SAVUTI (06) BOTSWANA

SAVUTI: A HIDDEN PREDATORS PARADISE.

Chobe, Bostwana’s First National Park

The Highest Concentrations of Animals in Africa

COVERS ALMOST 10,000 SQUARE MILES, AND IS HOME TO SOME OF

THE PARK IS DIVIDED INTO FOUR DISTINCT AREAS: THE CHOBE RIVERFRONT, THE SAVUTI MARSH, THE LINYANTI MARSH AND THE NOGATSAA GRASSLAND.

The mysterious Savuti Channel flows and dries up seemingly at random: from 1880 to 1957 it remained dry as a bone, only to flow again and dry up for another 18 years. The last time the Savuti Channel carried water through the marsh was 2013 and has remained dry since. This ebb and flow of the channel does not discount the fact that rainy season also brings water to the marsh, turning this desert landscape into lush green fields. During the emerald season in Savuti, towers of giraffes with little ones can be spotted across its many notable areas from Marabou Pan to Rhino Vlei.

THE SAVUTI MARSH SPANS APPROXIMATELY

3800 Square Miles and is Highly Renowned for its Remote Location and Prized Predator Sightings.

Savuti is home to massive populations of predators, including painted dogs, leopards, cheetah and the renowned Marsh Pride - one of the world’s most famous pride of lions. As of 2022, they were 22 members strong. It was in the Savuti marsh back in 2018 that I first learned of a hippo (seen in the collection below) who had been stuck in a water hole for over two years. Each night when he left the water to graze, finding another water source before the heat of the day proved impossible. And so he returned each morning - stranded by drought - to sit alone in the same small water hole.

BOTSWANA

SAVUTI

SAVUTI:
A Predators Paradise

A PACK of
(PAINTED) dogs
JOINED

ONE MORNING

One morning a pack of painted dogs began circling him, inching closer and then snarling while they backed away. We wondered if such a small group was brave enough to attack a fully grown male hippo, but eventually they decided against it and disappeared into the bush. He remains there to this day, Savuti’s lone hippo.