avute
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ABOVE & RIGHT: Bushman rock art and the view over Savute from its site.
LEFT: Savute Channel - currently dry.
LEFT: Savute Channel - currently dry.
features, geologically-speaking, the Savute Marsh, the sand ridge, the Savute channel and some isolated rocky outcrops. The large number of dead trees is surprising. Although the Savute Marsh becomes marshy temporarily in the wet season, this is insufficient to explain the wooden graveyard. In fact, at certain times water has flowed in through the Savute Channel flooding the marsh and killing the trees. The channel is known to have been dry between about 1888 and 1957. After that it flowed until 1979, except for 1966-7. Since then it has been dry, but it continues to support highly nutritious grasses which attract thousands of herbivores. It is believed that the erratic flow is caused by tectonic plate movements. The channel has a slope of only 18cm per kilometre, so it takes little movement of the earth to stop, or start, the flow.
ABOVE: Elephants at man-made water-hole.
FAR RIGHT: An elephant walking path.
RIGHT: Lilac-breasted roller.
RIGHT: The Savute Marsh Road - in the dry season.
FAR RIGHT: An elephant walking path.
RIGHT: Lilac-breasted roller.
RIGHT: The Savute Marsh Road - in the dry season.
LEFT: A very relaxed elephant - even though we were right next to him. Note the trunk resting on the ground & the back legs.
BELOW: Elephants at a water hole at sunset.
BELOW: Elephants at a water hole at sunset.
A highlight of our stay in Savute was seeing 23 lions of the Savute Pride. These lions have become famous as killers of adult elephants, working as a highly coordinated team.
