Chobe River - The beginning of a wonderful journey

BotswanaDocumentaryFilmmakingTravelWildlifeWildlife Photography

21. Juni

This remarkable river, which gave its name to the National Park, keeps changing names during its long journey from Angola to its mouth in the Zambezi River. Its source is in the Angolan highlands, where the Utembo and Cuando rivers join to form the Kwando, which flows through the Caprivi (Namibia) on its way south until it meets a crevasse, the Selinda Spilway. This earth fissure forces the river to make a 90° bend to the northeast. At this point, the river branches into a nearly 900 km² swamp area and is now called the Linyanti. On its way to the northeast, the Linyanti reaches the bed of the dried up Lake Liambezi and from now on is called Itenge. At about Ngoma Bridge, a river clearly crystallizes out of the wet alluvial plain again - the Chobe River, flowing leisurely to the east. Finally, the Chobe River joins the Zambezi at Kasane.

Photographer: Roland Steffen - Gear: SONY Alpha 1 with Sony FE 400mm f2.8 GM. Pictures not to be used without my explicit permission.

Elephants in the Chobe River at sunset, Kasane, Botswana - every evening an overwhelming play of colors.

Our journey in Botswana began at the end of May 2022 in Kasane, more precisely at this legendary Chobe River. Botswana, like many other countries, still suffers from the pandemic or the lack of guests. For us, this was of course positive, because Kasane is otherwise overrun by tourists, as the Vic Falls are also a stone's throw away. We are accommodated for one night in the Pangolin Chobe Hotel, which specifically meet the needs of photographers (boats with 3D Tripods, etc.). The late afternoon in the boat on the Chober River was very rewarding for me photographically (but also for video).

Hip-Hip-Hippo! Chobe River, Chobe National Park, Kasane, Botswana

After a night at the Chobe River we started our 10 day Mobile Safari trip, especially tailored for photographers. It took us from Chobe River to Savuti and Khwai River to the fabled Moremi Game Reserve - deep in the Okavango Delta. I will report about this trip in the next blog entry and it is worth...time to subscribe to this blog so you don't miss anything ;-)