Chobe District

Chobe is the north-eastern corner of Botswana, 20,800 km² with a little over 28,000 people at the 2022 census, and about six in ten of them live in Kasane and Kazungula. Namibia and Zambia lie to the north, Zimbabwe to the east. Most of the rest is Chobe National Park, forest reserve and farmland, shared with roughly 50,000 elephants. The riverfront near Kasane is the draw.

Getting there

From the south the road in is the A33 from Nata: just over 300 km, nearly all tar, and four to four and a half hours, passing Pandamatenga on the way. Elephant, buffalo, sable and giraffe are often on or beside it.

Kasane has the airport, with scheduled flights from Johannesburg and Gaborone. Kazungula, about 8 km east of it, has two separate border posts. The 923 m Kazungula Bridge over the Zambezi, opened in May 2021 in place of the old ferry, goes to Zambia. The Kazungula Road post goes to Zimbabwe and Victoria Falls. West of Kasane a tar road runs about 50 km to Ngoma and the bridge into Namibia. Hours for all of them are on our border posts page.

When to go

Go in the dry season, when the elephants stay on the Chobe and Linyanti rivers. With the rains (about 650 mm a year) they move some 200 km towards the south-east of the park. October to May is also when UK health advice rates the malaria risk high.

What to do

The park comes first, and it has its own page. In Kasane, a hollow baobab behind the police station once served the colonial administrators as a lock-up. Seboba has picnic sites and good birding beside the rapids. The CARACAL Biodiversity Centre lets you see snakes and other reptiles up close.

At Lesoma a memorial marks where 15 Botswana Defence Force soldiers were killed in an ambush by Rhodesian forces in February 1978.

The Chobe Enclave is five villages (Mabele, Kavimba, Kachikau, Satau and Parakarungu) whose community trust has earned from wildlife for more than thirty years.

Outside the park are four forest reserves (Kasane, Kazuma, Maikaelelo and Sibuyu) and, at Pandamatenga, around 40,000 hectares of sorghum, sunflower and cowpeas, with a border post into Zimbabwe.

Good to know

Chobe is a malaria area. The CDC names the district and advises tablets.

Elephants roam around Kasane, the airport included, so arrange a lift instead of walking. The UK government warns of occasional break-ins at lodges on the river, and of wildlife and livestock on the roads after dark, so do the A33 in daylight. For the Kazungula Bridge, plan on a taxi or your own car.

Kasane has ATMs (FNB, Absa and Bank Gaborone), a Shoprite and a Choppies. Fill up there. Savuti is only about 160 km from Serondela on the riverfront, but it is sand and takes around four hours, with no fuel between Kasane and Maun that way. Deep sand burns far more than tar, so carry plenty.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Statistics Botswana, 2022 Population and Housing Census preliminary results (district area and population, Kasane and Kazungula), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana traveller health (malaria areas), UK National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC), Botswana malaria risk areas and months, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana safety and security (road travel, Chobe lodge break-ins), Botswana Daily News (government press agency), Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust annual general meeting, March 2026, Botswana Daily News (government press agency), Fallen Heroes Day and the Lesoma ambush, Wikipedia, Chobe District (borders, villages, rainfall), Wikipedia, Kasane (roads, Ngoma distance, river crossings), Wikipedia, A33 road (Nata to Kasane, Kazungula and Ngoma), Wikipedia, Kazungula (distance from Kasane, border posts, name), Wikipedia, Kazungula Bridge, Wikipedia, Pandamatenga (farms, border post), Wikipedia, Chobe National Park (elephant numbers and seasonal movement), Wikivoyage, Chobe National Park (Kasane Airport flights, elephant numbers), Wikivoyage, Kasane (banks, shops, elephants near the airport, crossing the bridge by car or taxi), Africa Safari Trips, drive from Nata to Kasane (distance, time, wildlife on the road), Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane (baobab, Seboba, CARACAL, forest reserves), Tracks4Africa, how to self-drive Botswana in 10 days (Savuti to Serondela distance and time), 4x4 Community forum, trip through Chobe and Moremi (no fuel between Kasane and Maun).