CHOBE, Botswana

We celebrated Sally's 70th birthday in three countries today and if we'd been willing to disturb the iguana when we rammed into the shore in Namibia we might have broken into song in a fourth. Letshani met us at the Victoria Falls Airport (where there is a restroom but no running water, though a bucket of water is provided for self-service flushing) and I commented that we'd just come from Johannesburg where her "so-called" President (causing the driver to chuckle) was in meetings. I'd picked up a newspaper In Joburg with the cover story "Zim Starves as Rivals Talk" which she reached for commenting, "We can't get newspapers here."

As we made or way through Zimbabwe we came across one police checkpoint and only three on-coming cars during the 70km before reaching the Botswana border, though at least five loaded semis sat waiting for passage. (I later learned the truckers typically wait three to five days before receiving clearance to cross the border.) Before we left Zimbabwe our border agent was laughing and wearing an "Obama for President" pin.

Botswana is a beautiful, peaceful place with over 150,000 elephants. The government has made a specific effort to preserve the natural environment for wildlife and the Kalahari desert covers 70% of the country.

Our only scheduled activity today was a boat ride down the Chobe river. "I can't believe I'm here" was the most frequent refrain to the chorus of birds punctuated by the bellow of hippos sounding as if a foghorn was malfunctioning as we lazed our way along.