As we turned our back on the setting sun and headed back to the Chobe Safari Lodge in our sunset cruise boat, this African Skimmer (Rynchops flavirostris) circled around us for several minutes.  These birds use their unique bills to scythe the water, catching their prey with the lower beak and snapping the head down and back to close the upper beak on the fish, before swallowing it in flight.


This Water Monitor lizard is a Cape Monitor I think (Varanus exanthematicus) rather than a Nile Monitor (Varanus niloticus) and is already nearly 5ft in length.  Pretty near as big as they get.  These carnivorous animals will catch and eat fish as well.  Unlike the small lizards, if a Monitor Lizard looses its tail it does not grow back


Late in the day and the Hippo are getting tired too I think, or maybe he's trying to tell us something ?


A last look at the elephant herds in the evening haze ......


..... while the geese head off to find their roosts for the night .....



.... and the liquid gold sun pours itself across the Chobe river before snuffing out with almost no warning in typical African sunset style, and we settle down to a dinner in a bush restaurant overlooking this wonderful river.  But more on the Chobe Safari Lodge tomorrow.


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Permalink | Posted by: Ian at Tuesday, September 21st, 2004 21:00:00 | Location: Chobe river, Botswana | Category:  Botswana Safari 

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