From Victoria Falls is possible to visit the nearby Botswana. Specifically Chobe National Park. Hippos in Chobe River. The Chobe national park is one of the most game rich national parks in Africa and in our opinion you have more photographic opportunities per game drive than anywhere else. The Chobe is also very accessible from Johannesburg as Air Botswana and SA Airlink have regular flights which take around two hours each way. The Chobe River rises in the Angola from which it travels under it's Hambukushu name, Kwando. It becomes the Linyanti (named by the Subiya) as it reaches Botswana and finally becomes the Chobe at the border post of Ngoma. The Chobe runs along the northern border of Botswana, meeting the Zambezi and tumbling over the fault-line of Victoria Falls. Towards the end of it's journey, the river becomes a twisting, broad arm of water snaking its way through swampland. The Chobe National Park rests on its banks at this point and is home to a huge number of herbivores, especially elephant. The wide banks and sweet grass attract plains game of all sorts; of particular interest are the swamp antelope, red lechwe. The birdlife here too is extraordinary. Hippos are known to wander great distances at night in search of food. In Botswana I observed a Hippo that had wandered too far from the Linyanti system one night and ended up in the Savuti Marsh area. Its time of arrival in Savuti coincided with a water crisis. The waterholes were dry and many animals were milling around in confusion. The Hippo was stranded at one of the dry pans. The days were scorching, adding to the problem. The most fascinating part of this drama was the other animals’ reaction to the hippo. Hyenas lay side by side with the Hippo in one of the concrete troughs in an apparent move to cool down on the concrete. Elephant would walk over, have a look then walk back to the little shade there was. When the water finally came through the pipe on the third day the Elephants kept other animals away from the trough with the Hippo, even chasing the Hyenas away that were sharing the trough at the time. It was an amazing behavioral trait.The Hippo recovered and disappeared during the third.