Chobe: Savute, Mababe & Nogatsha (5)

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

One of the great mysteries and fascinations of Savute is the Channel itself.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

It stretches over a distance of 100 km, from the Chobe River through a gap in the sand ridge to the Mababe Depression.



Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Falling only 20 cm in each kilometre of distance covered (an extraordinary small amount of 20 m in all), it can bring water from the Chobe to Mababe, creating a small marsh at the entrance to the Depression.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

It is this channel and its water that explain the fantastic abundance of game that has been seen at Savute.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

However, it hasn't flowed since 1981 and even before that flow regimes were erratic and unpredictable.

Therein lies the great mystery of Savute.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe: Savute, Mababe & Nogatsha (4)

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Reminders of the lake's existence are still abundant.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Apart from the sand ridge, you will notice the nearly sheer northeastern faces of the Gubatsha Hills.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

These were cut into cliffs by the crashing force of the waves that once pounded against them.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

In the lee of the hills, there are accumulations of rounded gravel, ground into their oval shape by ceaseless rolling on the shores of the lake.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

During some three years in 1980s, a crocodile spent its dormant winter years hidden in a deep overhang beside the Savute Channel.
It was waiting for the return of water, but, alas, it did not arrive !


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe: Savute, Mababe & Nogatsha (3)

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

As you drive into Savute from the south, you will see, on your left, a low sandy rise, the Magwikhwe Sand Ridge.

More than 100 km long, it is an old barrier beach that may once have defined the western boundary of the great lake.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Beyond it, to the west, is a chaotic pattern of ancient sand dunes, which may have been lagoons and mud flats lying beyond the ridge.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

It is still a matter for speculation how this once massive lake received its waters.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

The most popular explanation is that, in the distant past, the Upper Zambezi, the Chobe and the Okavango Rivers flowed together, across the north of Bostwana and down to the sea via the Motloutse and Limpopo.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Then a gentle warping of the Earth's crust dammed this flow to create a vast lake.
In time, further crustal movement caused the rivers to find a new route to the sea.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Their direction changed by faulting, the Upper Zambezi and the Chobe turned to the northeast and, after plunging over the Victoria Falls, joined what is now the Middle Zambezi.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Trapped by an emerging rift valley, the Okavango bled its waters into vast accumulations of sand to create today's Delta.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Condemned by a changing climate, which reduced rainfall and brought a return of almost desert-like conditions, the super-lake, cut off from its sources of water, dried up, leaving only evidence in the shape of the Makgadikgadi Pans.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe: Savute, Mababe & Nogatsha (2)

Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Game viewing is at its best from November to May, but the provision of artificial waterholes has helped keep a wide variety of animals in the area and has improved year-round viewing.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

The Mababe Depression  - that immense, ancient lake-bed to the east of the Gubatsha Hills - stretches endlessly to the horizon as a flat and apparently featureless plain but, when it has received its first rain and turned to a carpet of green, hundreds of thousands of animals are drawn to it.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Zebra, impala, hartebeest, wildebeest, kudu, warthog, buffalo, lion, leopard, hyaena, wild dog and jackal are but a few of the bewildering variety of wildlife to be seen.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

It's the experience of a lifetime.

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe: Savute, Mababe & Nogatsha (1)

Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Set in the north of Botswana, well within the Chobe National Park, Savute is perhaps one of the best-known game-viewing areas in the country.


Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Under ideal conditions, the number and variety of animals to be seen can be staggering.


Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Savute is known especially for its elephants and particularly as an area preferred by lone bulls.


Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

More docile than the cows, these gentle giants are quite at home among the parked cars and campsites - they have been observed stepping delicately between guyropes without touching  them or damaging the tents !


Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Be warned, though.
Docility does not prevent these animals from seeking a little variety in their diet ...... one person had the boot of his car destroyed when a bull used his tusks as a tin-opener to get at the oranges he could smell inside !


Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Under no circumstances feel tempted to feed the elephants.

Questa foto di Savute Elephant Camp by Orient-Express è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe, River Front & Nogatsha (3)

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

The drier months and the floodplains are, however, not the only time and place worth visiting at Chobe.

Old water-points are being upgraded, repaired and properly maintained, and new ones are being constructed.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

As a result, with water readily available, the Nogatsha region is now a must at any time of the year.

Unfortunately, there are no camping facilities in the Nogatsha region.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Boreholes and watering points at Savute have also kept game in that area, even though the famous Channel itself is dry.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Birders will find the River front particularly rewarding, but a still richer area for birds is the Kasane Rapids, a beautiful stretch of rock-filled river (for which formal protection status is being sought), immediately downstream of Mowana Safari Lodge.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Here, with luck, you'll find the African finfoot, white-backed night heron and rock pratincole nesting out on the rocks during times of low water.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com

Chobe, River Front & Nogatsha (2)

Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Perhaps the greatest attractions of the Chobe River area are the elephant, which are almost always present.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Their late-afternoon visits to the water's edge offer hours of fascinating viewing and wonderful photographic opportunities.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

But please be extremely cautions around them !!!!!! 

The herds often consist mainly of females with young. 
The cows are sensitive to interference, and more than one incident has been recorded where a vehicle has been damaged after an imprudent approach.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

The best times to visit Chobe are in the drier months, when the animals are driven back to the river through scarcity of water in the hinterland.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

Huge numbers gather in the area, particularly of elephant and buffalo.

You will also see tsessebe, waterbuck, roan, eland, kudu, sable, giraffe, lion and, if you are lucky, the rare puku.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

The river's floodplain, with its mixed patches of open grassland, thickets of bush and riverine forest, makes an ideal viewing area.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

In the river itself you should see hippo, crocodile and, with patient watching, the wonderful otters.


Questa foto di Chobe National Park è offerta da TripAdvisor.

http://magicnamibia.blogspot.com

http://magicbotswana.blogspot.com

http://magicsouthafrica.blogspot.com

http://magicmadagascar.blogspot.com

http://magicmozambique.blogspot.com

http://magiadinamibia.blogspot.com