Chobe

Chobe National Park covers 10,566km2 and is renowned for its high game concentration. Encompassing four distinct eco-systems, the park's diversity means that it is home to a wide variety of birds, animals and plantilife. Serondela, in the extreme north-east of the park is made up of lush plains and forest thickets while Savuti Marsh and the Linyanti Swamps are an important source of water to the west and north-west respectively.

The Chobe elephant population which number over 100,000, migrate between the the pans to the south of the park during the rains, and north to the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers in the dry season as food becomes scarce. The Chobe River itself is a magnet for the huge pachyderms which can be seen lazily bathing or swimming, trunks held aloft like snorkels, across to the Namibian reedbeds. Lion too are plentiful in Chobe and there are a large number of herbivores, particularly red lechwe, a swamp antelope and buffalo.

There are a number of large hotels near the small town of Kasane which can mean that the game drive circuits along the Chobe River are sometimes quite busy. There are a few smaller lodges which try and explore the quieter reaches of the Chobe but inevitably, the areas where the big game is tends to attract the visitors. The guides are quite sensitive here so you are unlikely to find ten vehicles jostling for position but just be warned that you won't be in a private wilderness whilst here. The animals are quite habituated and elephants will sometimes venture close enough to the car to be almost within arm's reach. This is quite disconcerting at first but thrilling to see such a large beast so close.