Remarkable elephant, and the busiest ground in the country

What Chobe is good at

Elephant. In the dry months they come to the Chobe river in concentrations that are among the most impressive sights in African travel, and watching them from a boat in the late afternoon is a genuinely different way of seeing an elephant.

It is also the most accessible part of Botswana by a wide margin: a short drive from Victoria Falls and reachable without a light aircraft, which makes it the natural bookend to a trip rather than its centre.

What Chobe is not

Quiet. Chobe National Park is public land and statutory rules apply: no driving off the track, no driving after dark, and no cap on how many vehicles — or boats — may attend a sighting.

In peak season the riverfront carries real traffic, both on the road and on the water. Nothing in a camp brochure will tell you this, and no amount spent on the bed changes it.

How to do it well

• Two nights, not four. It is a bookend rather than a destination, and two nights captures most of what it offers.
• Attach it to Victoria Falls, which is close and is the reason most people are in this corner at all.
• Take a private boat rather than a shared cruise. On the river this is the equivalent of a private vehicle and it costs less than people expect.
• Go out early and late, because the middle of the day on the riverfront is when the traffic is worst.
• Consider the private concessions nearby, which operate under leases rather than park rules and are a different proposition.

The Victoria Falls question

The Falls sit on the Zambezi between Zambia and Zimbabwe, a short transfer from the Chobe area, and they combine with Botswana more easily than anything else in the region.

They are not a safari and should not be sold as one. Two nights is right for most people — enough for the Falls themselves, the gorge and whatever activity appeals — and it makes a natural arrival or departure point for a Botswana trip.

The honest placement

Chobe earns two nights at the start or end of a trip, especially if you are coming through Victoria Falls. It rarely earns a week.

If the elephant along the water is what draws you and you want it without the traffic, the Linyanti concessions offer the same dry-season concentration on leased land with very few vehicles — at a considerably higher rate, and for a reason.