Chobe Under Canvas

OVERVIEW

Situated in Chobe National Park‘s northern reaches, Chobe Under Canvas is ideally positioned close to the river and moved to new semi-permanent sites roughly monthly, keeping its environmental footprint light while giving each stay a genuine sense of discovery.

The camp is unfenced, with wildlife regularly wandering through on well-worn game paths that weave between the tents and down to the water’s edge. It’s not unusual to wake to fresh tracks passing just metres from your tent overnight, one of the reasons this camp draws repeat safari travellers and serious photographers in particular, along with anyone hoping for a slightly wilder, less curated introduction to the bush.

There are just five tented suites, each with a comfortable double or twin bed, an ensuite bathroom, separate flush WC and an outdoor bucket shower with steaming hot water available on request. It’s a rustic setup by design, but nothing about the comfort is compromised, and the small number of tents keeps the whole camp feeling personal rather than programmed.

A private butler is on hand throughout the stay to assist with whatever’s needed, and an on-site chef prepares meals using little more than an open campfire. Dinners are shared around a blazing fire in a spacious communal dining tent, the kind of setting where the day’s sightings get retold over a glass of wine before everyone turns in for the night, often to the distant sound of hippos or lions somewhere out in the dark.

It’s this communal, back-to-basics setup, camping in genuine comfort rather than camping rough, that gives Chobe Under Canvas a more authentic feel than the traditional lodge experience, without giving up any of the service that makes a safari feel effortless.

Chobe National Park itself is one of the great game reserves of the world, spanning roughly 11,700 square kilometres in the far north of Botswana, bordered by the Chobe River and surrounded by wildlife management areas that allow game to move freely well beyond the park’s own boundaries. It’s renowned for holding one of the largest concentrations of elephant and buffalo on the African continent, particularly along the riverfront as the dry season progresses and water becomes scarce elsewhere in the region. The park is also home to two antelope species found nowhere else in Botswana, the puku and the Chobe bushbuck, adding a rarer sighting to the more familiar cast of safari wildlife that draws visitors here.

Game drives in specially adapted 4×4 vehicles are led by experienced local guides in search of the park’s famous wildlife, from the endangered African wild dog to the full Big Five, lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Mornings and afternoons are typically spent out on these drives, tracking movement and behaviour with guides who know the terrain intimately and can read the smallest signs of activity nearby.

Between drives, peaceful river cruises along the Chobe River offer a different vantage point altogether, drifting past zebra and lechwe grazing the floodplains, and watching herds of elephant come down to drink and swim in the shallows as the light softens toward evening. For those staying two nights or more, a dedicated photographic boat safari is also on offer, timed and positioned specifically for capturing the river’s wildlife in the best possible light.

Given the unfenced setting, a minimum age of 12 applies, and guests are escorted around camp after dark as standard practice, a small precaution that only adds to the sense that this is a genuine wilderness experience rather than a curated one. For travellers who want their safari to feel immediate and unpolished in the best possible way, without losing the comforts that make a longer stay enjoyable, Chobe Under Canvas offers exactly that balance.