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LANDSCAPE:
While the Chobe River cuts its way through the Kalahari, its southern bank rises from the floodplains to form a flat sweep of open grasslands and woodland. Most of Chobe's soils are either sand or clay, characterised by a myriad of pans and waterholes.
It is in the heart of Chobe, at Savuti, that one of Chobe's best-kept secrets is exposed: the landscape offers clues to the ancient superlake that once covered northern Botswana hundreds of thousands of years ago.Gently curving ridges, the deep Mubabe Depression, storm-scarred rocky outcrops littered with smooth wave-worn pebbles are all testimony to the existence of this enormous inland sea.
VEGETATION:
Influenced by the availability of water and soil type, many vegetation zones are represented in Chobe.
The Linyanti Swamp is dominated by huge riparian forest trees (mostly jackalberry and sausage tree), fan palms and papyrus, giving the area an almost tropical feel. Meanwhile, the Chobe River area is even richer, with dense riverine woodland, teak and mopane forest, floodplain grasses, papyrus and reedbeds.
Savuti supports mostly acacia sandveld, mopane and terminalia woodland or scrub as well as the grasses of the marsh. The eastern region of the park, dominated by clay soils, consists mainly of mopane woodland or scrub.
WILDLIFE:
You should see: elephant, hippo, buffalo, zebra, lion, hyaena, red lechwe, crocodile, sable antelope, impala
You may see: leopard, cheetah, wild dog, roan antelope, serval, bat-eared fox, sitatunga, puku, bushbuck
MAMMALS
If it's mammals that you want to see, Chobe will not disappoint you. The park boasts an amazing diversity of mammal species and is renowned for the ease with which you can get close to them - perfect for photography.
LARGE MAMMALS:
Chobe is of course synonymous with elephants. Herds are found all over the park and you can watch them from the comfort of your game drive vehicle or lodge waterhole.
Chobe is also world famous for its large lion population. Prides are found throughout the park and often differ in behaviour and predation style. The other big cats are also common in Chobe: the open grasslands and floodplains support cheetah, while the thick scrub, rocky outcrops and riverine forest are the place to look for leopard.
Botswana remains the last bastion of hope for the survival of a remarkable animal, the African wild dog. Its global population decimated to around 2,000 individuals, in Chobe you'll see what is rarely spotted elsewhere in Africa. The Savuti and surrounding open areas are particularly good for sightings of wild dog packs, particularly in the rainy season when the impala and zebra drop their young.
Chobe's other great predator, the spotted hyena, is found throughout the park and none so much as at Savuti. It is here that the brutal conflict between hyenas and lions is often witnessed - battles over territory and kills are common.
The river and swamp systems support great numbers of hippopotamus as well as the semi-aquatic antelope - the puku, red lechwe and rare sitatunga. Indeed, some 19 species of antelope occur in the park, from the 700kg eland to the 7kg Sharpe's grysbok.
Other big mammals common to Chobe are herds of Burchell's zebra, family groups of giraffe and huge herds of buffalo.
SMALLER MAMMALS:
In their rush to see the Big Five, people often neglect the equally fascinating smaller mammals of Chobe: playful and curious baboons and vervet monkeys, the bad-tempered warthog , the opportunistic jackal hovering at the fringes of a lion kill... Of the smaller cats, caracal, serval and African wild cat are elusive but occasionally seen as they stalk rodents or birds.
Keep an eye out for the rarities - honey badgers bristling with aggression, aardvarks and pangolins dashing for cover or a family of banded mongoose on a foraging trip. |
