Chobe National Park

Magical Chobe

We visited Chobe in the offseason (February) and I would recommend this time to travel for everyone! The weather was outstanding, perfectly warm with little humidity and clear blue sky! While the vegetation is high and makes animal viewing a bit more challenging, it is just that much more rewarding when you do spot something awesome or out of the "ordinary". We truly felt this gave us the ultimate safari experience and did not feel like an animal park or zoo. With that said, we're talking about the cats mainly, because there are big animals EVERYWHERE! Elephants, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, antelope of all sorts, hippos, crocs, Pumba and birds surround you as you enter the park from the Kasane side. We were able to do both an all day safari where we got about 60 miles into the park and the expansiveness and solitude become more apparent and a river cruise to give different perspective. There is nothing quite like seeing elephants play in water. Visiting during the off season also meant that we had very little traffic in the park and had nearly private game drives from our lodge. It was also baby time! Lots of young animals- especially baby elephants which may be the cutest! The park seems to be well managed and guides are respectful of the land and animals- we had such a wonderful, wonderful time in Chobe.

Elephants, so many elephants!

Imagine your favorite animal: An animal that you've only seen on television or zoos until today. An animal that maybe was one of the reasons for you to go on Safari. An animal that you can't see enough of. And now imagine seeing it everyday from just a few meters away, so close you can almost touch it. That's Chobe.

I love elephants and I've seen so many of them in Chobe that - truth be told - at the end I was kind of sick of them. It was glorious.

Chobe - It changes with the seasons

I've been to Chobe National Park in many different months including May, June, July, August and September. It always amazes me how the vibe of the park and the wildlife seen changes with the months. In May and June, the waters of the river are high and winter has not set in. This sets the stage for great sightings of bee eaters, black egrets, and many other birds, but also creates a surreal world of elephants grazing shoulder deep on flooded islands. By late July/August, the migratory birds have gone, but many species such as fish eagles and yellow billed storks are plentiful. The lack of rain and lower river levels increase mammal density greatly. At any given time, you are likely to see giraffe, buffalo, impala, warthogs as well as hundreds of elephants. On the eastern Ngoma gate area, huge herds of zebra are seen in August. For a first time safari traveler or a photographer wanting clean backgrounds, Chobe is one of the best in the world.

it was excellent in 2011, but went back in 2014 and it was over crowded.

Outstanding first safari

Chobe National Park was the first park we were lucky enough to visit on our first safari. We had nothing to compare it to, but were very happy with our three days there. The guides were knowlegeable and accomodating, the park was "just big enough", and the animal and bird sitings were frequent. If you love elephants, this is the park for you, but we saw all of the big 5 except leopards. Our hotel was close to the park and a lovely place to stay. (The Chobe Wildlife Lodge)

The Happiest Elephants in the World

Going to Chobe was an instant decicion of us (me and a friend of mine). We spent some days in the Okavango Delta and were prepared to leave for the Viktoria Falls. Then suddenly we realized that it is possible to interrupt our trip and spend a few hours in Chobe. This is why I have no opinion on hotels. Even I spent only few hours on a boat on the Chobe river, this has left deep impressions. One can see an incredible number of elephants playing in the water, hipos, birds, alligators. I wish I could spend more time there.

Now becoming like a zoo

i always love my guests to experience Chobe National Park, cause of its proximity to Victoria falls, it doesn't tire my guests at all, the tour started well with our usual boat cruise into Chobe national park the scenic view is still untouched very excellent and just as the tour commence we saw quite a huge herd of elephants taking a bath, after that we sailed into the deep of Chobe river, coming closer to the nature, we saw a huge elephant grazing on the middle of the river, lots of hippos i was doing a little census there i counted all in all to about 150 hippos we came across and elephant i counted elephants was about 580 just along the river,

had our usual lunch and we this time it was a in a 4 x 4 Game drive vehicle,
we drove quite about few minutes we were already at the parks entrance gate formalities were done and soon after that, we took a turn which was coming closer to the chobe river, saw loads and loads of impalas and of cause and some elephants, we went deep in the Chobe National park, trying to get our way on our own as i instructed the ranger cause we where about 5 cars in a raw this couldn't do well with me,

fare enough we took another turn driving in a northward direction of the Park after some quiet a drive at last it paid we saw a leopard just on the side of the road but because of the bushy area where we were we could not take any picture but we waited and after 5 minutes of waiting, we saw the cat coming out slowly and there it was in front of our vehicle and guess what we took load and loads of photos, within the next 5 minutes we saw a cloudy like dust approaching us and in few minutes there was 15 to 20 game drive vehicles around us

but all in all i loved it
it was great experience indeed

Great river journey and facilities

I went on a bad month for wildlife (day 1 of February) due terrestrial animals don't need to go to the river for drinking. Although this, the river journey was excellent, with lots of hippos, cocodriles and birds. On the road trip we only saw giraffes, and several antelopes. All the facilities were also very good, new and clean: the ship, the rover, the lodge and the restaurant. Weather was also very confortable. Landscapes of the river shores were also very nice. Very few people around.

Best wildlife viewing in all of Africa!

I am a Professor of Tourism who lived in Botswana for over a year. As part of my teaching, research and personal interests I have travelled to more than a dozen countries throughout Africa. I can say with complete confidence, the BEST wildlife viewing is in Chobe. The best time to come is in the winter (May-August) because it is dry and the animals crowd around the watering holes. Be sure to take a game drive AND the boat cruise. Chobe has the greatest concentration of elephants in the world- roughly 70,000, so you are guaranteed to see plenty. If you into town yourself be careful, drive slowly, and try not to drive at night because you will see elephants along the road (sometimes in the middle of the road) all the time. They are very difficult to see at night, so it is recommended not to do it, or if absolutely necessary, drive very slooooooooooowly. After travelling to more than 50 countries, Chobe is my absolute favorite place. I have been there at least 10 times because I insist on taking all my visitors there. Not to be missed!

elephants

we saw so many elephants of all sizes and groups, we saw two lionesses stalk their prey for over an hour only to be foiled at the last minute. it was the experience of a lifetime and I can't wait to go back.