Chobe River Safari: Houseboat Cruise & Elephant Country

This morning, after a relaxed breakfast, you board your comfortable houseboat, your floating home for the next three nights, and set off cruising along the great Chobe River into the heart of elephant country. As you drift along the channels and past reed islands, the wildlife spectacle unfolds all around, elephant families bathing and crossing the water, pods of hippo, basking crocodiles and buffalo coming down to drink, beneath skies alive with fish eagles and kingfishers. After lunch on board and a restful siesta on deck, you set out on a small tender boat for an intimate, low-level safari, gliding close to the river's teeming life. As the sun sets in a blaze of colour, you sip sundowners on deck, then dine beneath a canopy of brilliant stars as the houseboat moors in a remote, beautiful spot. Rest well aboard, the river alive with the sounds of the African night.

Today you savour a full day on the Chobe River, drifting through elephant country to the gentle rhythm of the houseboat. At dawn you set out on a small-boat safari as the river wakes, mist rising and the greatest gatherings of elephant coming down to the water to drink and swim, gliding astonishingly close to the wildlife at eye level. You return to the houseboat for breakfast and cruise on to new reaches of the river, watching the ever-changing pageant of hippo, crocodile, buffalo and world-class birdlife pass by from the deck. After lunch and a lazy siesta, an afternoon small-boat safari brings you close to the river's life once more, ending with spectacular sundowners on deck as the sky flares over the water. Dinner follows beneath the stars, the houseboat moored in a peaceful, remote spot. Rest well aboard, the distant trumpet of elephants carrying across the dark river.

Today you add classic big game to your water safari with excursions into Chobe National Park. In the cool of dawn you transfer ashore for an open-vehicle game drive along the famous Chobe riverfront and into the woodlands, where enormous herds of elephant and buffalo gather, and lion, leopard, sable and roan antelope are all possible, alongside giraffe, kudu, zebra and impala, the drama of predator and prey playing out against the great river. You return to the houseboat for brunch and a restful afternoon on deck as it cruises on, then set out on another small-boat safari or a further game drive in the golden afternoon light. As the sun sets over the river you savour sundowners on deck once more, then dine beneath the stars as the houseboat moors for the night. Rest well aboard your floating home, the river and its wildlife all around, having enjoyed the best of Chobe by land and water.

This morning you enjoy a final, magical cruise and small-boat safari on the Chobe, savouring the great river and its wildlife one last time as the elephants come down to drink in the golden dawn light. After breakfast on deck, drinking in the last of the river, the houseboat cruises back toward Kasane, where you disembark around midday and transfer to your comfortable riverside lodge. After lunch and time to relax, you might set out on a final afternoon game drive or boat cruise along the riverfront, gliding among the elephants and buffalo as the light softens, or simply relax on your deck overlooking the river. This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner overlooking the Chobe, reflecting on the days you have spent drifting through elephant country. Rest well in Kasane, the great river and its wildlife having worked their magic on you.

After a final leisurely breakfast overlooking the Chobe River, and perhaps a last look for elephants along the bank, you are transferred to Kasane Airport for your onward flight, or continue to Victoria Falls or the Okavango on an easy extension. You leave having experienced the great Chobe River at its most magical, cruising by houseboat through the heart of elephant country, watching the largest elephant herds on earth gather along the water, gliding close to hippo, crocodile and world-class birdlife on small-boat safaris, and adding classic big game on drives into Chobe National Park, all beneath spectacular sunsets and star-filled skies. The images stay vivid long after you land, the elephants swimming the channels at dawn, sundowners on deck as the sky flared, and the star-filled night over the river. The Chobe offers relaxed beauty and extraordinary wildlife in abundance, and you depart already dreaming of a return to elephant country.