Kasane

• The prison baobab

  A baobab behind Kasane Police Station with a hollow big enough to hold adults. Colonial administrators locked people up in it until they could be sent on to a real prison. The trunk has split in places since, but the tree is alive.

  Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane
• Sedudu Island

  The island in the Chobe that Botswana and Namibia (which calls it Kasikili) took to the International Court of Justice. The court ruled on 13 December 1999 that the northern channel is the main one, which put the island in Botswana. It covers about 3.5 square kilometres and floods for several months from around March.

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

  A riverside park at the rapids where the Chobe runs over a shelf of rock. It has a few picnic sites and good birding.

  Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane
• Kasane Hot Springs

  A warm, salty spring in a wildlife corridor between Kasane and Kazungula, long believed locally to have healing powers. Ask at your lodge before going, because animals use the same ground.

  Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane
• Lesoma Memorial Monument

  A memorial at Lesoma, a village in Chobe District, to the fifteen Botswana Defence Force soldiers killed there in 1978. It marks the day Rhodesia's war reached Botswana.

  Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane
• CARACAL Biodiversity Centre

  The education centre of CARACAL, a conservation NGO, where visitors can get close to snakes and other reptiles, birds and small mammals. The NGO's snake park holds about 50 snakes of 17 species, black mamba and boomslang among them, and it runs education programmes for Batswana children. Open daily from 09:00 to 17:00.

  Your Botswana, things to do in Kasane
• Kazungula Bridge

  The 923 metre road and rail bridge over the Zambezi, 8 km east of town, close to the point where Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe nearly meet. Before it opened, a pontoon ferry carried everything. In 2003 one capsized under an overloaded truck and 18 people drowned.

  Wikipedia, Kazungula Bridge

• The 2022 census counted 9,143 people in Kasane, which it lists as a village, and 8,704 in Kazungula next door. Between them they hold well over half of Chobe District's 28,743 people. source
• The name comes from masane, the Subiya word for the waterberry tree, which grows along the river here. source
• Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton married each other for the second time at Kasane on 10 October 1975. The district commissioner, Ambrose Masalila, conducted the ceremony, the news took five days to get out, and the marriage lasted nine months. source
• Botswana and Zambia share only about 135 metres of border, in the middle of the Zambezi. The Kazungula Bridge is built on a curve so that it stays out of Namibia and Zimbabwe on either side. source
• The first commercial boat at the Kazungula crossing was a pontoon brought from Austria in pieces and put together on the river bank in 1884. source
• Governments meeting in Kasane in March 2015 signed up to the Kasane Statement, a set of commitments against the illegal trade in wildlife that still carries the town's name. source

Checked 12 October 2026.

• very likelyElephantThe Chobe River bank and islands, seen from a boat or on a game drive along the riverfront. The park has no fences, so they wander outside it too. All year, in herds of hundreds from June to Octobersource
• very likelyHippoThe Chobe River, at eye level from a boat. All yearsource
• very likelyNile crocodileSandbanks and channels of the Chobe River. All yearsource
• very likelyCape buffaloFloodplains and islands along the river, seen from a boat or on a game drive. Big herds from June to Octobersource
• likelyAfrican fish eagle and kingfishersTrees and banks along the river on any boat trip. All yearsource
• likelyWater monitorRiver banks, seen on the sunset cruisesource
• possibleLionThe riverfront tracks inside the park, on a game drive from Kasanesource
• possiblePukuThe Chobe floodplain inside the park, the only place in Botswana where this fawn antelope livessource
• possibleAfrican skimmer and carmine bee-eaterThe river and its banks. Many lodges run dedicated birding trips to look for skimmers, along with rock pratincole and Pel's fishing owlsource
• rareAfrican finfoot and half-collared kingfisherSeboba, at the rapids on the Chobe River in Kasane. Both are seldom seen anywheresource
• rareLeopardRiverfront tracks inside the park, where they are residentsource

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 as a malaria transmission area and recommends prescription antimalarials for it. 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. Mosquitoes that carry malaria bite mostly between dusk and dawn, so cover up and use repellent in the evening. source

Elephants in town

There are no fences between the national park and the land around it, and animals move freely. Elephants roam the ground between the airport and town, so arrange a transfer or taxi instead of walking it. source

The river

The UK government's advice for Botswana is not to bathe in rivers and lakes, because of wild animals and water-borne disease. The Chobe at Kasane has hippos and crocodiles in numbers, so keep back from the bank. source

Roads after dark

Wildlife and livestock stray onto Botswana's tar roads, and the risk is highest at night. Plan to reach Kasane from Nata in daylight, and do the same on the road to Ngoma. source

Lodge break-ins

The UK government notes isolated room break-ins and thefts at lodges in the Chobe area, mainly those facing the river. Lock your room and do not leave cash, passports or cameras lying out. source

• Take the afternoon boat trip. It runs for about three hours from around 15:00 and ends with sunset on the water, which is when elephants are most often at the river. several sources
• Fill up in Kasane before heading for Savuti. There is no fuel between Kasane and Maun on that route, and people who have driven it carry enough for 800 to 900 km of tar driving because deep sand burns so much more. several sources
• Mornings and evenings from June to August are cold, about 8°C at dawn, even though the days are warm. Bring a fleece and a windproof for an early boat or open vehicle. several sources
• Agree the taxi fare before you get in, and take the driver's number so you can ring for a lift back later. Lodges between Chobe Safari Lodge and the Mowana are within about 2 km of each other, close enough to walk by day. one source
• Buy supplies in Kasane. It has a Spar, a Choppies and a Shoprite, so campers can stock up before going into the park. several sources
• Self-drivers can pay park fees at the wildlife office in Kasane or at Sedudu Gate. A forum regular warns that the card machine is sometimes down, so carry enough pula to cover it. one source

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