AFAR. May 2022.

As guests arrive at Kasane International Airport in the northeastern corner of Botswana, a woman driver begins to load luggage onto an open-air jeep. Wearing a khaki uniform with a red and white scarf tied neatly around her neck, she helps the fresh arrivals into her vehicle and cruises through the city’s asphalt roads until she arrives at the entrance of Chobe National Park. As she navigates the park’s bumpy dirt path, she points out blossoming fever berry trees, starlings winging away overhead, and a savanna elephant plodding along as her passengers ooh and ahh. She pauses for a moment to breathe in the air of the plains, before continuing on to join her 19 other fellow safari guides at Chobe Game Lodge—all of them women.

Established in 1973, Chobe Game Lodge is one of the premier safari destinations in the country and the only permanent hospitality lodging available within Chobe National Park. The reserve sits in an interesting geographic location that straddles four distinct ecosystems: the lush floodplains of the Chobe River and the dense forests that surround it, the wetlands of the Savuti Marsh, the remote Linyanti swamps, and the dry savannah lands scattered in between. The chance to catch a glimpse of Africa’s Big Five, as well as other animals like hippopotamuses, tsessebe, and painted dogs, draws visitors to Chobe from all around the world—and to the only luxury lodgings in the area, naturally.  

Continue reading on AFAR website…