The Chobe River lies like a steady ribbon through dry country, and on boarding The Chobe Princess it felt like stepping into a private, well-appointed floating boutique hotel.
For my Travellingguy group the vessel was entirely ours — a five-bedroom, moving five-star hotel — which made the experience relaxed and convenient: no schedules to juggle with other guests, easy access to decks for viewing, and comfortable spaces to regroup between wildlife and community excursions, where we would partake in delicious mealtimes and sunset swills.
Our hosts here on The Chobe set a straightforward, friendly tone. Knowledgeable without being theatrical, pointing out the river’s role as a dependable water source that concentrates animals in dryer months and shared practical identification tips: how to read elephant tracks, where hippos make their channels, and what to look for if crocodiles are nearby. Our local guides easy humour and local context kept things light; the days were often full of laughs and a steady sense of anticipation rather than constant high drama.
Water safaris from The Chobe Princess offer angles you don’t get from the road. The boat can ease into narrow channels and move slowly along braided waterways where hippos surface and submerge and elephants come down to drink. From the deck you can watch herds crossing or feeding with less disturbance than many land vehicles cause; animals often seemed more relaxed with the boat’s quiet presence. Birdlife is a running theme — African fish eagles, kingfishers, herons and storks are all common — so binoculars were in regular use and Lennox was great at pointing out distinctive behaviours and local names.
During our stay in Botswana, we would also have the thrill of land safaris that provided a complementary experience. Where the boat offers broad observation, drives and short walks bring you closer to the signs that tell recent stories: tracks, dung, feeding marks and territorial scrapes. The vehicle moved deliberately through floodplain grasses and acacia patches, stopping to study fresh spoor and discuss seasonal movements. Those on-land moments often felt educational and measured; Our on the land man, Candy, described why animals behave the way they do without overhyping encounters.
We saw members of the Big Five across water and land segments: elephants drinking at the river edge, buffalo crossing shallow channels, lions lounging on nearby islands, a distant leopard slip through thornbush, and rhino spoor in more remote areas. Rather than framing each sighting as a peak event, the emphasis was on observing and understanding—practical satisfaction rather than staged spectacle. Which made the whole experience such a personal moment for us all. As a group you couldn’t help but share genuine excitement when animals appeared, with plenty of laughter at the small, human moments in between.
The Botswana, Namibia experience is trip part of a broader African itinerary that added depth and variety. Time at Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge complemented the Chobe segment with classic bush walks and game drives in a different habitat; the lodge’s service and guiding felt solid and unpretentious mixed with a dash of flash. Urban stops in Johannesburg and Cape Town brought contrasting flavours: Joburg’s historical sites and energy, and Cape Town’s coastline, markets, and the ever present Table Mountain. For a small-group tour, that mix of river, bush lodge, and cities created a fuller sense of the region – wildlife and wilderness balanced by cultural and urban context – making the journey feel like a complete adventure.
Practical transitions between water and land are smooth. One afternoon we watched elephants swim from an island to the mainland, then disembarked to follow their tracks and talk about edible plants and local uses. When touring with my Travellingguy family I love to touch on conservation realities—how tourism supports livelihoods, the pressures on migratory routes, and the work being done to manage human-wildlife interaction — again keeping the focus on facts and local perspectives, while keeping it light and breezy.
Evenings aboard The Chobe Princess were comfortable and cosy, and were always filled with stories and laughs and the obligatory Sundowner. The sunset shifts the light slowly across the river; dinners were communal and informal, time to compare notes, laugh over small mishaps, and inform everybody of the next day’s adventures. Having the boat all to our group made those moments easy—private conversations, flexible timings, and the comfort of a roomy floating base to return to.
Overall, the Chobe River leg and The Chobe Princess delivered us a well-paced, grounded overview to the area. Water safaris delivered broad, exhilarating viewing; land outings provided closer inspection and context. Coupled with Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge and our extended time in Zimbabwe, Joburg and Cape Town, the small-group format gives us such a balanced adventure—filled with laughs, steady excitement, and memorable wildlife encounters, including the Big Five— The Ugly Five and even the Small Five!
If you have dreamt of ticking off this bucket list escapade, then let me be your conductor and deliver you a life changing holiday with all the hard work of organising already prepared for you.
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