Famous, mysterious, forgotten, stolen and now found again! The Savute Channel, one of the greatest mysteries and fascinations of Northern Botswana, is flowing again after nearly 30 years of lying dormant. Covering over one hundred kilometres as it flows from the Linyanti River (fed from the Zibadianja Lagoon), through a gap in the Magwikhwe Sand Ridge, past Savute Elephant Camp, it is only a matter of days before it reaches its final destination, the Savute Marsh in the Mababe Depression, in the middle of the Chobe National Park.

Since November 2008, its painstakingly slow meander (falling only 18 centimetres for every kilometre covered) has been keenly followed by many, and yet, surprisingly, the water seemed to arrive overnight at Savute Elephant Camp. The camp awoke on the morning of 5 January 2010 to the sight of a river flowing in the place of what was once a dry bed and a small, yet well frequented waterhole.

  Guests and staff alike at Savute Elephant Camp are marvelling at the surreal reality of being in a riverside camp in the middle of the once bone dry Chobe Desert.  Herds of wildlife are delighting in the fresh new water source, celebrating the abundance of the Channel, the dramatic call of the African Fish Eagle is once again piercing the air of the Chobe National Park, and the crocodiles are slowly making their way towards the Savute Marsh, prospecting for greener pastures. 

History of The Savute Channel

The Savute Channel has only ever flowed intermittently. It last flowed from 1967 to 1981 but since then the Channel and the Savute Marsh have been dry, a phenomenon that has occurred on and off over centuries. Until recently, the Channel was open grassland, home to numerous animals such as large herds of Zebra, Impala and Wildebeests, and abundant predators such as Lion, Cheetah and Wild Dog. Gaunt skeletons of trees, now long dead, that grew in one of the earlier dry periods, line both the Channel and the Marsh. These trees would have had at least 50 years of dry conditions in which to grow and mature into the size they reached before drowning during a subsequent flood.

Records show that the Savute Channel and the Marsh dried out during the 1880's. Dr David Livingstone commented, on his way to discovering the Victoria Falls in 1851, that it was a “dismal swamp”. The Channel remained dry until the summer of 1957-58 when heavy rains in the catchment area of the Angolan highlands re-flooded the Chobe river system and the Channel flowed once again until 1966. Its irregular flowing pattern continued until 1981, when the Channel seemed to dry up completely and be lost forever. This occurrence (including the fate of the animals which lived in and depended on the Channel’s waters) is chronicled in Derek and Beverly Joubert's documentary film, "The Stolen River".

This cyclical feature of wet and dry in the Channel is not completely understood, but it is generally believed that tectonic activity deep below the Kalahari's sandbed, is responsible. Others argue that its flow is primarily dependent upon the rainfall in the Angolan highlands which feeds the Okavango and Chobe River basins as well as the Savute Channel, however there have been times when its source has been overflooded and yet the Channel remained dry. As Northern Botswana experienced very strong seismic activity in April 2008, as well as a super flood season, it is once again hard to distinguish whether both or just one of the factors are causing the Channel to flow again, or whether it is pure coincidence. The mystery in all of this is what makes the Savute Channel so intriguing to all who come across it.

Compiled by Christoph Holzapfel and Onx Manga