GUIDE TO CHOBE SAFARI PARK, BOTSWANA

I’ve visited 49 countries in the world, and Botswana is the place where I met the friendliest people! Their cuisine is also very unique, offering a wide variety of traditional dishes. Most importantly, Botswana is home to some very famous safari parks, with Chobe (read: čobi) National Park being the most popular. It’s especially famous for its large elephant population, but you can find nearly all other safari animals there as well.

Let me tell you everything important in this article about this safari park and what you should know as a tourist. 🙂

P.S. Please note, I’m kind of a backpacker, so I try to travel low-cost. 🙂

In Chobe park, I tried both tour options, by boat and by jeep.

JEEP SAFARI TOUR

I first tried a safari tour by jeep. I would only recommend this to those who have no or little experience with this type of tour 🙂

The big plus is It’s EASY, it’s said, to find lions there I saw 5. This lioness was full or pregnant, hard to say 😀

BOAT SAFARI TOUR

On the other hand, the boat safari tour was an extraordinary experience! Imagine you go by speedboat with a guide along the river and when you spot animals, you stop and watch them . And there are plenty of animals along the river! 🙂

I even saw hippos out of water here for the first time in my life which is pretty a rare sight because they like to eat at night, and bath during the day.

Just chilling and sunbathing crocs, are cold-blooded, on the bank of the river.

Now, let me give you some TRAVEL TIPS:

How to get to Chobe National park

Chobe National Park, thanks to its location, can be combined with a trip to Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe, from where you can book a one-day tour to the park by local travel agencies (expensive). A cheaper option is to get there on your own by bus/shared taxis. Stay overnight in Kasane (the town next to Chobe National Park). There’s also an international airport in Kasane. Btw we (the Czechs) need no visa to Botswana/Zambia.

Where to stay

I stayed at Elephant Trail Guest House, which is both a hostel and a guesthouse with private rooms. There’s also a pool (!) and a communal kitchen there. They can also help you organize safari tours.

Where to book the tours

You can book safari tours at this guesthouse (see the picture below), where the rates are reasonable, but not the cheapest.

As for the boat safari tour, you can go directly to the harbor, which is situated just behind Spar supermarket, and negotiate the price (My friend paid just 200 Pulas (the local currency) like this. He was just waiting there for tours, and when there was a free place to sit, he made the deal with a guide. 200 Pulas were better than nothing for the guide 🙂 )

Alternatively, here is the phone number for the cheapest safari tours booked in advance:+267 74 326 177. You can contact them via WhatsApp. You can book both a safari jeep tour and a boat tour with them. I paid 340 Pulas for each trip with them.

PLEASE NOTE if you decide to take both tours on the SAME day (possible, I did), you pay for the park entrance just once. The fee is included in every price. So I paid 340 Pulas for the morning tour and then I think just 200 Pulas for the afternoon one. Tour operators will try their luck on you, don’t get scammed! 🙂

How to travel around the city

In the town of Kasane, only shared taxis operate as public transportation. From the hostel, you need to walk about a kilometer to the nearest concrete road and keep an eye on the direction you want to go, then just wait. Taxis usually honk as they pass by. The fare is, as far as I remember, 20 pula.

Where to go shopping

In the town, there’s one small shopping center at Spar supermarket and one large one (called Choppies) at Choppies.

Traditional food

Traditional food is sold by locals in the street near these shopping centers, mostly around lunchtime.

This is traditional food in Botswana dumpling, Seswa – INSIDES, mixed with beef, and African spinach.That’s why I love travelling so much because of tasting different CUISINES it’s the best about travelling 🙂

The great thing is that you can also buy some cooked food directly in the Spar supermarket:

I tried protein rich CATERPILLARS Traditional food in called Phane. They taste like chips but honestly, It’s not my cup of tea:

Where to buy souveniers

At the small shopping center at the Spar, there are stalls where you can buy souvenirs.

….that’s all from me. So would you like to visit the safari park? You should! 🙂

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A to je vše, co jsem vám chtěl. Mějte se hezky, milovníci cestování a angličtiny! 🙂