Chobe National Park

• Largest surviving continuous Elephant population
• Amazing variety of habitats
• 440 species of birds

The Chobe National Park in northernmost Botswana covers an area of approximately 11 000 square kilometres and is most famous for its prominent concentrations of elephant.  The park consists of an intriguing variety of habitats ranging from expansive floodplains, acacia and mopane woodland to lush riverine forests.  Flowing along the parks northern boundaries are the Linyanti and Chobe Rivers, while in the south the Savuti Channel brings life to the Mababe Depression.  The Savuti Channel, a strange waterway, which apparently seems to have a mind of its own, bisects the Chobe National Park 

Accompanying the variety of habitats is a rich and diverse variety of wildlife and bird species providing exceptional photographic opportunities.  Game viewing in Chobe National Park is at its best during the dry season between April to October when the majority of the natural pans have dried up causing the wildlife to congregate around limited waterholes and along the edge of the Chobe River. 

The approximate 40,000 Chobe elephants comprise part of what is probably the world’s largest surviving and continuous elephant population.  Covering part of northern Botswana and north western Zimbabwe, this elephant population is currently estimated at approximately 120,000 individuals and has built up steadily from a few thousand since the early 20th century, escaping the massive illegal poaching that decimated many other populations in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The Chobe elephant population is also largely migratory and makes seasonal movements of up to 200km from the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers where they concentrate in the dry season, to the pans in the southeast of the park, where they disperse in the rainy season. 

The Park is divided into 4 distinctly different ecosystems:

• Serondela with its lush plains and dense forests in the Chobe River area in the extreme north-east
• The Savuti Marsh in the west about fifty kilometres north of Mababe gate
• The Linyanti Swamps in the north-west
• And the dry hinterland in between

Special Features Include:

• Serondela
  The Serondela area is situated in the extreme North East of the Chobe National Park, and is the major area for tourism, based mainly out of Kasane.  This region of the park is renowned for its large and abundant elephant populations, with an estimated 40 000 individuals travelling in herds and frequently seen along the Chobe River.
• The Savuti Marsh
  Savuti has often been described as one of the best wildlife viewing areas in Africa, boasting one of the highest concentrations of wildlife left on the continent.  The area is particularly famous for its predators and in particular its resident lion and hyena populations.  The Savuti channel is a mystery in itself, and has over the past 100 years inexplicably dried up and recommenced its flow several times, with the present dry period commencing in 1982.     
• Linyanti Swamps
  This secluded and uncrowded short strip of swampy river frontage between the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers is reminiscent of the Okavango’s permanent waterways and covers an area of approximately 900 sq km.  On the southern banks of the Linyanti River is the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve where wildlife is plentiful especially in the dry winter months between April and October.  Large concentrations of elephant, buffalo and zebra and their associated predators can be seen and the bird life is richly diverse, if not overwhelming. 
• Nogatsaa and Tchinga
  Nogatsaa and Tchinga is a little known area of pan speckled grass woodland approximately 3 hours south of Serondela.  The area retains water well into the harsh dry season and thus attracts a profusion of game between August and October and is particularly good for viewing the rare and majestic eland antelope.