The Chobe River Africa

A lot can happen in a week, especially when Mother Nature is involved.

Over one week in mid-March the Chobe River, in front of Ngoma Safari Lodge, on the western edge of Chobe National Park grew, from a small channel to filling the entire floodplain.

Ngoma Safari Lodge manager Frances King says the level of the Chobe River is primarily affected by water coming from the Zambezi River, so rainfall closer to its source in Angola resulted in the rapid seasonal rise of the river.

While the local rain – of which there has been plenty lately, with Mrs King estimating of the 700mm to fall since mid-November, 80 per cent fell in February – had a less significant impact on the levels of the Chobe River.

The rain transforms the Chobe area, almost instantly, from a dry sunburnt landscape where the Chobe River is the only source of water for the wildlife, to a lush green expanse, and the animals spread out as water fills the pans.

“When the pans fill, the wildlife, especially elephant, move into the park to where there is more food. The rain brings plenty babies and incredible scenery,” she says.

Contrary to a belief that game viewing is better in the drier months, there is often plenty to see at this time of the year – last week visitors came across the incredibly unusual sight of a kill where 16 lion had killed four buffalo in one hunt in Chobe National Park, she says.

As the waters subside on the floodplain, the zebra will soon gather to feed on the soft, new grass, as part of the longest big-mammal migration documented in Africa, where a few thousand zebra cover more than 500km across parts of Namibia and Botswana.

Botswana, country in the centre of Southern Africa. The territory is roughly triangular—approximately 600 miles (965 km) from north to south and 600 miles from east to west—with its eastern side protruding into a sharp point. Its eastern and southern borders are marked by river courses and an old wagon road; its western borders are lines of longitude and latitude through the Kalahari, and its northern borders combine straight lines with a river course. Within the confines of Botswana’s borders is a rich variety of wildlife, including many species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

Before its independence in 1966, Botswana was a British protectorateknown as Bechuanaland. It was also one of the poorest and least-developed states in the world. The country is named after its dominant ethnic group, the Tswana (“Bechuana” in older variant orthography). Since its independence the Republic of Botswana has gained international stature as a peaceful and increasingly prosperous democratic state. It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the African Union (AU), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The secretariat of SADC is housed in the capital of Botswana, Gaborone (until 1969 spelled Gaberones—i.e., Gaborone’s town, after the tribal chief who had his capital at the site during the colonial period).