The Savute Channel

The most interesting and miraculous phenomenon of this year’s floods is the flowing of the Savute Channel in Northern Botswana’s Chobe National Park.

Famous, mysterious, forgotten, stolen and now found again. The intermittent Savute Channel, one of the greatest mysteries and fascinations of Northern Botswana, started flowing again after nearly 30 years of lying dormant. The river seemed to arrive almost overnight at Savute Elephant Camp. On the morning of 5 January 2010 staff and guests awoke to the sight of a stream of water coursing in what was once a dry bed with a small, yet well frequented waterhole.

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 the centuries. Until recently, the Channel was open grassland, home to numerous animals such as large herds of Zebra, Impala and Wildebees, and abundant predators such as Lion, Cheetah and Wild Dog.

Gaunt skeletons of trees, now long dead, 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 before drowning during a subsequent flood. 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 over flooded 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 Savute Channel mystery continues to intrigue us.