Friday, April 15, 2016

Friday Travel Tip - SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRAVEL TIPS - DAY TRIPS IN CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

Chobe is a big park, with over Eleven-Thousand square kilometres to explore.  When visiting a park this big there are two ways to visit, you either dedicate a week and sign up with a tour operator that will set you up with campsites all over the park and drive you around, or you take a few one day adventures into the park for quicker visits.  While some parks require you to take these multi-day adventures to see the best the park has to offer, Chobe has some great adventures available just outside of the town of Kasane for one-day excursions.

The two common one-day (or half day) tours available from Kasane are boat and driving tours.  The boat tours must be done with a tour operator, however the driving tour may be driven on your own.  If you choose to drive on your own you may be given a specific route to follow if the parks are full of tourists that day. If not, then you're free to explore the roads on your own, however you must have a 4x4 vehicle.  This is because the roads are very sandy, and can be very treacherous.  Bringing a GPS is also a good idea as the maps provided aren't that great.

The local tour operators all seem to offer similar tours, the only difference is the times the tours run and the length of the tours. Similar to self-driving, tour operators will also be assigned a particular route, the preferred route is close to the water, however in either case you'll see lots of animals.  The water tours are pretty much all the same as far as where they go; the big difference is style and size of boat.

The great thing about Chobe is no matter which tour you take; you're very likely to see animals.  If you're looking to see elephants, than this is the tour for you, as Chobe has one of the largest elephant herds in the world. There are also zebras, giraffes, buffalos, and many other local animals, particularly near the water’s edge.  You may catch a glimpse of a lion, but it's not guaranteed.

Later