World Country Guide

The Northwest

Both border crossing and safari town, Kasane lies on the Chobe River between the Chobe National Park and the Zimbabwean border. It is a pleasant little town, with a good range of lodges, hotels and campsites including the Chobe Chilwero, Chobe Game Lodge, Chobe Valley Lodge and Cresta Mowana (all in the luxury end of the market); and Chobe Safari Lodge, Kasane Marina Lodge and Kubu Lodge (standard accommodation). It also has an airport, used mainly by charter flights, taking people deep into the Delta or southern Chobe; most international arrivals use Victoria Falls, only 40 minutes’ drive away, in Zimbabwe. Like Maun, Kasane has a wide range of tour operators and facilities such as banks.
This area of 10,566 sq km (4081 sq miles) is the home of a splendid variety of wildlife, including elephants who move in their thousands along the well-worn paths of the Chobe River every afternoon to drink. Chobe boasts the highest elephant population in the world, with an estimated 45,000 to 90,000 elephants. There are also large herds of buffalo to be seen at the river’s edge, as well as hippo, lechwe, kudu, impala, roan and puku. The tourists, like the elephants, all tend to congregate in a narrow, 20km (12 mile) strip in the north of the park, doing game drives from the lodges in Kasane. It is undoubtedly spectacular, but it is also very crowded with other vehicles and boats.
In an effort to spread people and elephants out and save the river’s ecosystem, the park authorities are now pumping water to a series of waterholes in the Nogatsaa area, about 65km (40 miles) south. As yet, there are only simple campsites in this dry area, but better facilities are being planned.
Further south and west, the Linyanti Marshes are a mini-version of the Okavango, a river twisted by a volcanic fault to splay out into a lush green, animal rich oasis. Nearby, the Savuti area marks the northern shore of what was once the giant superlake which covered most of Botswana, its flat dry lakebed now a sea of grass, scattered by rocky kopjes beloved of leopards and baboons.
With the exception of certain sections, which are closed in the rainy season during November to April, the park is open throughout the year. The best time to visit it is between May and September when it is possible to see several thousand animals in a day. In the Linyanti region, the camps include Kings Pool Camp, Selinda Camp, Zibalianja and Lebala Lodge. Although this is the most developed of Botswana’s parks and reserves, many of the roads in the area are passable only by 4-wheel-drive vehicles.
Situated northwest of the Okavango Delta close to the border with the Caprivi Strip (Namibia), these four granite ridged hills (Male, Female and Child Hills, plus a fourth, unnamed and said to be the first, discarded wife) are considered to be a sacred site by the Basarwa (San or Bushmen), who regard them as the final resting place of the dead, and the home of the gods. Known to have been inhabited for at least 100,000 years, they have been decorated with around 4000 rock paintings, mostly portraying animal life; the eldest of the paintings is believed to date back more than 4000 years. The hills are reached by air or road but there are no camping facilities or water supplies so visitors should allow for water, food and fuel needs. The Caprivi strip is currently suffering from security problems, so visitors should seek advice before travelling in this area.