Chobe—Big game country

Chobe is renowned for its teeming game. The Chobe Reserve and the riverbanks have some of the densest concentrations of elephants, zebra and lions anywhere in Africa and the animal migrations provide a fascinating spectacle. Over 450 species of birds have been identified in the region. The reserve has a wide range of habitats including the mysterious Savuti Channel that flows and dries out over the ages leaving the geologists scratching their heads!

The Chobe National Park covers 11,700 sq km in the extreme northeast corner of Botswana. It stretches from Kasane, near Kazungula, where the riverine boundaries of four African countries meet, to the Moremi Game Reserve at its southwest extremity.

The vegetation varies from the tropical Linyanti swamp to the severe desert-like landscape of the Savuti, from lush flood plain grasslands to deep sands and woodlands.

It was a safari area from earliest times as the hunters were attracted by huge herds of elephants and migrating buffalo, zebra and wildebeest. Still today it has some of the densest concentrations in Africa of big game and their ever-present predators. The animal migrations are dramatic. The game moves south and east after the rains bring a new flush of green growth to the interior bush and then, gradually, in the drier months, as the grasses shrivel and the waterholes dry up, the animals move back to the rivers of the north and west.

The Chobe riverfront in the north-west corner of the park is renowned for its game throughout the year. The herds of elephant are among the largest in the world. Huge prides of lions trail the game. Over 450 species of birds have been identified in the region. The skies are alive with birds of prey and the waters full of herons and waders. The rare African skimmer shoots across the water displaying its acrobatic fishing skills. Hippos and crocodiles lurk on the river edges.

Chobe was virtually a crossroads for early explorers, hunters and traders. David Livingstone came through Savuti in 1851 and referred to the marsh there as a "dismal swamp". The Savuti channel, a mysterious waterway that flowed southeast from the Linyanti, formed the marsh before it dried up in the 1980s.

The idea of protecting the game and making the Chobe River hinterland into a reserve came as early as the 1930s when Colonel Charles Rey was the resident commissioner in Botswana. His dream was not realised until the 1960s when the colonial government, in one of its last acts, opened the Chobe Game Reserve. Nowadays the area is divided into game reserves, national parks and forest reserves.

The Savuti marsh, now just grassland, is to the west of the Chobe National Park. Once it was fed by the Savuti Channel, which has now dried up. The grass grows on the silt of the old river and is punctuated by the skeletons of dead trees, drowned in the waters at least 40 years ago. There is also a sand ridge, the remains of the original Makgadikgadi super-lake that covered the region in geological times.

Zebra and wildebeest migrate in huge herds, eating the Savuti grasses on their way. Other big game animals and the ubiquitous lions follow them as the wet season finishes at the beginning of the year. Then the plains heat up in the scorching sun and the animals retreat north under the dramatic sunsets as night approaches.

In the narrow northern neck of the Chobe National Park are the Nogatsaa and Tchinga campsites. When the pans are full of water there are few places in Botswana where the game viewing is better.

Visitors can spend an entire day at a waterhole watching the animals as they take their turn to drink. The lions are so bold that they often roar around the campfires or pad through the camps at night! The pans are particularly full in August and October during the elephant-breeding season.

The Chobe region caters for the luxury tourist as well as the ordinary camper in a number of exclusive lodges to the north and campsites throughout the reserve.

Everywhere safaris are organised, starting before dawn and ending with a hearty breakfast before the heat of the day. Fishing trips are arranged on the Chobe River, which is also famous for its sundowner cruises to watch game or admire the dramatic African sunsets.

The Savuti Channel Mystery

The Savuti Channel, lying between the Savuti marsh and the Linyanti swamps, is particularly mysterious. It has a fascinating history of flooding and drying up independently of good and rainy seasons and flood levels elsewhere. Around 1880, thirty years after Livingstone described the area as a "dismal swamp" the channel dried up and the marsh started to dry out into rich grassland. It remained dry until the late 1950s when the waters started to flow again, only to dry out again a decade later. The waters reappearead in the 1970s before receding and drying out in the 1990s.

This disappearing and reappearing river, with the water receding towards Linyanti as it dries out, gave birth to the stories that the Savuti could flow both ways.

When the waters flow, huge herds of game and thousands of birds are attracted to the area. As the waters recede, the channel gradually dries up leaving dead reeds and trees along the riverbed.

Geologists claim that low intensity earthquakes occur frequently in the area. The tectonic plates are also on the move under the earth's crust. This is enough to cause slight movements in the level of the delicately balanced Savuti area. A shift of less than 10mm is enough to cause the changes recorded over recent decades. And for good measure the Zambezi River is gradually moving northward.

CHOBE—BIG GAME COUNTRY Chobe is Botswana's game country It offers the densest concentrations of elephants, zebra and buffalo anywhere in Africa The lions bold enough to reveal their hunting skills and visit the camps by night More than 450 species of birds have been identified in the area Fishing is fruitful Visitors can enjoy the Chobe River by sundowner cruises in the evenings

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