Kate Herbert
Imagine a room with two views: one a dusty, arid moonscape; the other lush, green and wet. This is the luxury “home from home” set- up at the Savuti Elephant Camp and Xaxaba in the Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana.
The room at Savuti is too opulent for its “tent camp” status. It has mahogany furniture, polished floorboards, electric fans and hairdryers, a dressing room, his ‘n’ hers bathrobes, hot showers and princely loos.
>From the balcony you gaze out over kilometres of sand punctured with the skeletons of trees. The Savuti channel last flowed in 1982. Now it is a dust bowl which elephants and other game cross to reach the borehole on the other side.
And you will see elephants. At dawn they gather at a watering hole, taking turns to drink the fresh water. Kudu, impala and a solitary giraffe join the proceedings while hundreds of guinea fowl, turtle doves and other birds weave in and out of a gathering that grows as the sun climbs. Twelve hours later there must be 30 or more elephants jostling for top position. It would have been blissful were it not for a couple of that rare breed of Maryland twitchers squawking “Gee, isn’t that neat” every five minutes.
Elephants and lions frequently enter the camp at night so guests are escorted to and from their rooms. But at least the air is too dry for mosquitoes.
The same cannot be said about your identical room at Xaxaba. A 30-minute flight in a six- seater plane takes you to Eagle Island in the Okavango. You are shown to your room by people wearing the same uniform as at Savuti and you don’t need to be shown where the light switches are – you have been there before. You sit on the same balcony chair, this time looking out over rich green grasses and a winding, flowing river.
After a night of a thousand bugs, we set off in a mokoro (canoe) to catch the sunrise. We park at a large island and get out to walk in a tight group, warned of possible danger. Within minutes we come across elephant, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo, tsesebe, zebra and warthog.
We stalk through the bush to the place where vultures circle in anticipation of morsels left by the feeding lions. The lions are more surprised than us and canter into the long grass. Over-awed, we punt back to camp for the same brunch eaten the day before in a drier place.
>From November 1 to March 31 Gametrackers Botswana is offering South Africans a 50% discount package to Savuti and Eagle Island. A four-day trip costs R5 599 per person sharing, including international flights to Maun, intercamp flights, accommodation, all meals and game drives. A five-day trip costs R6 999. Call (011) 781-0137, e-mail to or contact your nearest travel agent.