The next day we drove through Zambia and crossed the Zambezi into Botswana, and then boarded a boat for a short trip through Chobe National Park.  It was great way to start our wildlife viewing, with elephants, hippos, and monkeys, and plenty of birds.  (A word about birding with Thuto.  On most of our previous adventure travel trips, I've been frustrated with the passing knowledge shown by the guides of the local birds, and I didn't expect to pad my life list all that much on this trip, thinking I'd have to page through the guide to figure out what they were, while bouncing around in the back of the truck.  But Thuto was a wonder, calling out just about everything that flapped by, and doing it twice so we'd be sure to hear him.  Of course he did the same with all those other minor critters (elephants, lions, etc.) that we came upon.  I ended up with about 170 new birds for the trip.)