Chobe Safari, Linyanti Safari, Selinda Safari, Kwando Safari
Botswana Safaris in Chobe National Park, Linyanti, Selinda & Kwando
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Chobe
National Park Safaris
Chobe National
Park is one of the world's last remaining true wilderness areas
and one of Africa's greatest game parks. Chobe is the third
largest park in Botswana (after the Central Kalahari Game Reserve
and the remote Gemsbok National Park in the south-western corner
of the country) and covers an area of 10,698 square kilometres.
Chobe however, is unquestionably the most spectacular and diverse
of Botswana's areas, even more so than the celebrated Okavango
Delta.
Chobe National Park is home to huge herds of Elephant, Buffalo, and Burchell's
Zebra and high densities of predators such as Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena and
Cheetah. The park is also notable for the presence of more unusual antelope species
like Roan and Sable, Puku, Tsessebe, Eland, Red Lechwe, Waterbuck, and the rare
Chobe Bushbuck. Other more popular species such as Giraffe, Kudu, Warthog, Wildebeest
and Impala also abound.
Chobe has
an amazing variety of habitats, ranging from floodplains, baobab,
and mopane trees
and acacia woodlands,
to verdant flood grasslands and thickets bordering the Chobe River.
Flowing along the park's northern boundaries are the Linyanti and
Chobe Rivers, while in the south the Savute Channel brings life
to the Mababe Depression. Over and above the elephants, the Chobe
National Park has an amazing variety of game, and many brilliantly
coloured birds.
The Savute
Marsh area is well known for its coverage in a number of well known
wildlife documentaries, especially
the National Geographic films by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Situated
on the bed of a once-huge Paleo super-lake, Savute is comprised of rich
grasslands, savannah woodland and a large variety of trees and vegetation.
Safaris in Linyanti Wildlife Reserve
The
Linyanti Wildlife Reserve consists of 125,000 hectares of pristine
wildlife area to the north of the Okavango Delta. It is bordered
by the Linyanti River in the north and the Chobe National Park in
the
east.
Across
the
Linyanti
River
northwards lies Namibia's Caprivi strip. Two thirds of the Savute
channel is situated within the reserve.
The Savute Channel, which connects the Linyanti river on Botswana’s northern border with the Savute marsh in the Chobe National Park some 60 kilometers away, only began filling with water again in 2008. Before that time, it last flowed from 1967 to 1981 and so until recently, the resident animals here only experienced this Channel as dry grassland. However, this cycle of wet and dry is a phenomenon that has occurred on and off here over the centuries (see more on the channel in
our Linyanti page).
The
Linyanti
area is very different from the Okavango Delta and should be included
in every Botswana
safari itinerary so that travellers have a more complete and varied
experience of the country's different wildlife areas. This private
reserve is enormous and is situated in one of the most remote and
inaccessible parts of Botswana. The region is one of the least visited
and most
pristine corners of Botswana and the concession owners intend to
keep it this way. The Linyanti region is shared between a very
small number of private camps, ensuring that guests are able to view
the
abundant wildlife privately and exclusively.
The
Selinda Reserve
The 300,000 acre (125,000 hectare) Selinda Reserve is one of Botswana's premier wildlife havens and most unique ecosystems. The Selinda Reserve lies in a fortunate location. It is the only reserve to straddle both the Okavango Delta (to the south) and the Linyanti ecosystems (to the east). This fortuitous position makes Selinda Reserve a haven for wildlife migrating between the two ecosystems, along the Selinda Spillway. The Selinda Spillway is the lifeline connecting the two ecosystems, and is a river with the unique characteristic of flowing in two directions. Water pushes 'up' from the Linyanti waterways and also 'down' from the south, fed by the rising floodwaters of the Okavango Delta.
The Selinda Reserve offers all the privacy for which Botswana's private concessions are now known. With only 32 guests in 300,000 acres, the Selinda Reserve offers a peaceful and private experience with exhilarating wildlife viewing. The Selinda Reserve has a network of small tracks that traverse the are, and for those exceptional sightings, the vehicles can go 'off-road' sensitively. The wildlife is on par with that of the famous Chobe National Park but without the crowds or the restrictive rules and regulations accompanying areas of high tourist density. During the dry months, as many as 9,000 elephant have been counted in the Selinda Reserve.
The
Kwando Region
The Kwando River concession is 573,000 acres (232,000 hectares) of unfenced wilderness area and features two camps on the Kwando River – Lagoon and Lebala. The concession has 80km (50 miles) of exclusive river frontage. Famous for huge herds of elephant and buffalo with our wild dog viewing considered the best in Africa. Predators include lion, leopard, hyena, cheetah and four species of smaller cats.
Conservation and Tourism in Botswana
The Chobe National Park is a haven for wildlife and photographic safaris in northern Botswana. Outside of the sanctuary of Chobe, northern Botswana is divided into parcels of land commonly referred to as concessions. Those in the Ngamiland District are identified by codes beginning with 'NG' and numbered NG1 to NG51 (not all shown on this map). Also note that the Chobe District concessions are not delineated on this map. Read more...
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/ Land Activity Table for Botswana camps: Water/Land
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Botswana
For further information about the Chobe National Park, click More
Chobe
For further information about the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, click More
Linyanti
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