Reizen door Chobe wildreservaat | boottocht | Botswana | Afrika
The region of Chobe in the north of Botswana is covered with baobab, mopane and acacia woodlands. A large part of Chobe lies within The Chobe National Park, which is the oldest national park in Botswana. The park has four different ecosystems and its fame is mainly owing to the huge concentrations of elephants that live there (around 120,000). It is also famed for its breath-taking nature, which makes a visit to The Chobe National Park more than worthwhile.
The Chobe National Park has the highest concentration of elephants in Africa. These are Kalahari elephants, which are the largest elephants on Earth. The park is also well known for its concentrations of buffalo and its abundance of lions.
The fact that the number of elephants has grown over the past decades, despite illegal poaching, is possibly due to the brittleness and small size of their tusks. In the dry season they don't stray far from the banks of the neighbouring Chobe River and during the boat trips you can see them drinking from the river. It is an overwhelming experience to see the sun set over the Chobe River, while hundreds of elephants are entering the water for their evening bath. It's equally as astounding to encounter them later in the evening at the camp. In the rainy season they walk no less than 200 kilometres to the southeast of the park and they can be seen in and around the regional capital of Kasane, where they leisurely stroll through the streets and hold up the traffic.
For those who don't have the opportunity to spend longer on Botswana, The Chobe National Park is an ideal place to stop over on the road from the Victoria Falls and a fantastic way to sample this vast country.
The original inhabitants of the Chobe region were the nomadic San Bushmen, who were known in Botswana as the Basarwa people. These people recorded their experiences in drawings that can still be seen in the rocky hills of the national park. The South African writer and journalist Laurens van de Post described the hills in this part of Botswana as 'The Louvre of the desert'. When you see the hills, you will understand why and when you recognise the same kinds of animals in the paintings as you have witnessed during the day's drive, 3000 years will suddenly melt away.
The most important feature of Kasane is its location - close to the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers, and the borders of Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Kasane was the point of departure for David Livingstone's largest 'discovery' - Lake Victoria. Kasane is a good base for excursions to Chobe National Park, as well as Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Besides The Chobe National Park, there are four private wildlife concessions in the Chobe region: Selinda, Linyanti, Savute (Savuti) and Kwando. Each one of these is certainly worth a visit, in combination with or as an alternative to The Chobe National Park.
