Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park

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Chobe NP is made by different sectors extremely different from one another, but I would say the most visited ones are Chobe Riverfront (from Ngoma Bridge to Kasane) and Savuti (from Ghoha Gate to Mababe Gate). The gateway towns are Kasane and Maun, and keep in mind that if you come from Kasane, the last gas station you will find is right before Mabele. We spent one morning in Chobe Riverfront and you can already feel the sand and the difficulty of driving, but just so you know, nothing can compare to Savuti and Savuti Marsh!

We bought the map made by Tinkers, Chobe National Park tourist map, which, together with Tracks4Africa, really helped us find our way. Trust the ETA they tell you, even if the distances are short. The sand will really slow you down. We slept 1 hour north of Ghoha Gate (and 2 hours from Savuti) at the campsites in Thobolo’s Lodge, really nice. The route to enter the park is already sandy, so be careful.

Let me tell you this, you will get lost in the park, you will just drive around looking for animals and you will always find your way back looking for the main road or the dried river, so do not worry! Just have a look at Leopard Rock and the rock paintings, and drive to Savuti Marsh!

We got stuck in the sand between Ghoha gate and Savuti (it was deep sand and we did not have the ladders), and we waited 1 hour before any car passed by, with no cellphone signal and no water (the humps opened the bottles in the back so we lost it in the trunk). The humps also broke the rim of one of our spare tires so we lost it in the park, and we spent the entire day looking for it, but we could not find it.

In general, the humps will move the trunk a lot, so no eggs or beers or anything that could break!!

My suggestion is to try reserving a spot in Savuti Camp Site, or, if the budget allows for it, Savuti Safari Lodge and Savuti Elephant Lodge. Ideally in fact, I would have spent one morning in Chobe Riverfront, descended to Savuti and slept there, the next day reserved a game drive and after another night starting the descent towards Mababe Gate. There are two roads available to reach Mababe Gate, the main one (Sand Ridge Road) and the Savuti Marsh Road (gravel); we chose the latter even if longer in Km, and no deep sand was on the way! I cannot speak for Linyanti and Nogatsaa, but I imagine they are as astonishing as Savuti and the riverfront.

Price for foreigners:

120 BWP/adult/day

Children (<17 years old) 60 BWP/day

50 BWP/vehicle/day