Botswana 2024 – Chobe

Our last stop on this trip was Chobe National Park, actually, the northernmost part of the park is along the Chobe River, near the town of Kasane. Chobe is one of the most famous African parks, and we were about to visit it for the third time.

It was a half-day drive from Gweta to Kasane. The first part of the road between Gweta and Nata is still awful – the road was damaged due to floods several years ago and still hasn’t been repaired since. But after Nata, the road was excellent all the way to Kasane. Yet, we encountered many wild animals along this course, so one of the most popular mantras when traveling in Africa – “Never drive after dark!” – is more than justified. At night, you won’t be able to spot the elephant or a buffalo on the road in time, and the catastrophe would be inevitable.

In Kasane, we didn’t linger more than necessary. We stopped at the Kasane airport, at the headquarters of Chobe4x4, to get a full gas cylinder. After that, we immediately continued to the Sedudu entrance gate to the park. After the entry formalities, we drove in by the tracks already well known to us.

We were to spend one full day and one night in the park, before our transfer to Zimbabwe, for a flight home from Victoria Falls. As we were already really familiar with the area from our previous visits, we didn’t really need to spend any unnecessary time with the orientation and finding our ways. We felt like being at home.

On our first day in the park, it was all about the elephants. Masses of them. We never so so many in one place. They all came to drink to the river, and late in the afternoon, they were heading back into the interior of the land, to browse on the succulent bushes.

On our afternoon game drive, we didn’t encounter any cats, but many other plain animals, and lots of birds. However the most impressive was a huge buffalo heard, a few hundred of them, at Puku Flats.

And again, as well as in Central Kalahari, we were mostly impressed with how green everything was, and flowers blossomed everywhere. And birds are always around in great numbers.

We spend the night at the Ihaha campsite. This is the only campsite inside this part of the park. It has had occasional security issues in the past years, but it has such a nice setting on the Chobe floodplains, that it is simply breathtaking. It would be a sin to be here, and not spend a night at Ihaha. We were so enchanted by the surroundings, that even for a second we didn’t feel threatened or were thinking about our security. It was a magical night, our last in the wild, in the tent.

The next day, we woke in the overcast morning. It was like nature wanted to share our sorry that we are at the end of our trip. It was our last day in the park and in Botswana. But hey, we still had the whole day in front of us, and many surprises to be looking for. After a slow breakfast, we drove along the river back toward Kasane. Where yesterday we were blocked on our way by so many elephants, today we didn’t see a single one! Amazing difference. As it was so quiet animal-wise, we treated ourselves to a long stop at Serondela picnic stop, cooked our daily Turkish coffee, and enjoyed a couple of rounds of rummy. We certainly were not in a hurry.

We then slowly continued toward the gates. At one of the crossroads, we noticed a Landrover parked at the side of the track. It was a lady from the neighboring campsite and her guide, with whom we had chatted the previous evening and this morning in the camp. They must have found something interesting, so let’s have a look ourselves! Indeed, they were there alone with a young male lion, resting on the termite mound by the road. He was very relaxed, totally oblivious about our presence merely a few meters from him. After a while, he became attentive to a herd of impalas, browsing not far away. He stood up and slowly stalkingly moved closer to them. When he thought he was close enough, he charged at full speed toward them. But he was too far, and they noticed his attack soon enough to safely dash into the bushes. This was a perfect goodbye for us to this park. Well, not quite a final goodbye yet, we still had an afternoon boat ride to look forward to.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Probably the most attractive way for Chobe visitors to experience the versatility of both flora and fauna in the park is to observe it from the water. Very few African parks can offer this, and Chobe is probably the most known of them all by its superb river cruises. In the morning and in the afternoon, the whole flotilla of different vessels takes tourists upstream along the Chobe River to observe the wildlife on the islands and on the banks of the river. This really is an experience not to be missed, if you are in Kasane. We’ve been here three times, and every time we took a boat trip – it is never the same.

This time we took one of the smaller boats, which are more agile and can come closer to the shores. We were the only passengers, so we had it all to ourselves.

During the rainy season, animals are not that dependent on the water from the river, so they usually don’t congregate at the shores in such large numbers as during the dry winter. But still, wherever you looked, there was something interesting going on.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Two Impala rams performed a real sparing duel in front of a herd of females, and we had a front seat at that show. It looked quite fierce, but in the end, everything was peaceful again, as if nothing happened.

In the end, just with the last rays of the sun, a majestic family of elephants came down to the river to quench their thirst. It was the best closure of the show called Chobe Waterfront.

We spent our last night in Chobe town, in one of the cottages of Kasane Self Catering. It was a nice, quiet place, to unwind from all the adventures of the last two weeks. The next morning we were transferred to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe by taxi, arranged by Chobe4x4, for our flight back home.

Despite the risks of potential rains, the weather during the whole trip was excellent. Thus, Botswana, and probably also some other neighboring countries are again on our candidate’s list of potential targets for our future end-of-year African trips.