Chobe in August

Winter - It’s still cold enough to really need warm layers for early mornings and evenings. Wild dog puppy season! (The Linyanti concession areas are the best place to see them.) And the numbers of elephant at Chobe Riverside proves why Chobe is rated one of the best places in the world to admire the giants. It’s still high season, which means more park visitors as well as more elephant – so if you want peace, it may be worth paying extra and heading to the further reaches of the park or the private concessions of Linyanti. The Selinda Spillway may have enough water for mokoro paddling. Fishing alert: there’s a barbell run in the Kasai Channel, and it’s still a good time for tigers…

Chobe in September

Spring - It’s pretty hot by day now, with Kasane temperatures averaging about 30° Celcius. The first bird migrants return: yellow-billed kites and carmine bee-eaters are first back; woodland kingfishers come later. Botswana’s Independence Day is celebrated on 30 September. Dry season continues, so once again, the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers are the place to be for big game sightings.…

Nogatsaa and the Southern Private Concessions

There are two more areas within this 11,700km2 wilderness to explore, both very distinctive and far more remote than the bustle of the Chobe Riverfront. These are Nogatsaa, and Linyanti. Nogatsaa, an off-the-beaten-path sweeping expanse of grasslands with mopane and deciduous woodlands, is only 80km south of Kasane, but feels like another world. There is just one lodge in the area (at…

Affordable Chobe holiday

Travellers lucky enough to be armed with strong international currencies should be able to explore Chobe in perfect comfort (sometimes top-end comfort) for a reasonable price – but do remember this is a destination where low-volume, high-income tourism is promoted. As such, some may need to look for ways to keep costs down. Most lodges and camps in Chobe Riverside, Savuti and…

Welcome to Chobe National Park

Enter wonderland. Tucked up against Botswana’s northern border with Namibia, the Chobe National Park is the ultimate haven for vast herds of elephant – as many as 120,000 of the charismatic animals depend on its life-sustaining waterways as the dry season kicks in. Nowhere else on Earth has more of these remarkable giants; many travel from neighbouring countries to this, the Elephant…

Chobe in December

Summer - Humid, with rain. The wetter weather can bring cooler temperatures, so pack a jacket or jersey. The antelope baby boom peaks: by mid-month, most wildebeest, impala, tsessebe and warthog will have dropped their offspring. Good rains will have soaked the earth and termite alates (the ones with wings, often called flying ants) erupt from the ground, sparking bird feeding frenzies.…

Chobe in April

Autumn - Zebra and Wildebeest begin their return migrations towards the permanent rivers as water sources and the bush begins to dry out. Savuti and Nogatsaa can see a migration of zebra in April and May. Low temperatures drop below 20°. The last summer bird migrants are on the wing, heading north again until the next rains. A good time to visit Savuti – and the central areas of the…

Popular Chobe National Park Safaris

These popular itineraries can be customised to match your budget and travel dates