A Chobe National Park day trip from Victoria Falls
- Jul 21
- 4 min read
When we discovered that it was possible to take a day trip to Botswana from Victoria Falls—and that arranging it was actually quite easy—we immediately started making plans. Chobe National Park is famous for its enormous elephant population and for having one of the highest concentrations of elephants in Africa. Large herds can often be found along the Chobe River, particularly during the dry season. Chobe National Park is also a fantastic destination for boat safaris and is home to hundreds of different bird species.
Do you need a visa for Botswana?
Dutch tourists generally do not need a visa for a short holiday in Botswana. However, because you do need permission to enter Zimbabwe, it can be useful to consider the KAZA UniVisa when combining Victoria Falls with Zambia and Botswana. The KAZA UniVisa allows eligible travellers to cross between Zimbabwe and Zambia multiple times during a period of up to 30 days. It also covers day trips to Botswana through the Kazungula border, provided you return to Zimbabwe or Zambia on the same day. This makes it particularly convenient for a Chobe National Park day trip.
If you plan to continue travelling through Botswana rather than returning on the same day, you should check the standard entry requirements for your nationality separately.
At the time of writing, the KAZA UniVisa costs US$50 per person. It is available at selected airports and border crossings, including Victoria Falls Airport, Harare International Airport and the Kazungula and Victoria Falls border posts. Availability and visa rules can change, so always check the latest official information before travelling.
How do you get from Victoria Falls to Chobe National Park?
In theory, you can drive to Botswana independently. However, taking an organised tour is much easier and often more convenient. We booked this tour through GetYourGuide, and it was the perfect day trip! We were collected in the morning in a minibus with six other people and drove for around an hour to the Kazungula border. There is one long, mostly straight road between Victoria Falls Town and the border, so we did not encounter much traffic along the way. We did, however, see elephants and giraffes roaming freely beside the road. Our safari had therefore already started first thing in the morning!
Crossing the Border from Zimbabwe into Botswana
Kazungula is a fascinating border region where Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia come extremely close to one another. The border crossing itself can feel slightly chaotic. Several minibuses carrying tourists arrive from Victoria Falls, while other groups travel from Livingstone in Zambia. It is therefore normal to wait in line for passport control. You first complete the exit formalities on the Zimbabwean side. Afterwards, you continue towards the Botswana border post, where your passport is checked again before you enter Botswana. The entire process can take up to an hour, depending on how busy the border is. Fortunately, toilets are available.
Families travelling with children should check Botswana’s current documentation requirements before departure. Additional documents, such as a birth certificate or parental consent letter, may be requested depending on the child’s circumstances and who they are travelling with.
After passing through the final checkpoint, we met our new guide. We joined a slightly larger group and were driven to a hotel in Botswana. This hotel was the starting point for both our boat safari and game drive. We also returned here between the two activities for a buffet lunch.
Boat safari on the Chobe River
After a cup of coffee, it was time to board the boat. Several boats were already waiting near the hotel, and we set off with a group of around 15 people. The boat sat low on the water, and we were seated towards the back, which gave us a perfect view of the wildlife.
We cruised along the river and stopped several times near the marshy grasslands. This area was filled with hundreds of birds and buffaloes grazing beside the water. It did not take long before we spotted several hippos in the river, occasionally lifting their heads above the surface. We also saw many crocodiles sunbathing along the grassy banks, including one absolutely enormous crocodile! The highlight was seeing a large herd of elephants crossing the water from the riverbank towards the marshes to find food.
Crossing the river is not completely without danger because of the crocodiles, but once the elephants reach the marshland, the area is generally safer because there are fewer large predators there.
After the boat safari, we returned to the hotel and had more than an hour for lunch. A delicious buffet had been prepared, with plenty of different dishes to choose from. Several drinks were also included. We had enough time to freshen up and use the toilets before starting the second part of our day.
Game Drive in Chobe National Park
We climbed into an open safari vehicle and drove towards the entrance of Chobe National Park for an afternoon game drive. The entrance was around 15 minutes away, and the drive gave us a brief glimpse of everyday life in Botswana. Once inside the park, we immediately noticed that the landscape was dry and dusty, with sandy tracks and low vegetation. It looked completely different from what we were used to seeing in Kruger National Park! We spent around two hours driving through the park. First, we followed the river for quite a while and saw several groups of elephants. At one point, we had an extremely close encounter with one of them. We also saw giraffes, buffaloes, zebras, birds, hippos and even a large monitor lizard.
At the end of the safari, we were taken back to the hotel in Botswana for a short toilet break. We then travelled back to the border, completed the immigration formalities and continued towards our hotel in Victoria Falls. We arrived back at the beginning of the evening after a truly wonderful day. Combining a boat safari with a game drive made this Chobe National Park day trip especially varied. It gave us the chance to see the animals both from the water and from inside the national park. It was definitely one of our favourite activities during our stay in Victoria Falls!
