Chobe National Park

• Gubatsa Hills rock paintings, Savuti

  San paintings on a small group of rocky hills that stand out of the flat country at Savuti. They are the clearest sign in the park of the people who lived here first, and the Savuti lodges take guests to see them.

  Expert Africa, Chobe National Park
• Savuti Channel and Marsh

  The dry or flowing channel, depending on the decade, and the marsh it feeds. The bleached dead trees along the banks date from earlier floods and are the image most people carry away from Savuti.

  Expert Africa, Chobe National Park
• Sedudu Island

  The island in the Chobe River that went to the International Court of Justice, which put its size at about 3.5 square kilometres. It goes under water for several months from around March. You see it from the water, on a boat trip from Kasane.

  International Court of Justice, Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia), case summary
• Serondela

  Another name for the riverfront, and the site of the timber settlement that was moved out of the park by 1975. Traces of the timber days can still be seen.

  Wikipedia, Chobe National Park
• Chobe Game Lodge

  The one lodge on the riverfront inside the park, open for about 50 years. A photograph of Burton and Taylor, who stayed for more than a month in 1975, hangs in the downstairs bar.

  TTG, Chobe Game Lodge hits major milestone

• The Savuti Channel switches itself on and off for decades at a time. It had dried up by the late 1880s, flowed again from 1957 (drowning the trees that had grown up in its bed), stopped in the early 1980s and came back in 2008. Since about 2016 the flow has been patchy. The channel is about 100 km long and drops only 18 metres along the way, so a small shift in the ground is enough to block or reopen it. source
• Savuti's lions hunt elephants, which very few lions anywhere do. A study published in 2009 found they take mostly calves and juveniles. source
• Puku live in one place in Botswana, the Chobe floodplain. To see this fawn antelope anywhere else you would have to cross into Zambia, where there are plenty. source
• Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton married each other for the second time at Kasane in October 1975, while on holiday in the park. The district commissioner, Ambrose Masalila, conducted the ceremony and two Chobe Game Lodge staff were the witnesses. The marriage lasted nine months. source
• Chobe is part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, about 520,000 square kilometres of linked parks and wildlife land across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The five countries signed the treaty for it on 18 August 2011. source

Checked 12 October 2026.

• very likelyElephantThe Chobe riverfront between Sedudu and Ngoma, and the Linyanti in the north-west. Bulls at the Savuti waterholes. All year on the river, in the biggest herds from June to October. Fewer in the rains, when they spread outsource
• very likelyCape buffaloFloodplains and islands along the Chobe River. Big herds from June to Octobersource
• very likelyHippoThe Chobe River, best seen from a boat. All yearsource
• very likelyNile crocodileSandbanks and channels of the Chobe River. All yearsource
• very likelyGiraffe, kudu, impala and warthogRiverfront woodland and floodplain edges. All yearsource
• very likelyAfrican fish eagle and other water birdsTrees and sandbanks along the Chobe River. More than 450 bird species have been recorded in the park. All year. Carmine bee-eaters and other migrants arrive with the rains, November to Marchsource
• likelyLionAlong the riverbank, where they are often seen lying up, and around the Savuti Marsh, where the prides are large. Easiest from May to October, when prey is tied to watersource
• likelyPlains zebraSavuti Marsh, on the migration between the Chobe River and the pans to the south. December to Februarysource
• possibleSpotted hyenaSavuti, where the clans can be very largesource
• possibleLeopardThe rocky escarpment near Ngoma and the outcrops at Savutisource
• possiblePukuThe Chobe floodplain only. This is the one place in Botswana where it lives, and there are not many. All yearsource
• possibleSable and roan antelopeRiverfront woodland, seen now and then rather than dailysource
• rareAfrican wild dogLinyanti and Savuti, sometimes the western riverfront near Ngomasource

Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.

Malaria

The US CDC lists Chobe district, and Chobe National Park by name, as a malaria transmission area and recommends prescription antimalarials for it. The parasite is mostly falciparum, the dangerous kind. Book a travel clinic well before you fly, and see a doctor fast if you get a fever during the trip or for up to a year after it. source

Malaria season

UK travel health advice rates the northern half of Botswana as high risk from October to May and recommends tablets for those months. For the rest of the year it rates the risk low and advises bite avoidance. The dry-season months most people choose for game viewing are the lower-risk ones, but cover up and use repellent at dusk all the same. source

Staying in the vehicle

The park regulations forbid walking or getting out of a vehicle or boat except at a campsite, lodge, hide, day-use site or other designated facility. Riding on the roof or a roof rack is banned too. This is elephant, buffalo and lion country with no fences, so the rule is there for a reason. source

Speed and driving hours

The limit on park tracks is 40 km/h, and 80 km/h on the tarred transit road that crosses the park to Ngoma. You may not drive between gate closing and opening: 18:30 to 06:00 from April to September, 19:00 to 05:30 from October to March. Be in camp or out of the gate by then. source

Unfenced campsites

Savuti and Linyanti campsites have no fences, and the operator tells guests to stay inside the camp area, keep children with an adult at all times and not walk off into the bush. Feeding or disturbing any animal is against the rules, because animals that get used to people end up being destroyed. source

The river

Swimming is banned in the park outside a lodge pool, as is every other water sport. The Chobe is full of hippos and large crocodiles, so the rule is no hardship. source

• There is no fuel inside the park and none on the route between Kasane and Maun through Savuti. One regular on the route says to carry enough for 800 km of tar driving, although the distance is about 600 km plus game drives, because deep sand burns far more. Fill up in Kasane or Maun. several sources
• Let your tyres down for the sand and take a spade, a compressor and a tyre repair kit. Between Mababe Gate and Savuti there are two tracks: the sand-ridge road is quicker but heavy sand, and the marsh road is the one to avoid when it is wet. several sources
• Do not try Savuti as a day trip from Kasane. Forum regulars say there is little to see on the road down, you get there in the midday heat when nothing is moving, and then you have to hurry back before the gate shuts. Give the riverfront two days instead, and allow about three hours from Sedudu to Ihaha and two more to Ngoma if you want to stop and look. one source
• Campsites inside the park fill early for June to October. One regular visitor was told to book a year ahead. Ihaha is booked through Kwalate Safaris, and Savuti and Linyanti through SKL Camps. one source
• June to August mornings are cold, about 8°C, even though afternoons reach the high 20s. Dress in layers for an early boat or an open vehicle. By September and October it is up to 35°C. one source
• Do not expect rhino. The last ones were moved out of the park to protect them from poaching, so Chobe has four of the Big Five. one source

Checked 12 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.