Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park

Chobe is probably best known for its impressive Elephant herds. The Chobe River supports the largest concentration of Elephant found anywhere in Africa and it is not uncommon to encounter herds in excess of a hundred animals.

Chobe National Park encompasses four distinct ecosystems:

• Serondela area (or Chobe riverfront) in the north-east has lush plains and dense forests which attract huge numbers of Elephants and Buffalo. The Serondela area is the most visited part of the Park.
• Savuti Marsh is situated in the west of the park. The Savuti Channel bisects the Chobe National Park and empties into the Savuti Marsh. The Savuti Marsh area has become well known through its coverage in a number of popular wildlife documentaries. Savuti has rich grasslands, savannah woodland and a large variety of trees and other vegetation.
• Linyanti Swamps are situated in the western section of Chobe. The Linyanti River and marshes are complemented by the contrasting dry woodlands. The Linyanti Wildlife Reserve area is renowned for predators and large concentrations of game, particularly Elephant and Buffalo, which move down to the Linyanti River at the start of the winter months.
• The Nogatsaa and Tchinga, a hot and dry hinterland – this area is for the adventurous traveler. It holds water well into the dry season and attracts a profusion of game between August and October.
• Habitats found in the Park range from floodplains, mopane woodland, baobab trees and acacia woodlands, to verdant flood grasslands and thickets bordering the Chobe River.

The most remarkable feature of the Chobe National Park is its huge concentration of Elephants. This Park supports the largest surviving Elephant populations in the world, currently estimated to exceed 120,000. This population is dispersed throughout much of northern Botswana, as well as parts of north-western Zimbabwe. The Chobe Elephants are migratory, making seasonal movements of up to 200 kilometres in a circuit from the Chobe and Linyanti rivers, where they concentrate in the dry season, to the pans in the south-eastern region of the park, where they gather during the rainy season.

Chobe National Park is home to huge herds of Elephant, Buffalo, and Zebra. There are high densities of predators such as Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena and Cheetah. The park also hosts more unusual antelope species such as Roan and Sable, Puku, Tsessebe, Eland, Red Lechwe, Waterbuck, and the rare Chobe Bushbuck. The better-known species such as Giraffe, Kudu, Warthog, Wildebeest and Impala also abound in the park.