In the heart of Botswana’s Chobe National Park lies a dynamic wilderness, a sweeping expanse of savannah brooded over by several rocky outcrops which guard a relic marsh and the dry channel that was once its lifeline. This is Savute, where mysterious wet and dry cycles mould the landscape and dictate the nature of its wild inhabitants. Currently it is dry, and wild dogs hunt in the channel where crocodiles swam only twenty years ago.
The Gubatsa Hills shelter leopard and klipspringer and rock paintings of early man’s wildlife sightings. During the arid winter months game viewing concentrates on Savute’s resident bull elephants, antelope and lion prides, and black-backed jackal, bat-eared foxes, tsessebe, and kudu, abound. The summer rains bring a feast for lion, hyena and cheetah as thousands of migrating zebra and wildebeest assemble in a chaotic pattern on the marsh. Cape buffalo herds arrive and migrant birds swell Savute’s 300 resident species, thrilling bird-watchers with their spectacular antics.
