In Botswana the Chobe National Park covers 10,566 km², 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 Chobe elephant comprise part of what is probably the largest surviving continuous elephant population. This population covers most of northern Botswana plus north-western Zimbabwe. Botswana's elephant population is currently estimated at around 120,000 The Chobe elephant are migratory, making seasonal movements. 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.

Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta. The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that mostly dried up. The Okavango River has no outlet to the sea and empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert. Each year some 11 cubic kilometres of water reach the delta. The waters of the Okavango Delta are subject to seasonal flooding, which begins about mid-summer in the north and six months later in the south (May/June). The water from the delta is evaporated relatively rapidly by the high temperatures, resulting in a cycle of cresting and dropping water in the south. Islands can disappear completely during the peak flood, then reappear at the end of the season.
Although the summer rain falls in Angola in January, they take a whole month to travel the first 1 000 km of the Okavango River and then they take a further four months to filter through the plants and numerous channels of the final 250 km of the Delta. As a result the flood is at its biggest sometime between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months as a result the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife. Every year 90 million litres of water flow into the delta and although one would think that the water was simply swallowed up by the thirsty sands of the desert, an incredible 60% of this water leaves into the atmosphere via transpiration, in other words via the leaves of the plants rather than via evaporation. With all of that water leaving the Delta into the atmosphere the Delta is unable to flush itself of the minerals carried in by the river and the water should become salty and uninhabitable like the Dead Sea. But remarkably it hasn’t and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, the water itself has a very low salt content, and secondly as so much of the water is leaving via the plants rather than evaporation the salt from that water collects around the roots of the plants rather than being left behind in the water. Approximately 70% of the islands in the delta began as termite mounds. Termite mounts are the soil homes that termites or flying ants, as they are more commonly known, construct, some termites build a mount of earth and then a tree takes root. And from those small beginnings these islands have grown.
The Okavango is home to a prosperity of wildlife of an estimated 200 000 large mammals. Many of these animals live in the Delta but the majority move in and out. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, as winter approaches and the countryside dries up they make their way back to the swamps. Among these are African elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus, lechwe, topi, giraffe, Nile crocodile, lion, cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyena, kudu, sable antelope, both the black and white rhino, zebra, and warthog. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including the African fish eagle, Crested crane, Lilac-breasted roller, hammerkop and Sacred Ibis.
This leads to some of the most incredible sightings as large numbers of prey and predators get squashed into a smaller and smaller area. And certain areas of the Delta provide some of the best predator action that you can see anywhere in the world.

Lake Kariba

Lake Kariba lies along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe being the largest, man-made lake and reservoir by volume located on the Zambezi river. The lake was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba Dam at its northeastern end. Before Lake Kariba was filled, the existing vegetation was burned, creating a thick layer of fertile soil on land that would become the lake bed. As a result the ecology of Lake Kariba is vibrant. A number of fish species have been introduced to the lake, notably the sardine-like kapenta transported from Lake Tanganyika, other inhabitants of Lake Kariba include Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and gamefish, particularly Tigerfish, which was among the indigenous species of the Zambezi river system, now thrive on the kapenta.

Victoria Falls

The Victoria Falls located on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe of 1 708 meters wide; make it the largest curtain of water in the world. It drops between 90m and 107m into the Zambezi Gorge at an average of 550,000 cubic metres of water every minute that plummets over the edge. The Local people call it "Mosi-oa-Tunya" -- the smoke that thunders.
The Scottish explorer David Livingstone, is believed to have been the first European to view one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Victoria Falls.

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