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Chobe in August

August is when the small pans give out. Seasonal pans typically hold water only into August, so by the end of the month the game has little choice but the river, Savuti's waterholes and the Linyanti, and at Savuti the lions begin their late dry-season hunting of young elephants.

If you only want the answer

August is excellent and busy: rainless, warming to 28.6°C by day with nights of 14.5°C, and the herds massing at the river as the last small pans dry. Savuti's lions start hunting young elephants this month. Expect peak rates and limited availability.

August weather: warming fast

The normals for the middle of the park give August 1 mm of rain and rarely a wet day, afternoons of 28.6°C and nights of 14.5°C. That is 3.4°C warmer by day than July, and September adds almost 5°C more on the run towards October's heat.

Dust rises with the temperature, and the sand on the Savuti approach roads softens as the season dries; the deep sand ridges are at their hardest in the hot late season, so lower your tyre pressure and give yourself time.

Savuti's elephant-hunting lions

Savuti's lions are in the scientific record for what they do from August to November: they switch to hunting elephants. During one study a pride of 30 killed an elephant every three days, and seven of the eight elephants killed were between 4 and 11 years old. The researchers link the switch partly to the zebra migration having removed the lions' usual prey and partly to artificial water keeping elephants in the area.

That water matters in August. Seasonal pans typically hold water into August and only the larger ones last until November, and in years when the Savuti Channel is dry, Savuti's dry-season game depends heavily on pumped waterholes. That is where the elephants, and the lions, concentrate.

The river, the skimmers and the crowds

On the riverfront the water keeps falling after its return to the banks in July, exposing sandbanks and floodplain grass, and the elephant and buffalo herds drinking and crossing build towards their peak. BirdLife records 10 to 20 pairs of African skimmer breeding on the lower Chobe, on exposed sandbanks; no primary source gives their exact breeding months, so watch for them wherever the banks surface.

Expert Africa describes August as a month of high rates and limited availability. Peak pricing applies everywhere with a published table: Ghoha Hills Savuti Lodge $1,109 per person per night, Nogatsaa Pans Chobe Lodge $827, Wilderness Savuti $2,038. Malaria risk is low, and gate hours are 06:00 to 18:30.

Sources