(8 tents) Landela Safaris, Landela House, 29 Mazowe Street, PO Box 66293 Kopje, Harare, Zimbabwe; tel: (263) 4 734043-6; fax: (263) 4 708119; email: bookings@landela.co.zw

Chobe Valley Lodge was built in 1999 in the Lehsoma Valley adjacent to the Chobe Forest Reserve, about 8km from Kazungula and 10km from Kasane. It's easily reached from the Kazungula–Nata road – and used to be known as Elephant Valley Lodge.

The lodge has eight walk-in tents at ground level, each with its own veranda and en-suite shower (heated by a gas boiler) and toilet. The decor is fairly simple, using wrought iron and wood, and there are electric lights, stand-alone fans and safety deposit boxes in all the tents.

Facilities include a swimming pool, a bar, lounge area, curio shop and small bookshelf with reference books. Beside the lodge is a small waterhole modestly named Alan's Pan, allegedly after the lodge's builder – Alan Elliot, the Zimbabwean founder of the 'Touch the Wild' chain of safari camps.

Activities here include boat trips, drives and walks. For cruises you drive into Kasane and then take out the lodge's own large boat on the Chobe. If water levels are low, then mokoro excursions may be possible. Game drives from the lodge into Chobe usually transit through the Chobe Forest Reserve, where the guides can use spotlights on the way back in the evening. Given its distance from the park, a feature here are the all-day drives into the park with a picnic lunch. If you stay here, then request at least one of these longer drives before you arrive. Walking trips with a guide are also offered, though see my comments on walking safaris in Botswana before you go.

Open: all year