The far northern region of Botswana, comprising the Chobe National Park, Chobe Forest Reserve, Linyati and Savuti channels, and Kwando Wilderness, is almost as popular as the delta, and justifiably so. Chobe National Park alone covers some 11,000 sq. km (4,290 sq. miles) of northern Botswana and offers extreme contrasts and a variety of wildlife experience, but the major drawing card here is elephants: The area harbors a large proportion -- some 100,000 -- of Botswana's elephant population (the largest in the world). In the dry season, the Chobe River is the only major source of water north of the Okavango, so game travels here from great distances, which, in turn, ensures a large lion population, and the area is alive with birds (more than 460 different species, in fact). The nearby Savuti area, located in the west-central region, was once submerged beneath an enormous inland sea and connected to the Okavango and Zambezi rivers, but that was eons ago and today it's a relatively harsh wilderness landscape. Game-viewing is at its peak at the end of the rainy season, when large numbers of zebras and wildebeests move through the area from the Linyati farther west to the sweeter grasses on offer in the Mababe Depression to the south. Other wildlife you'll see here are giraffes, buffaloes, tsessebes, and large prides of lions and hyenas.
