Situated in the northernmost corner of Botswana,
the Chobe National Park fills the squat triangle formed by the
country’s borders with Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - and it’s only 80km from Victoria Falls. A vast reserve of
about 12 000 sq km, it has one of the greatest concentrations
of game found on the African continent and offers excellent
safari experiences. The Chobe river frontage in the extreme
northeast has lush plains and dense forest, whilst the central
region has both arid pans and deep swamps. The famous Savuti
corridor in the west leads to the Moremi Wildlife Reserve in
the Okavango Delta. Chobe was declared a national park in 1967,
and was Botswana’s first national park.
The park's northern boundaries are marked by the Chobe River, also the border with Namibia. You can actually see the Namibian border
guards at their look-out posts on the other side. The Chobe
River rises in the northern Angolan highlands, and like the
Okavango and Zambezi, the Chobe's course is affected by fault
lines. One theory is that millions of years ago the Okavango,
Chobe and Zambezi flowed as one huge river across the middle
of the Kalahari before joining the Limpopo River and emptying
into the Indian Ocean, but movements in the earth’s crust
split this flow of water into separate rivers. These three mighty
rivers carry more water than all the other rivers in southern Africa.
Today, the Chobe joins the Zambezi at Kazangula, where
they flow together briefly before spilling over the deep cataract
at Victoria Falls.
In Chobe, you will see elephant. The park is famous for
having the largest continuous surviving elephant population
in Africa, estimated at a staggering 120 000. Truly impressive
herds gather during both the wet and dry seasons. As regularly as clockwork,
the elephant move along their well-worn paths to drink at the
Chobe River. You can park amongst them and watch them drink,
splash and enjoy muddy baths. One of the most popular safaris
is game viewing by boat and a must in Chobe is to take an
afternoon boat ride on a double storey pontoon, gin and tonic
in hand, to watch elephants play in the water. These elephants
also migrate across the border to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe
and are frequently spotted on the main road between Kasane and
Maun. There are even red triangle warning signs showing
elephants on the side of the road! These are some of the largest
elephants in Africa, but their ivory is brittle and they don’t
have big tusks – a fact that saved them from the poachers
who decimated other populations in the 1970-80s. Indeed the elephant population has fared so well, it has placed massive
pressure on the natural environment. Elephant damage is particularly
noticeable in Chobe.
Herds of zebra can also be seen at the river's edge; giraffe
and warthog are common; lion occur throughout the park, but
are most frequently spotted around the Savuti corridor in the
west. It’s not unusual to see hundreds of buffalo at a
time as well as wildebeest and zebra in their thousands – all
closely stalked by the predators. But the highlight of Chobe
is being able to watch vast numbers of elephant come down to the river
in the afternoon. It’s not unheard of to see more than
a hundred in a couple hours: one of Africa’s greatest
wildlife encounters.
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