A quick 4-night trip to Chobe, and we loved it! A friend is thinking of investing in a small game lodge in Kasane – gateway town to Chobe National Park. Not far from the Victoria Falls either – we flew from Cape Town to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and transferred by road to Chobe.
Chobe National Park is Botswana’s first national park and is also the most biologically diverse, with areas such as the Savuti Marsh and Linyanti river system. Located in the north of Botswana, it is the country’s third largest park, after the central Kalahari Reserve and the Gemsbok National Park. The Park is famed for its large herds of elephant, and for having a population of lions that have adapted to prey on elephants, mostly calves and juveniles.
We arrived late afternoon in the bustling safari town of Kasane – it has the air of a frontier safari town with Landcruiser’s and Landrover’s taking up parking spaces, and guides trading epic wildlife or tourist stories in the human watering holes!
It was late afternoon, and it didn’t take much persuading to join our friends at a lodge for sundowner drinks on the garden lawns overlooking the Chobe River. The sun sank into a blood red horizon, whilst the hippos grunted and splashed. Outside fires were lit and we enjoyed a delicious braai (BBQ) dinner – happy in the company of friends, and excited to explore the Park the next day.
For 3 days, we explored the Chobe National Park by Landrover in the mornings and along the river in the later afternoons. The rains have come quite late this year, so the bush was dry; making it easier to spot animals. Great sightings of lion, elephant, Buffalo, plains game coming to drink at the river’s edge.
In the later afternoons, we drifted along the Chobe river, watching water birds, crocodiles and hippo’s – appreciating the wilderness and sunsets.
Chobe National Park is an essential add on to any Botswana or Victoria Falls trip.
