Botswana Distribution:Botswana, the Okavango Delta in particular, is where the original Elephant-back safaris started. Today the herd is almost 30 strong with a number having been released back into the wild. Best places to see them: Chobe River/Chobe National Park, Linyanti. General notes:Botswana has the greatest Elephant population in Africa with numbers exceeding 50 000. It is not uncommon during the dry winter months to see the floodplains of the Chobe River and Linyanti literally covered with Elephants. Botswana’s Elephants are renowned for been very ‘safari friendly’ in most places, however some in the vicinity of the trophy hunting concessions can be a little aggressive. In Savute a large number of bulls live out their lives. Even during the dry season when water is at a premium the bulls will be there. Nobody knows for certain why Savuti is favoured by the Elephant bulls.  In the past it was said by many ecologists that Botswana had an ‘Elephant problem’ in that there were too many Elephants for the vegetation to support. It is true that the Elephants have changed the landscape of places like the Chobe River from thick woodland to open plains. As the Elephants move to the permanent water areas during the dry season the vegetation takes a hammering.
Many reasons are given for the numbers of Botswana’s Elephants increasing and places like the Chobe being affected by the large numbers. The logical explanation seems to be that historically the Elephants’ migration routes took in Chobe, the Caprivi Strip in Namibia and the Zambezi floodplains of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
However, with the bush war in Namibia the South African defence force was involved in shooting Elephants for ivory and for target practice. With this the Elephants stopped crossing the Chobe River and instead spent the winter months on the Botswana side of the river. Today however Namibia is at peace, the Caprivi enjoys protection from the Namibian authorities and the Elephants have started crossing the river again. It is hoped that this will ease the stress on the Chobe’s vegetation. In most parts of Africa Elephants only have to fear man. Lions and Hyenas may take youngsters if they can get them away from the herd but in Botswana there is a pride of Lions that has adapted to killing sub-adults and even adults at times. Where this behaviour began is uncertain. Botswana, the Okavango Delta in particular, is where the original Elephant-back safaris started. Today the herd is almost 30 strong with a number having been released back into the wild. | 
