Chobe is teeming with animals: huge herds of elephant, buffalo and their chasing predators come to this mighty river to drink...
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Chobe National Park is in the far north-east of Botswana. It teems with animals, especially huge herds of elephant and buffalo. Indeed the elephant population, estimated to be 30,000, is the largest concentration in Africa. It’s not unusual to see herds of up to 500 elephant at the river at the end of the dry season. And now large prides of lions have learnt to hunt them which adds to the safari excitement.
Below we have played slightly fast and loose with Chobe’s boundaries. As within ''our'' Chobe we include three distinct areas:
Firstly there are the game lodges on the Chobe River in the north of Chobe National Park, quite close to Victoria Falls.
Secondly there are the safari camps in the Savuti marsh area in the south of Chobe. (Or the Savute channel as it is also known.)
Finally we include the safari camps of the Linyanti, Selinda and Kwando private concessions. Which are not strictly in the Chobe National Park. As they lie to the west of the park.
So our Chobe safaris focus on these three areas. As this is where the game lodges and camps are concentrated.
The key to understanding Chobe lies in the complex animal migrations. These follow an ancient pattern, only partly understood by man. Very broadly speaking, the game is drawn to the Chobe and Kwando rivers, with their verdant floodplains, during the dry winter season. Then during the wetter summer months, it spreads out to the open grasslands of the Savute marsh, the pans of the Mababa depression. And the western private concessions of the Linyanti.
A Chobe safari is easily combined with Victoria Falls, only 1½ hours away by road. So some people tack a two night safari in Chobe onto a Victoria Falls visit.
Then from Kasane airport you can fly easily to the Okavango Delta or to Savute. Many of our Botswana safaris combine the Chobe with a few days in the Delta.