Chobe National Park

Well managed but limited game in March

I enjoyed my drive through the park with our hired guide. We saw many impala, hippos, elephants, baboons, etc. I am not a "birder" so I cannot intelligently comment on the birding, but I did see and enjoy many interesting and unusual birds like the lilac-breasted roller. Unfortunately the lions, zebras and giraffes were difficult to find and it was pretty quiet overall. I understand that this was mainly due to the time of year. I personally enjoyed a boat cruise on the Chobe River that went by the park, more than the game drive, due to the beautiful scenery. I was grateful there didn't seem to be self-drive tourists and everyone on the road was very respectful.

A great experience

Before our group came to Chobe National Park we were at two parks in South Africa. We saw more or less all the animals we saw in South Africa and then some more. :-) The guides were very competent, the scenery is great, we saw lots of wild animals, including a leopard and a cobra and of course lots of elephants. The scenery is great, the park is a must. Botswana is definetely worth a visit. We stayed close to the park and also heard a lion at night.

A great safari experience

This was our first safari experience and will not be our last. We loved Chobe and were surprised at how close we got to so many animals. We stayed at Salute Elephant Camp with Belmond and had a great experience. The accommodation was good, we enjoyed the game drives and the experience was made even better by our guide. May was a good time to go as it was approaching 'winter', so only 30º which was just right for me.

Day Trip to Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park is worth visiting only for a day if you do not have time for longer visit. It is easy to access and reach from Zambia and Zimbabwe if you happen to spend time either of these countries. You can find real bushes and secluded areas from Botswana, but Chobe is easy to reach and services are great to support your visit. We visited there on May, 2016 and trip was organized by a local travel agency in Zambia. We were a group of 5 people from Zambia and we joined another group from Zimbabwe (6 people). The morning was spend on the river with the guide who's experience and knowledge were excellent to support a very informative drive. We had coffee, cookies and soft drinks onboard, and we saw a lot of animals in the water and on the banks. There were hippos, elephants, crocodiles, lizards and lot of different kind of birds and the scenery itself was exactly the same you can find from public websites. After the pleasant boat ride, we had a lunch break with decent food in one of the lodges were we had an opportunity to fresh up and rest. Afternoon was spent on a game drive and then we had only a group of 5 in the same car. We basically drove the marked roads in the area and again the guide was excellent. We were able to spot a lot of animals and in this area, animals are quite used to vehicles so they are not running away as soon as you spot them. If you get overwhelmed about the scenery on the river, the view from here to the river is even more spectacular with the number of elephants, hippos, giraffes and other animals you could see in the wide area. The highlight of the visit was when we spotted lions - our guide was able to drive very close and that was one of the best experiences on our three week's trip.
When visiting Chobe like this, keep in mind that it is a public park with many other visitors in the same area and there are self-driving tourists, as well. Definitely you find more bush vibe from private parks but for the day trip this was value for the money.

An experience of a lifetime

Doing a safari in Botswana was on my "bucket list" and it did not disappoint. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. We rented a safari truck and did a private safari trip, cooked our own food (had fridge in the truck) and there were many beautiful and secluded campsites at the Park. They were certainly in the wild but we felt very safe in the campsites. They were very professionally run w great staff. Highlights are the beautiful weather, endless numbers of animals, and just taking in the moment.

Elephants galore!

We visited Chobe on a day trip from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, organised through the company Wild Horizons. Chobe national park is about an hour's drive from Victoria Falls town, plus about 15 minutes at the border crossing in each direction.

We had a morning river safari with 2 incredible guides, and saw a huge variety of wildlife, including hundreds of birds, several types of antelope, crocodiles, hippos and a staggering number of elephants. Chobe has one of the biggest populations of elephants in Africa, and as our guide said, once you've seen one group of elephants there are sure to be many more nearby. We certainly were not disappointed!

After lunch we had a 3 hour game drive, again with a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide. We were able to get much closer to the elephants and other animals, and even saw 3 lions (2 female and one male) stalking a puku near the river. Our guide also pointed out insects and plants of interest, and went out of his way to try and ensure that everyone was happy with their safari experience.

We would definitely return to Chobe on safari and would recommend it to others. It represents an amazing and authentic safari experience and fantastic value compared to some of the other more popular parks in southern Africa. We would also recommend booking through Wild Horizons as they offered a great all inclusive package with transfers and a brilliant buffet lunch, the staff were helpful and all were respectful of the environment and stressed the importance of conservation measures to protect this incredible place.

For my photography. Magnificent sightings and exceptional birdlife. Would highly recommend

Chobe National Park has much to offer for all.

I visited Chobe National Park as part of a group of 18. We stayed at Chobe Bush Lodge and had our meals there as well. For the three days there, we partook of three game drives and two cruises on the Zambezi River.

Our park ranger drivers were very knowledgeable about the wildlife in the park, including birds (though I am not a birder, some members of our group were). While we did not see leopards on our drives, we did encounter the rest of the 'Big 5' more than once. Our drivers were very cooperative in allowing us sufficient time for taking pictures. Botswana is justifiably well known for its elephants, and we did encounter them on numerous occasions. Lions and Cape buffalo were also seen on a few occasions and hippos in large numbers during our river cruises. We did not encounter much in the way of zebras, wildebeests, or rhinos. I imagine this was due to the type of terrain in the park.

Our accommodations at the lodge were very well appointed and comfortable. We had a wide variety of meal choices available and could choose to eat either at the lodge itself or at the nearby Chobe Safari Lodge.

Weather during our visit could hardly have been better - we had no rain and temperatures during the day were comfortably warm.

We arrived at Chobe Bush Lodge by motor coach, coming from a visit to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls and earlier from South Africa and left by plane from nearby Kasane, flying to Johannesburg and then back to the United States.

A gorgeous park with amazing elephant and hippo viewing, as well as good birding opportunities.

I'd been on safari at other locations for about ten days already in South Africa, and I'd previously been on two safaris in Kenya and Tanzania, but here we saw the highest concentration of elephants and for the first time got to observe them at length as they drank and played in and around a large body of water. Being able to view wildlife from a boat on the river was also a new experience and allowed us to see a different array of behaviors.

Chobe is also the only place I've seem hippos out and about in large numbers during the day. This is apparently because they need to spend more time eating because of the fierce competition for resources from the large elephant population.

The scenery was gorgeous, especially from the river. I appreciated the number and variety of birds that could be viewed on the river even in midday.

We were there only for a day trip. The weather was hot but not oppressive, and the boat and jeep both had shades to protect from the sun. A rainshower came while we were having lunch but left as quickly as it came and did not interfere our game drives/boating.

We had previously stayed on private reserves in South Africa and our guides in Chobe, while knowledgeable, did not seem to have the same depth/variety of knowledge. For example, our group had a lot of interest in plant life, and our guides did not know much beyond the major grasses and trees. Perhaps they knew them in the local language, but not in English or Latin. Since this was just a day trip for us, though, we didn't have a lot of time to study plants so it wasn't a major drawback.

Our lunch was good and there appeared to be a variety of accommodations in town for varying budgets. The roads to and from the park were wonderful. I was pleasantly surprised by the way drivers observed the speed limit.

The town near Chobe is well built-out, so you don't feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. However, there were some lodges located within the park or on the river, and these had more of a remote feel.

On the drive/boat ride we encountered other vehicles, but there were no "traffic jams." All vehicles/boats I saw had guides, and there were never more than three vehicles (but usually one) at a single viewing spot. Drivers were careful not to block each others' sight lines.

Amazing wildlife experience on and off the Chobe River

Overall our Chobe Nat Park experience was amazing. We only were in the park one day but we had a river safari and land safari, both were wonderful. We travelled to Chobe while on our SmarTours vacation with the optional Victoria Falls extension. Our all the safari tours we experienced Africa, this was the best safari to view elephants. It was amazing to watch parade after parade of elephants travel to the river to drink water and play in the mud. The weather was hot around 104F but was expected since we traveled during the summer. We stayed in Zimbabwe at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge which I couldn't rate any higher than Excellent. Our tour was through Wild Horizon and they did a great job transferring us through the border of Botswana. The line through customs was rather long on the way back which was not preferred since we were roasting in the sun and it was hot. We only safari'ed in Botswana, would have like to seen Zambia and Namibia but we would have had to buy more visas which are fairly expensive. Not sure of the hotel we ate lunch at but the food was amazing, some of the best food we had while in Africa. The wait staff was excellent. The lunch was included with the tour through Wild Horizon. Our overall experience in Chobe was excellent and I would highly recommend to anyone wanted to see wildlife especially elephants. I would definitely go back if I ever had the chance.