travel report Chobe Riverfront and Savuti, oct 2-10, 2024
After a long drive from the Tuli near the South African border we (Cheryl and myself) reached Kasane on sep 30 and met my brother Norbert at the airport the next day. Plan was to collect a 4x4 camper for a 8 day Chobe safari. Chobe NP is center of a huge unfenced wilderness area stretching for hundreds of kms from Zimbabwe in the east (Hwange NP) to the Okavango delta in the west, Namibia's Caprivi strip in the north (Mamili and Mudumu NPs beyond the river) and Nxai NP in the south. This is one of the last true wilderness regions remaining in Africa today. Months before we had reserved a 4x4 camper (fully equipped Landcruiser from Bushlore, which proved to be an excellent choice) and had booked 4 nights each at Ihaha/Riverfront (Kwalate Campsite) and Savuti (SKL campsite). Car and campsites were certainly not cheap (we spent about 500 Eur per day for 3 pax), but this is the only option to experience Chobe independantly. Oct 1st is the important Independence Day in Botswana and many shops were closed in Kasane, but we still managed to purchase 130l diesel, all necessary food items, drinking water and the all important beers before leaving the next morning. Both campsites have clean ablution blocks with hot showers, but very limited food supplies are only available in Savuti, diesel only in Kasane and a new gas station on the tar road bypassing Chobe riverfront. So we opted to resupply and refuel in Kasane on day 4, which can easily be done from Ihaha.
Botswana experienced a severe draught in 2023/24, so the country was bone dry and hot in October with midday temperatures initially in the low 40s. Still at night temperatures dropped to pleasant values and the mornings and also late afternoons produced excellent safari conditions. All roads in Chobe are sand, most of the time deep sand and occasionally very deep sand, so a good 4x4 (with reduced tire pressure while driving in the park) is mandatory.
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Riverfront
All set we were off at sunrise and reached the Chobe river (which still had a lot of water in spite of the draught) soon after entering Chobe NP at Sidudu gate, just a short distance from Kasane town. Many Chobe visitors opt staying in one of the Kasane lodges and visit the riverfront area on day trips. Thus the first kms after entering the park are usually quite busy with safari traffic, but things get much quieter near Ihaha. Navigation is easy as all roads (with exception of a few links towards the tarmac circumferential road) run parallel to the river.
During dry season most animals are drawn to the river (there are almost no other water sources in this part of Chobe) and wildlife was incredibly rich during our stay.
Several large buffalo herds were seen crossing water channels in order to reach the best grass on islands in the river, which had fallen dry. The huge elefant herds present during wetter times had moved further west towards the Okavango delta, but numerous smaller groups were still present and regularly came to drink from the river.
The Chobe floodplain attracted large numbers of plains game including kudus, impalas and zebras.
Kori Bustards, weighing up to 18kg, are one of the largest birds able to fly. They were a common sight on the river banks.
Colourful Karmine Bee-eaters are intra-african migrants, common along Chobe river during the summer months.
Wattled Cranes are endangered with about 2000 pairs in southern africa. We were lucky to encounter a pair with adult chick feeding on the flood plain.
Some distance from our camp numerous White-backed Vultures and Marabou Storks were occupying an elefant carcass. Possibly that elefant had fallen victim to insufficient food available during the draught. It was several days old and the smell encouraged us leaving the scene quickly.
On another morning we came across a Black-backed Jackal feasting on a very fresh Impala carcass. The rather smallish jackal is unlikely to have killed the antelope himself and the culprit remains a mystery. The most likely predator responsible for a kill, a leopard, would have guarded its prey and we also did not find any tracks in the vicinity.
Leopards are notoriously difficult to spot, but Chobe Riverfront seems to be home to numerous individuals and we managed to get good sightings. On one occasion, heading for a group of elefants coming to drink at the river, we virtually drove underneath a leopard resting in a tree and only noticed the cat afterwards.
This big male on the ground has lost a tooth and is probably quite old.
With a wingspan of more than 2m and 4 kg weight the Martial Eagle is the diurnal counterpart with similar prey preferences. Numbers are low and finding one on a kill, here a helmeted guinea fowl, is special.
A Verreaux's Eagle Owl with its pink eye lids is Africa's largest owl, hunting larger birds and rodents, as well as small antelopes at night.
One morning a lone Roan antelope was nerveously walking along the river. The obvious reason soon became clear: a lion pride was closeby and a lioness with bloody face (the unsymmetrical grimasse indicates a former injury) on the road alerted us to a kill a short distance away.
The lions had seemingly killed a former compagnion of the lone Roan and some pride members were still busy eating.
Another lioness, also with blood in the face, led her cubs to the nearby river for a drink, a typical behaviour of all predators after eating.
On our last morning, actually on the drive to Savuti, we luckily came across this male Sable, arguably the most attractive antelope in Africa. Sables are grazers consuming exclusively high nutritious grasses.
Savuti
Savuti is some 4 hours drive from Ihaha. After 15km deep sand road towards south the tarmac road from Kasane is reached, which makes an easy drive towards the west for the next 50 or so kms. At a new gas station a left turn leads to a rough sand road after some initial tarmac kms. Continuing for about another 50 kms a T-junction is reached. The left branch (right goes to Mababe) leads to Poha gate (on the right side). Savuti head office and campsite are reached after another 30 kms sand road.
Savuti is a large grassy marsh plain very occasionally watered by the Savuti channel (last in 2011). In normal years the area is dry between May and November and 2024 was certainly no exception. The marshland is surrounded by Mopane bushland and a few kopje hills in the north. During the exceptionally dry Oktober 2024 comparatively few animals remained on and around the marsh, mostly impalas, wildebeest and some tsesseby. Almost all buffaloes (we have seen only 2 bulls on one occasion at pump pan) and many elefants had left the area towards Linyanti and the delta, but still some groups and small herds remained in the area. In contrast to previous visits (see Chobe page under Africa-Mammals in the menue) wild dogs and cheetahs were absent during this stay, but leopards and large lion prides were around, the latter should give a most spectacular sighting. Lifeline are 3 artificial waterholes, Pump Pan close to our campsite in the north, the rather remote Rhino Vlei in the east and Marabou Pan in the south. It is these waterholes all animals are attracted to and some, in particular Marabou, have been scenes of unfolding dramas in past years, well documented by professional film crews.
Ground Hornbills are large turkey sized birds, which need huge cavities in trees for breeding. We encountered several pairs, surprisingly all along the tarmac roads. Possibly they were attracted by road kills.
This herd of Wildebeast was sheltering from the blistering sun at the eastern side of the marsh.
A small group of Elefants was crossing a sea of grass in the middle of Savuti marsh, heading west for Marabou Pan and neighboring mopane forests.
Rhino Vlei was a popular watering hole for Savuti's Elefants as well a Warthogs including this individual with attractive 'hair cut'.
A large pride of lions with 1 adult male, 6 adult females, another 6 or 7 subadults and 4 cubs was occupying the area around Marabou. We saw them on 3 consecutive days and inspite of seemingly not making a kill, the subadults looked happy and playful.
Pump Pan, the closest waterhole to our camp was regularly visited by Impalas, Kudus and also a group of Roan antelopes.
Savuti campsite is home to Porcupines and a significant number of Honey Badgers. Each night, shortly after going to sleep, several badgers emerged from their borrow and started systematically investigating all trashcans for discarded food items. They had learnt to open the closed containers and were quite noisy.
Our last morning in Chobe should become quite spectacular, while we were lucky enough to witness one of the classic Savuti dramas. It was shortly before 5 am that I woke up by the trompeting of an elefant in some distance. Somehow this trumpeting sounded weird unlike the normal sound elefants frequently produce. A little later lions started some intense roaring coming from the same direction. Obviously something interesting was happening and we hurried quickly braking down camp and investigate. We left the camp at 5:30 (the park opening time in October), crossed the bridge over the Savuti channel and shortly afterwards approached Pump Pan. A large male lion was lying closeby but on the other side of the pan some commotion raised our attention. Light was still poor but driving closer we noticed a lioness with 3 cubs busy feeding on the intestines of a freshly killed elefant.
The rising sun gradually turnt the scene into ever changing, reddish colours, creating a spectacular sight. The lion pride consisted of 3 large males, 1 female and 3 cubs. Obviously the combined power of these 3 male lions had brought down the unlucky elephant, whose desperate calls we had heard less than an hour ago. The males had already had some fill before we arrived and had seemingly gone through some dispute over the best parts (usually the liver).
Due to their size and herd protection elefants are rarely killed by lions and only in very few locations all along the Zambesi river system. Savuti was famous for a megapride of 30 lions near Marabou Pan in the 1990s, which regularly killed elephants during the dry season, when few other prey animals are available. This behaviour is less common today but obviously has survived. Like in our case elephants chosen are mostly young adults walking alone without herd protection.
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For more than 30 min ours was the only car on the scene before one by one a good number of safari vehicles joined.
Climbing on the carcass and playing with the victim's ears and trunk seemed great fun for the cubs.
One particularly hungry male came for a second breakfast before going for a drink.
happy times for the lions, in particular the cubs
Riverfront - by boat
After returning to Kasane and dropping the 4x4 rental camper, we decided to go for a boat safari on the Chobe river the next morning. Quite a few travel shops in Kasane will happily arrange such boat trips. We choose a small private boat and had an early start shortly after sunrise.
Buffaloes, Hippos and large Crocodiles are easily seen from the boat. However our prime interest were water birds and there was certainly no shortage.
Please find some examples below:
Fish Eagles are a common sight and their characteristic calls ubiquitous.
A tiny Malachite Kingfisher was perched in the papyrus looking for small fish to catch.
African Jacanas possess huge feet enabling them to walk on floating vegetation like sea lillies.
This Little Bittern, a tiny and, uncommon heron, is an ambush fish hunter.
Saddle-billed Storks (here a female with yellow eyes) are less common.
This Giant Kingfisher had caught what seems to be a catfish.
African Swamphen likewise have huge feet, sometimes used for holding their vegetarian diet when eating.
African Snipes use their long bills to sense critter food in the muddy soil.