Chobe National Park Hotels & Resorts

Chobe Game Lodge offers riverboat safaris as well as 4×4 game drives and, as the only camp located inside Chobe National Park, there is the chance to see wildlife before anyone else arrives. Game drives will take you deep into the national park, which is home to the largest population of elephants in Africa. On the riverboat safaris, you will glide silently along the Chobe. You will stop for sundowners in a big open area where animals come to drink.

Morning game drives set off at around 5.30am, stopping for coffee and biscuits in the bush halfway through, and in the afternoon you will leave at 3.30pm before returning to the lodge for sundowners. You will go deep into the national park, which is home to the largest population of elephants in Africa – around 120,000. You may see large herds of elephants as well as lions, buffaloes, wildebeest, giraffes, antelopes and, if you’re lucky, the occasional leopard lazing in the trees. Lechwe flats is a favourite game viewing area with guests and the landscapes are amazing too; you can see the beautiful Chobe River with views across to Namibia as you cross the dry, dusty plains.

On the riverboat safaris, you will head out in the afternoon in small pontoons, which are all electric and solar-powered. Glide silently along the Chobe, heading west away from the other boats, so that you are usually the only boat in the area. You may spot crocodiles and hippos in the water as well as elephants and other animals on the riverbank. There are lots of birds too, including fish eagles hunting from the river. After a couple of hours, you will stop for sundowners in a big open area beside the river, where animals come to drink. Watch the sun set over the river, which is always spectacular – all deep reds and oranges, reflecting on the water below.

Tucked away in the remote southwestern part of Chobe National Park is the Savute area. This fascinating region has been shaped by the unpredictability of the Savute Channel, sometimes remaining dry for years, other times the ancient waterways fill the Savute Marsh. Guests can experience its diverse wildlife and ancient terrain in a variety of ways.

The Savute is an amazing area for lions. You can head out on game drives into the vast, flat plains surrounding your lodge and spot their sandy coloured bodies in huge numbers of twenty or thirty, prowling the savanna in search of prey. You may also see other predators like leopard and cheetah that reside in the hilly terrain.

Visit the corridor of huge baobab trees. Their trunks are three times an average arm span and as you sip on a gin and tonic while admiring these ancient giants as the sun slowly sets, it's the perfect Instagram moment. If you’re feeling energetic you can climb the nearby hill to observe San Bushmen paintings which date back over 1,500 years old before returning to your lodge for star gazing.

Sustainability is a big thing at Chobe Game Lodge and, as the only camp inside the national park, they try to minimise their impact on the natural environment as much as possible. They were the first camp in Botswana to launch electric-powered safari vehicles, and the boats are also electric as well as solar-powered.

Around 95% of all waste at the lodge is recycled and the boardwalk overlooking the Chobe is built from recycled timber-plastic. The recycling processes include glass crushing to manufacture bricks on-site, which are then donated to the local community to be used for housing. Plastic bottles are crushed to be recycled by the supplier, and grey water is reused to keep the grounds green. Informal behind-the-scenes eco-tours are run for guests wanting to learn more. See the back-of-house kitchen, which runs on gas made from biodegradable waste at their biogas plant, see the recycling plant, grey water facility and workshop.

They also work with local communities, training young people to develop their skills, and they fund several initiatives, including the Turning Heads Beauty Salon, which employs vulnerable women. Two-thirds of the lodge staff are women and it was here Botswana’s first all-female guiding team began.

For guests wanting to learn more about the local community, they run private trips to the nearby village of Mabele, located around an hour and a half’s drive away. Here you can visit the Lwaavo Cultural Group, a community group and cultural centre that showcases local crafts and customs. The visit begins with a traditional song and dance performance, before guests are invited to take part in a basket-weaving demonstration and play a few games. They then have the chance to buy souvenirs hand-crafted by the group and to try local dishes such as seswaa (a traditional shredded beef dish), boiled morogo (similar to spinach) and pap.