ENCOUNTERSAFRICA
6-Day Savute Elephant & Chobe Safari

Botswana - Fly-in safari

6-Day Savute Elephant & Chobe Safari

Duration
6 days
Countries
Botswana
Suited to
2-8 guests
Pricing
From USD 9,280

The journey

Updated on 23 August 2026

Chobe National Park holds Africa's largest elephant population, and this trip works it from the inside out. It opens in Savuti, the park's dry, big-sky interior, at Belmond's Savute Elephant Lodge: twelve air-conditioned tented suites in teak and thatch along the Savute Channel, each looking onto a waterhole that never quite goes quiet. Savuti's lions are famous for taking on elephant in the lean months, and its open marsh makes predator viewing unusually honest, nothing to hide behind, everything visible. Then a 45 minute light-aircraft hop north swaps dust for water. Chobe Game Lodge is the only lodge inside the riverfront section of the park, where the afternoon game viewing happens by boat among elephant herds several hundred strong crossing to Sedudu Island. Interior first, river second, so the spectacle builds. May to October is dry season and peak viewing; November to April brings the zebra migration through Savuti, storm skies and lower rates.

Your camps, day by day

Stay 1

Into the Savute

You land at Kasane off the 1 hour 45 minute Johannesburg flight and switch to a Cessna for the 45 minute hop south over unbroken mopane. Savute Elephant Lodge's teak suites face the channel and its waterhole, where elephant bulls take turns through the afternoon. The first game drive rolls onto the marsh at golden hour.

Stay 2

The Marsh and the Prides

A full Savuti day. The morning works the marsh where the lion prides hold territory in plain sight, with cheetah using the open ground and bat-eared foxes at the burrows. Later you climb to the San rock paintings in the Gubatsa Hills, then take the evening drive back past the waterholes as the elephant queue lengthens.

Stay 3

North to the River

One more marsh drive at first light, then the flight back to Kasane and a half-hour road transfer into the park to Chobe Game Lodge, the only lodge inside the riverfront. The register changes immediately: your afternoon is on the water, drifting past elephant families crossing to Sedudu Island with the current.

Stay 4

Riverfront in Full

Morning drive with one of the Chobe Angels, the lodge's all-female guiding team, along a riverfront where lion, sable and buffalo share the floodplain. The afternoon goes to the electric boat, silent enough to sit within metres of drinking bulls while carmine bee-eaters work the bank behind them.

Stay 5

A Chobe Day at Leisure

The lodge's position lets the day breathe: an early drive west along the river, brunch on the deck as warthog crop the lawn, and a final long cruise into the golden hour, when the herds stack up on the banks and the light does the rest. Dinner is on the boma deck above the water, hippo providing the soundtrack.

Stay 6

Kasane and Home

A last sunrise cruise or drive, breakfast, then the half-hour transfer to Kasane for the early-afternoon Johannesburg flight, landing in time for evening international departures. Victoria Falls sits 90 minutes away by road if you would rather end the trip with the smoke that thunders; we arrange the extension on request.

Safari highlights

  • Two nights at Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge
  • Savuti's elephant-hunting lion prides
  • Three nights at Chobe Game Lodge inside the park
  • River cruises among Africa's largest elephant population
  • The all-female Chobe Angels guiding team
  • Light aircraft between channel and river

What is included

Included

  • 5 nights accommodation, per person sharing
  • Return regional flights Johannesburg-Kasane in economy class
  • Light-aircraft sectors Kasane-Savuti and Savuti-Kasane, with airstrip taxes
  • Road transfers between Kasane Airport and Chobe Game Lodge
  • All meals, house wines, local spirits, beers and soft drinks
  • Twice-daily game drives and Chobe River boat cruises
  • Chobe National Park entry fees, government levies and VAT
  • Botswana Tourism Development Levy of USD 30 per person
  • Laundry and emergency medical evacuation cover

Not included

  • International flights to and from Africa
  • Visas and entry permits
  • Comprehensive travel and medical insurance
  • Premium spirits, champagne and imported wines
  • Gratuities for guides, boat crew and camp staff
  • Items of a personal nature, curios and telephone calls

Frequently asked questions

How much does a 6-day Chobe and Savuti safari cost?

From USD 9,280 per person sharing, rising to about USD 11,880 in peak season. The price covers five nights at Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge and Chobe Game Lodge, all meals and house drinks, game drives and river cruises, park fees, both light-aircraft sectors and the return Johannesburg-Kasane regional flights. International flights to Africa are excluded and quoted separately.

What makes Savuti different from the Chobe riverfront?

Savuti is the park's interior: an ancient marsh fed by a channel that stops and starts over decades, open country where the game viewing is about predators, especially the lion prides that have learned to pull down young elephant in the driest months. The riverfront is the opposite register, water and huge congregations. Doing both is the whole point of this routing.

When is the best time to visit Chobe?

May to October, the dry season, is peak: the elephant herds concentrate on the river in numbers that can pass a thousand a day, and Savuti's waterholes hold the game in place. November to April is green season, when the zebra migration passes through Savuti twice, birding is at its best and rates drop by roughly a third.

How do you get between the two lodges?

By light aircraft between Kasane and the Savuti airstrip, about 45 minutes each way over mopane woodland, included in this price along with the road transfers at the Kasane end. Driving the same route takes five to six hours through deep sand. Light-aircraft luggage is limited to 20 kg per person in soft-sided bags.

Are international flights included?

No. International flights to and from Africa are excluded and booked separately, normally via Johannesburg. Included are the return Johannesburg-Kasane regional flights of about 1 hour 45 minutes each way. Many guests bolt Victoria Falls onto this trip: it is a 90 minute road transfer from Kasane and we can arrange the extension.

Is Chobe a malaria area?

Yes. Chobe and Savuti are malaria areas, with the highest risk from November to April during and after the rains. Prophylaxis is recommended year-round; consult a travel clinic about six weeks before departure. Both lodges have screened, air-conditioned rooms and provide repellent. Yellow fever certificates are required only when arriving from a risk country.