a few photos of the advancing floodwaters entering the floodplain.

Above is last Sunday's photo of the floodplain. Below is today's photo (Saturday) from the same spot.This water seems to have appeared almost overnight, and it is still rising!

On Sunday afternoon, we also took a walk along the river's edge at Chobe Safari Lodge. While marvelling at the high water level, we heard a loud water spraying sound emerging from some partially submerged trees right nearby.

Soon afterwards, a long, dark, submarine-shaped body emerged vertically from the water - followed rapidly not by a periscope, but by a pair of flapping hippo ears! Two hippos were in the area, so we stayed around to take some photos of them - one of which graced my previous blog post.

Hippos are fascinating creatures to watch in the water. One minute a hippo is there, and the next, it's gone. While they are underwater, you are never entirely sure where they are going to surface next, and this can be slightly alarming!

I have the greatest respect for these animals, as they can be extremely dangerous, and I've heard it said that hippos account for more deaths in the African river enviroment than crocodiles. Even though they are vegetarians, their sheer size and power, coupled with the most enormous teeth means that they can cause a lot of damage. Apparently the big hippo "yawn", is actually a sign of aggression! Even though we are surrounded by wildlife here, we never lose sight of the fact that they are completely wild creatures in their natural environment...

Hippo in the very wide, flooded river near submerged trees

Watch this space for more flood images in the not too distant future, and in the meantime, happy weekend greetings from my grey, cloudy, watery world...