City Chic In Darkest Africa

Bush Smart

Chobe Game Lodge, a beautiful riverside retreat with an air of serene luxury, isone of Africa’s most exclusive safari resorts.

Set in the heart of the Chobe National Park, the Lodge has become a Mecca for international tourists who require superb accommodation and personalized game viewing excursions. The buildings, which blend discreetly into the natural vegetation, are sited on the south of the bank of the Chobe River and have a spectacular view across the flood plains.

Superb cuisine is inspired partly by the Lodge’s African setting and although guests may expect conventional if outstanding prepared western fare, the menu is given added zest with dishes like casseroled venison, fillet of ostrich and succulent bream caught in local waters.

Game viewing is one of the prime attractions for international tourists and while many of the major game areas in Africa have changed dramatically over the past few decades, Botswana us still one of the finest – if not the finest – of wildlife sanctuaries. It is also emerging as a dominant game conservation country.

If any particular animal has become the hallmark of Chobe, it is American Elephant. An estimated 30 000 of these impressive creatures roam the 11 700 square kilometers of the Chobe Game Park. Experienced rangers are able to drive extremely close to these elephants and other members of the big five – rhino, lion, buffalo and leopard.

The Chobe Reserve also offers more than 470 species of birds. Guinea fowl and vultures, parrots and owls inhabit inland areas, while the waterways are home for African Fish Eagles, herons terns and a myriad of other fascinating water birds. Hides have been erected for better viewing and Chobe is fast becoming a sought after destination for ornithologists.

The river-side setting also means that the Chobe Game Lodge is greatly prized by fresh water anglers. Bream is a valued catch although the area is known principally for its tiger fish, an outstanding game fish whose fierce fight is the crowning point of many a fisherman’s yarn.

Private charter flights from Johannesburg land at Kasane, an airstrip 12km from the lodge which is son to be extended from 900 to 2 000m, enabling it to take all executive jets. There are daily flights from South Africa to Victoria Falls by SAA or Air Zimbabwe and a one-hour journey from there by tarred road to the edge of the park. An alternative route is via Air Botswana to Gaborone and from there by Charter to Chobe.