Botswana Trip Report: Savute Channel - Two years in the making.
 

I know that some of you have been following my blog, though wanted to share with other Fodorites one of my trip reports from this year.

Excerpt from my Trip Report:

"For the first time in roughly 28 years, the mystical Savuti Channel is flowing again. Starting at the Zibadianja Lagoon, it meanders around 100km, initially a little south and then eastwards until it spills into the Savute Marsh (Mababe Depression), a remnant of an ancient super lake. The erratic flows of the channel have been documented by explorers, film makers and photographers over the last 200 years, noting the changing dynamics of the Savute Marsh.............................

.........................................In 2007/8, the Channel started to push down the parched channel, slowly filling the water table; it would take another 2/3 years until I would witness the water entering the Marsh on the 21th February 2010. This final push has also coincided with a wet cycle. The higher levels of rainfall in the Angolan catchment areas and significant local precipitation have helping to push the water into the marsh."

Here is the link the entire report which includes a number of photos too:

http://www.thesafariphotographer.com/safari-days/610

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Cheers

LBJ2

Hey Russell,

Big Thumbs up to the blog site. Some awesome photos here....

Cheers
Hari

Thanks, Hari. Glad that you have been enjoying it......

Really enjoyed your report, which brings back memories.

In 2006 we stayed at Savute Safari Lodge(D&D). Game drives were usually along the dry channel bed down to the marsh,which of course was then just a dry wind swept plain.

In May 2010 stayed at Savuti camp (W/S), much further upstream, and the channel was flowing strongly with hippos outside our tent

If the lottery results ever go our way we will return to Savute

Great info, Rusell. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for link to your blog, good reading and photos.

regards - tom

What a great adventure! It will be interesting to be in Savuti in September and see what the new waters have attracted.

Thank you all, glad that you enjoyed the read.

Hopefully you will continue to enjoy my posts.

Perhaps I will see some Fodorites in Botswana this September.

Cheers,
russell

Hi Russell, nice blog and photos, what an amazing story. The title should say 28 years in the making...
I remember seeing Africa's Stolen River, the National Geographic classic about the Savute channel, around the same time as my first trip to the Okavango in 1989 as a 17 year old. The Savute captured my imagination and I remember that the story of the drying channel and dying animals was heart wrenching and depressing for me then.
Amazing to see the channel reaching the marsh again, I wonder how it will change game viewing patterns in the Savute area during the next few years.
Regards,
Onne from Wild Wings Safaris

Onne,

Thanks for your comments.....I will on the Marsh five nights this September, so will be sure to report back.

Based on what I saw in February, I imagined that buffalo and Elephant herds will quite prominent in the area.

From the early dry season reports, game viewing has been mixed. A cold snap and the heavy rainfall in April has not helped. I feel it could 18 months for wildlife numbers to pick up to their past levels.

Great suspenseful story and photos. Particularly enjoyed learning about the history of the cyclical nature of the water in the channel, and that it's not totally dependent on rainfall. I had no idea.

Loved the elephant video, and thinking of the memory of the channel water being imprinted on the young elephants.