It was a morning of transfers and different styles of transportation.  A jovial driver picked us up at the hotel in a nice van (this is the only stoplight in the city of Livingstone, Zambia)...

...and drove us to Zambia's border where we had to cross the Zambezi River into Botswana. 

No bridge. 

There were close to 100 big trucks, many of them hauling chunks of raw copper from Zambia's copper mines, waiting in line to be ferried one-at-a-time across the river.  The queue stretched for a good mile on both sides of the river.

We were loaded onto a small passenger ferry to make the crossing....

...and after passing through Botswana's border customs (I use that term very loosely....) at the wharf, we were passed on to a driver in a Land Rover.

Not only at night.  Had our driver not slammed on his brakes, we would have broad-sided an elephant meandering across the road in the middle of the day!

He drove us to the Kasane airport...

...where we boarded another monstrous plane.

We traded the lush Zambezi River valley...

...for the dry season bush of Botswana...

...landing at the Chobe airstrip in the Linyanti concession, which we would be exploring the next 3 days.

There are a few accommodation options on safari, but we always prefer to be one with nature and rough it in the tented camps.

In this case, Duma Tau Camp.  Duma Tau means "roaring lions."  Oh yeah!

Now this is my idea of roughing it....

The only amenity missing is central air conditioning,....

...a small price to pay for this view!

See that broken tree beside our deck?  The very first night we were in Duma Tau, an elephant came crashing between our tent and Kenny's, breaking trees as he went.  That's how CLOSE we are to nature!

There isn't air conditioning, but the pool is a great mid-day cool-down!

There are 10 tents in Duma Tau Camp, and we were in numbers 9 and 10, the farthest from the camp lodge area...a good 1/4-mile walk...

...with several breaks in the walkway for elephants and hippos to pass through.  

Which they did.

That is an elephant in the water just outside our decks, and you can see the hippo trails through the grass...

This photo was taken from a boat...our tent is in the background.

The common area of Duma Tau, where we had our meals.

So much charm!  Duma Tau was especially lovely after dark, when only candles and kerosene lamps light the tents.  And a bazillion stars in the night-time sky.  Wow!

Early breakfast before our morning game drive...

We met Brooks at Duma Tau.  Brooks is a specialty guide, and he would be our constant companion and private guide at both camps in Botswana.  We've never had a bad guide on safari, but I do have to say that Brooks is extra-special.  Not only are his wildlife knowledge and bush skills amazing, his instincts are absolutely incredible....knowledge can be learned but a person must be gifted with those kinds of instincts.  Brooks took us on some extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime adventures, which I will share with you in future posts.

A beautiful place a world away from our Indiana cabin...

..."roughing it" in Botswana.