Safari guide to Chobe National Park & River, Botswana.

Located in the northern Kalahari region; Chobe National Park covers about 11,700 square kilometers, and consists mainly of dense thorny bush emerging from deep alluvial soils. A well-worn safari circuit, made famous by the massive herds of elephant and buffalo and significant prides of lion that have become skilled at to hunting large herbivores. The Chobe River apparently flows in both directions and holds the secrecy of the Savuti Channel which vanished in recent time.

The highlight to this safari area is Chobe's animal migrations. The animals move with the available food and water in the district, exhibiting the ancient patterns of time.

Many head for open plains to the south and east during the rainy months (December to March). Then, eventually, from April to November, as the land dries out and the heat builds, the animals migrate back to the great rivers of the north and west.

Contact our specialists, if you to want to plan your trip around these migrations, so that you get the best experience in these areas.

Chobe National Park is a great venue for a combination of flying and driving. Within it, two areas have legendary reputations: the Chobe Riverfront and Savuti Marsh. You can drive yourself to the lodges, or even fly in, whichever you prefer.

The Chobe Riverfront

Bordering the Chobe River, in the far north of the park, this area is famed for its dense game. The lion are common and laid-back, the antelope abundant, and the herds of buffalo and elephant among the biggest anywhere. The birdlife is also exceptional, from omnipresent fish eagles to a multitude of herons and waders. The amazing fishing expertise of the rare African skimmer is just one feature of the Chobe River, along with some well-built hippos and crocodiles.

Over time this riverfront area has become ever more popular. Easily accessed from Victoria Falls, make it the clear choice if you would like to add a safari to your visit.

Savuti Marsh

The mysterious Savuti Channel, which sometimes flows from the Linyanti's waterways and into the heart of Chobe National Park, flooding the Savuti Marsh, is one of Africa's most famous big-game areas. Appearing and then drying up again several times over the last few centuries, the channel's flow is unpredictable. Livingstone recorded in his journey in 1851 that it was flowing. He referred to it as a 'dismal swamp'. However by 1879 the channel had ceased and the Savuti Marsh had begun to dry out. It flowed again in the late 1950s, lasting until 1981 when it finally
dried up.

The dry marsh has formed immense, open grassland dotted with the skeletons of drowned trees. Large herds of game route through Savuti on annual migrations between Botswana's parched interior and the rivers of the north and west. The remarkably nutritious grasses of the area attract large herds of zebra, impala, wildebeest, giraffe, tsessebe, buffalo and elephant. Leopard are always plentiful around the granite kopjes and retain permanent territories here, so do the packs of spotted hyena and large prides of lion and an abundance of old bull elephants that are forever about. Great deals of activity focuses on Savuti's three waterholes, and recently elephant killing lions have become a great draw card.

Linyanti Reserve

The Linyanti Reserve covers 1,250km 2 , within which four private camps operate. In the north, beside the Linyanti River, the environment is like the Chobe riverfront: open floodplains beside the water, an adjacent band of riverine forest, and then dense (mostly mopane) forests stretching away
south. Here there are three camps - Linyanti Tented Camp, King's Pool and Duma Tau - hidden beside separate stretches of this river. Meanwhile to the south of the reserve, Savuti Camp overlooks a remote stretch of the Savuti Channel.

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