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By John Patten
It is certainly not within the means of everyone, but the Chobe Game Lodge has won a deserved and enviable reputation as one of the world’s best game reserve resorts.
For South Africans, it is far to go. Its luxury in the bush package is attractive, but pricey. It is a treat for any lover of the wilds which should be saved and planned for. It not only has top-class hotel facilities, but it is in a superb position in a park with unbounded wildlife riches.
For a time, the Chobe Game Lodge’s future was imperiled by outside factors, but its future now appears more secure than it has ever been, and it is looking to new horizons to market its facilities to the world for a diversity of needs. Its situation on the southern banks of Chobe River, the border between Botswana and Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, is a long way from everywhere. In spite of that, it has become and international Mecca for game watchers, benefiting also from visitors who couple it with a stop at the Victoria Falls two hours drive away in Zimbabwe.
The suites are spacious and comfortable. Air-conditioning has been provided as a necessary part of the establishment’s class, even though it comes as something of a surprise in a place so remote. It is a refuge in the heat of the day, with most of the outdoor activities planned for early morning or late afternoon.
For those wanting that something extra, there is even a double suite with its own patio and private swimming pool. Most visitors have a three-day, two-night stop at hotel, giving themselves ample time to sample a variety of activities at an exotic venue.
In the time, the visitor can go on several early morning and late afternoon game-watch outings, the fee for which is not included in the hotel tariffs, as the tours are arranged by an outside company.
Knowledgeable guides drive the game-watch vehicle. They are expert game spotters and are quick to identify situations of special interest. The four-wheel drive vehicles are in radio touch with each other and the drivers often draw the attention of other tour parties to game kills or other interesting sightings. The morning drives are normally less busy from a game-watch point of view than the afternoon outings, but there is a greater possibility of seeing predators and their kills in the early mornings.
Afternoon game watch outings combine a journey through bush and scrub some distance from the river, with riverside viewings of large herds of elephant drinking, spraying themselves and playing in the water. It is highlight of any visit to Chobe and a quite unforgettable experience to get within a few paces of these huge animals, which are wary of human presence but do not feel threatened and therefore do not get particularly edgy.
Game rangers attribute the comparative docility of elephant at Chobe to the fact that the animals have not yet been culled in Botswana parks for more than five years, and so don’t associate humans with danger.
It is possible to go as close as a vehicle’s length from them without causing any alarm, but the game watch drivers exercise suit able caution with elephant at all times and take note of any aggressive signs or trumpetings of the bigger elephant in protection of their young. Game and bird life there is in profusion. Elephant are the park’s specialty, trundling down in great numbers every afternoon for water, but there are also large herds of buffalo, the main prey of lion in the Chobe area.
Buck include Kudu, impala and waterbuck, which South Africans are used to seeing, but also puku, lechwe and Chobe bushback which are seen in South Africa.
Bird life includes numerous hornbills, lilac breasted rollers, vulture, eagles and water birds of various kinds. A special feature of the river cruise from the Chobe Game Lodge is the feeding of the Fish Eagles. Tour organizers whistle to attract the eagle’s attention, and then throw dead fish overboard opposite where the eagles perch on a tree at the riverside. Within a short time, the eagles swoop down and grab the fish in their talons, giving photographers a close-up shot of a Fish Eagle catch they might otherwise have to wait days to see. The Fish Eagles are not fed every day, so they do not become dependent on humans for food.
The cruise boat is also a particularly good advantage point of viewing the large hippo herds are certain points in the river. The cruises are made special by being turned into sundowner occasions, with champagne and other drinks served. The cruise boat is also the venue for late evening parties and refreshments.
The hotel is in the friendly and competent hands of Mr. Helge Haniger and his wife Jill who between them manage to offer top quality accommodation in an atmosphere of almost barefoot informality. Besides the comfortable suites, the hotel is equipped with lounges, a bar, terraces, a braai area and a spacious pool scene overlooking the river. Although catering has its problems (vegetables come all the way from Pretoria), there is plenty of variety at breakfast, a tasty buffet with a huge choice of hot and cold foods at lunch and a la carte menu with a good choice of fare at dinner. Except in wet weather, guests eat at tables on the covered terraces.
The hotel complex is not fenced off from the game reserve, so it is not uncommon for visitors to see warthog grazing and lawns, squirrels scampering between trees, and even the occasional elephant lumbering by. Some degree of caution is advisable for this reason.
Because the water of the Chobe River flows down the Angola, the park is not so dependent on local rains as other game parks. By late April, when Zambezi comes in flood causing its waters to spread across the Caprivi and to back up the Chobe from its confluence, a vast expanse of water stretches away in front of the hotel, which is set on a rise above the water line. At other seasons, the river keeps within its banks, but is at all times wide and deep. Although there is some environmental concern caused by rapid increase in the elephant population, the main danger to Chobe in the past has been political.
Resident director and co-owner (with Sun International) of the hotel, Mr Jonathan Gibson, used to visit Chobe on coming holidays as a boy in the 1950’s, when there was no game lodge and no game reserve. The national park was proclaimed in 1967, but some residents (including the Gibsons) were allowed to stay. Southern Sun Hotels built the Chobe Game Lodge in 1972/3, but the Rhodesian bush war cur tourism to the Victoria Falls, and Chobe suffered in consequence. The hotel closed in 1977.
Mr Gibson, in partnership with Mr Ian Green and Mr Donald Cohen then bought it in 1982, with Mr Cohen later selling his share to the other two. They refurbished and upgraded the hotel before Sun International bought a share. At present Mr Gibson and Mr Green owns 40 percent, Sun International 40 percent and the Botswana Government 20 percent.
It is an up and flourishing concern, an attraction in a game paradise for the wealthy and those who want to treat themselves. It is a part of unspoilt Africa that South Africans can still visit. | 
