Today is one long game viewing day as we travel 5-hours to the vast Savuti Plains in Chobe Game Reserve, driving along sandy roads suitable only for 4x4 vehicles and stopping for a picnic lunch along the way.
The most challenging part of our trip is crossing the deep sands of the winding Magwikwe Sand Ridge that marks the shoreline of what was once a massive inland sea. The old lake bed, now called the Mababe Depression, has a dense clay floor that is rich in protein – so the area teems with wildlife after the rains It is a birder’s paradise, with nutritious grasses that grow on the rich soils providing excellent seed for an impressive array of estrillids and viduids. Among these are the magnificently coloured Violet-eared waxbill, Black-cheeked waxbill, Village indigobird, Shaft-tailed whydah and Paradise whydah. These in turn provide a good food source for small raptors such as the Little sparrowhawk, Shikra, Gabar goshawk, Red-necked falcon and Lanner falcon. It is not only small birds that feed on the grass seeds, but rodents such at rats and mice too. As a result huge numbers of Secretary birds, Tawny eagles, Black-shouldered kites, Steppe eagles*, Lesser-spotted eagles*, Wahlberg’s eagles* and Steppe buzzards* can also be found here (*=migratory species).
Unlike the vast majority of the country, Savuti is not a totally flat landscape and large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands, towering over the endless savanna and providing a habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants. These desert-like landscapes offer world-acclaimed game viewing – including the famous Savute lion prides, leopard, wild dogs, bull elephants, black-backed jackal, bat-eared foxes, hyena, cheetah, tsessebe, kudu, impala, ostrich and more. Savuti has been the stage for many of the most dramatic wildlife documentaries in Africa. The now dry Savuti Channel runs throught this landscape, linking the dry sand veld with the waterholes, hills and grasslands of what was once the Savuti Marsh.
On arrival we check in to our tented camp on the vast Savuti Plains, surrounded by open savanna and camelthorn trees and enjoy an enchanting sunset before dinner.
Note: During the rainy season the Mababe Depression is impassable and an alternative route must be used.