Botswana lodge choice
 

I am hoping to go to Botswana next May and wasn't sure whether to go to Savuti or Chitabe. I have heard that the volume of animals especially elephants is less in the Savuti area that time of year. Anyone with experience please let me know. Thanks

I dont think you can compare Savuti and Chitabe. Both areas are very very different.

If you are looking for elephants, for May...you arent going to find more in Chitabe.

Hari

Hello,

I agree with Hari in that the two areas (Delta and Linyanti) are so different that they're almost impossible to compare -- they're apples and oranges.

You won't find large elephant herds in May in either location -- the herds only start to mass in the dry season as they are drawn down to the rivers after the pans in the mopane woodland dry out (as some shoulder season travellers found out this year, which was unusually wet).

If you want to see huge herds of ellies, I'd advise travelling to the Linyanti between mid-July and October to be safe. Any of the following camps will give you great ellie viewing:

Duma Tau
Savuti
Selinda
Zibalianja

Savuti does have the woodpile hide in front of the camp which enables you to get very close to the ellies.

Cheers,
Julian

Ofcourse, Julian....are you sure that those are the only camps with great ellie viewing??? or are you missing out on two others???

Hari

Actually, to be honest....Chobe national park in the dry season gives you the best ellie viewing.

Hari

I am not sure, but isn't King's Pool in the same area as Duma Tau, Savuti, etc.? If so, will there also be large herds to view at that camp in dry season?

Sara,

Yes, Kings Pool will hv plenty of elephants. However, Julian also left out two other prominent names, Lagoon and Lebala.

Hari

I'd surely agree with Hari about elephants at Lebala. I saw them while still in the camp on each of the 4 days I was there, and on 2 nights one or more jumbos passed just next to my tent. I saw several herds (or maybe the same herd multiple times, who knows?) while relaxing on my tent's veranda and from the camp's wonderful bird hide.