Chobe National Park
(Botswana)
Botswana Safaris - Chobe National Park
The Chobe National Park, which is the second largest national park in Botswana
and covers 10,566 square kilometres, has one of the greatest concentrations of
game found on the African continent. Its uniqueness in the abundance of wildlife
and the true African nature of the region, offers a safari experience of a
lifetime.
The park is divided into four distinctly different eco systems: Serondela with
its lush plains and dense forests in the Chobe River area in the extreme
north-east; the Savuti Marsh in the west about fifty kilometres north of Mababe
gate; the Linyanti Swamps in the north-west and the hot dry hinterland in
between.
The original inhabitants of what is now the park were the San people, otherwise
known in Botswana as the Basarwa. They were hunter-gatherers who lived by moving
from one area to another in search of water, wild fruits and wild animals. The
San were later joined by groups of the Basubiya people and later still, around
1911, by a group of Batawana led by Sekgoma. When the country was divided into
various land tenure systems, late last century and early this century, the
larger part of the area that is now the national park was classified as crown
land. In 1931 the idea of creating a national park in the area was first mooted,
in order to protect the wildlife from extinction and to attract visitors. In
1932, an area of some 24,000 square kilometres in the Chobe district was
declared a non-hunting area and the following year, the protected area was
increased to 31,600 square kilometres. However, heavy tsetse fly infestations
resulted in the whole idea lapsing in 1943. In 1957, the idea of a national park
was raised again when an area of about 21,000 square kilometres was proposed as
a game reserve and eventually a reduced area was gazetted in 1960 as Chobe Game
Reserve. Later, in 1967, the reserve was declared a national park - the first
national park in Botswana. There was a large settlement, based on the timber
industry, at Serondela, some remains of which can still be seen today. This
settlement was gradually moved out and the Chobe National Park was finally empty
of human occupation in 1975. In 1980 and again in 1987, the boundaries were
altered, increasing the park to its present size.
A major feature of Chobe National Park is its elephant population. First of all,
the Chobe elephant comprise part of what is probably the largest surviving
continuous elephant population. This population covers most of northern Botswana
plus northwestern Zimbabwe. The Botswana's elephant population is currently
estimated at around 120,000. This elephant population has built up steadily from
a few thousand since the early 1900s and has escaped the massive illegal offtake
that has decimated other populations in the 1970s and 1980s. The Chobe elephant
are migratory, making seasonal movements of up to 200 kilometres from the Chobe
and Linyanti rivers, where they concentrate in the dry season, to the pans in
the southeast of the park, to which they disperse in the rains. The elephants,
in this area have the distinction of being the largest in body size of all
living elephants though the ivory is brittle and you will not see many huge
tuskers among these rangy monsters.
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