Savute Under Canvas offers a rustic but comfortable safari adventure like the days of old, before the advent of the extravagant luxury camps, and in a prime wildlife area of Chobe National Park.

Although the camp is technically a mobile camp, it is considered semi-permanent, as it remains in its location at the Savute Marsh in southwest Chobe. The Marsh receives its water (depending on whether the Savuti Channel is flowing or not) and is renowned for its elephants, predators, and the 'mini-migration' of zebras and wildebeests.

The camp's 5 Meru-style safari tents are spacious and comfortable, with 2 twins or a double bed, a separate toilet, and a bucket shower (hot water provided). The camp's main area is comprised of an open-sided canvas tent for dining and lounging and all meals are prepared over an open fire by the attentive staff.

There is no electricity and no W-Fi, which allows guests to disconnect from their everyday lives and enjoy a safari like those of yesteryear. Battery-powered and solar lighting is available to light the camp at night.

Activities include morning and afternoon safari drives in semi-open 4x4 vehicles to search for wildlife. The mini-migration of zebras and blue wildebeests arrives once the rains begin, normally sometime in November and they remain around The Marsh until the rains end sometime in April.

Wildlife is present year-round, sustained even during the dry season by the Marsh and a series of pumped waterholes around the safari camps located here. Other wildlife seen all year includes lion, buffalo, leopard, spotted hyena, giraffe, tsessebe, and greater kudu. Birding in The Marsh area is quite good, especially during the rainy season.

About Chobe National Park

Chobe was the first national park (proclaimed in 1968) in Botswana and covers a massive 4 250 square miles (11 700 sq kms) of mostly dry habitat other than along its northern border (close to the Chobe River) and in the Savute Marsh (southwest Chobe).

The Chobe Riverfront and Savute Marsh offer the best wildlife viewing in the park and the permanent safari camps and lodges, as well as numerous public camping sites, are located almost exclusively in these two areas.

The majority of the national park is dominated by mixed woodland and Acacia scrub, with some areas of mature mopane tree forest. The northern border of the park, which is just south of the Chobe River is mostly floodplain grassland, while the Savute Marsh is fed by water from the Savuti Channel, which originates in the Linyanti Swamp.

Chobe is situated atop the eastern extent of the Kalahari sands and there are some areas of vegetated sand ridges and dunes. The park also has many numerous pans that fill with water only during the rainy season between December and March. There are also some sand that have borehole pumps to help sustain the wildlife during the longer dry season.

During the dry season (July through October), Chobe's vast interior has little to no water, so the wildlife congregates along the Linyanti-Chobe river system, which forms the northern edge of the park. Safaris on the river during this are are spectacular, with hundreds of elephants visiting the rivers constantly.

Buffalo, red lechwe, greater kudu, impala, tsessebe, giraffe, zebra, and warthog are common in Chobe and hippo and crocodile are found in large numbers in the rivers. Eland, roan, and sable are present in smaller numbers. The most common predators in Chobe are lion and spotted hyena. African wild dogs are seen regularly and leopard, cheetah, black-backed jackal, and side-striped jackal are found along the northern floodplains and in the Savute Marsh.

Like too many other places in Africa, rhinos once roamed throughout Chobe, but were sadly exterminated by hunters by the 1990s. Birding in Chobe is very good, especially along the rivers, which have an abundance of waterbirds, raptors, and passerines. The Savute March also offers excellent birding, dependent upon water levels. Over 450 species of bird have been recorded in Chobe.

About the Savute Marsh

Except for the floodplains and some riparian forest along the Linyanti-Chobe river system on the northern edge of the park, most of Chobe is covered in sand with a mix of dry bush, including mopane and Acacia scrub and some vegetated dune ridges. The exception is the Savute Marsh, located in the southwest of the park just east of the Linyanti region and which has rich grasslands and areas of well-wooded forest.

The Savute Marsh (note that the spelling is sometimes 'Savuti' and sometimes 'Savute') receives water that overflows from the Linyanti Swamp and travels east along the Savuti Channel. This 'on-again-off-again' channel covers 35 miles (56 kms) as the crow flies before it spills out south into a depression and creates a wetland.

The Savuti Channel has gone through many wet and dry cycles over the centuries, with multi-year periods of total dryness, followed by years of strong flows. The skeletons of dead trees can be found both in the channel and in the Savute Marsh, many of them leadwood (Combretum imberbe) trees, which have very dense wood that is resistant to insects and which can stand for decades ofter dying. The skeletal leadwoods in the Savute Marsh are dated to a dry cycle from the 1880s to the 1950s, after which flooding again occurred, killing the trees.

The Savute Marsh attracts good numbers of wildlife and even in dry cycles, a number of pumped waterholes keep the animals around, providing the only source of water for many miles during the dry season months from June through October.

The Savute Marsh is well known for having large prides of lion and good numbers of elephant. Some of the old bull elephants are resident at The Marsh, while breeding herds regularly pass through on their way to and from the Okavango Delta and the Chobe Riverfront. Leopards are also common here, living in the small pockets of forest and along the rocky outcrops present around the area. Spotted hyena are also found around The Marsh in good numbers. Cheetah and African wild dog are also seen on occasion.

During and just following the rain months (November to mid-April), blue wildebeest and plains zebra move to the Savute Marsh to graze on the freshly grown, nutritious grasses and are found in good numbers, especially in January and February. Herds of buffalo are found along the Savuti Channel if it has ample water and they can also be found around The Marsh. The Acacia woodlands at at the southern side of The Marsh are a good place to find giraffe and sometimes oryx.

Birdlife around The Marsh is very good, especially if it has plenty of water and also during the breeding season (which coincides with the rains), when migratory species are present.