Travel to Okavango Chitabe

a reputation for unusually high predator sightings

At around 250 square kilometres, the Okavango Chitabe Concession is an excellent private safari area.

It is an utterly pristine wilderness, restricted to around 42 guests in three small camps, around 6 square kilometres per person, which is a reasonably low guest density.

Although there is water in the greater area, notably in the Gomoti River to the northeast and the Santantadibe River to the southeast, the core of this concession is relatively dry, with an unusual amount of dry mopane woodlands and acacia forests, separated by relatively small open savannah plains, dotted with islands of beautiful ilala palms.

The camps therefore tend to focus more on land-based safari activities, an approach which usually leads to very strong wildlife sightings, especially predators.

The small patches of open grassland are particularly good for impalas and consequently leopards, which are particularly high on the agenda.

The area immediately around the two Chitabe camps also have a reputation for unusual sightings such as honey-badgers and aardwolves, which is characteristic of a drier safari area, where the guides are working their areas with more diligence and focus.

The only slight downside is that Chitabe is relatively close to Maun, so it is good to combine with a camp further west, if you want to the full Okavango Delta experience.

When it comes to trip shapes and durations in Botswana, most visitors combine 2, 3 or 4 lodges by light aircraft over 6-12 nights, one or two of which will usually be here in Okavango Delta, combined with the Linyanti Waterfront and/or Makgadikgadi areas.

These trips are often done in combination with further nights at the Victoria Falls and/or down in the Cape.

Seasonality

The Chitabe Concession offers reasonably strong wildlife viewing year round, but with considerable seasonal variations.

The Jun-Sep cool dry season is the classic time to visit, as the wildlife viewing is superb, with the animals being drawn in from the dry hinterland towards the rising floodwaters.

During the transition period between the peak of the dry season and the start of the green season, Oct-Dec, the Chitabe area in particular can become a real epicentre for wildlife activity, with the convergence of big herds of herbivores. This is the hot season and humidities are becoming uncomfortably high as the rains approach.

If the breaking rains coincide with areas of seasonal burning, the extremely nutritious green grasses that sprout within days, attract larger herds of grazers. This phenomenon appears to be more pronounced in Chitabe than any other part of the Okavango Delta.

During the Jan-Apr main season, the bush is verdant and beautiful, the animals are well-fed and there’s lots of wildflowers and baby animals around. The camps are significantly discounted and become increasingly attractive as the conditions improve through the period.

Getting there

Chitabe Camp can only be accessed by light aircraft into the nearby Chitabe Airstrip, which has daily flight connections with all other camps in Okavango, Linyanti, the main airport at Maun (for connections to Central Kalahari, Nxai, Makgadikgadi and Johannesburg) and north to Kasane (for connections to Livingstone and Victoria Falls).

From the airstrip it is a drive of around 45 minutes to the camp, through some varied landscapes with good chances of some early animal sightings.

unusually intense during the Sep-Nov transition season