Kasane

The riverfront town at the top of Botswana — 10 km from Chobe, and an hour from three other countries.

Chobe and Kasane regionChobe National Park

Aerial view of Kasane along the Chobe River, Botswana, with the floodplain on the far bank, photographed in 2019. Photo: Christine Scholer and Hp.Baumeler, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kasane is the town most Botswana trips actually begin or end in, and one of the very few places in the country where you can arrive by scheduled flight, sleep in a bed with a view of a river full of elephant, and be inside a national park before breakfast. Botswana Tourism calls it the gateway to Chobe. The park is 10 km away.

In this guide

• What Kasane actually is
• The river is the reason
• What you do from Kasane
• Getting there and getting around
• Three borders, and the day trips
• Where to base yourself, and how long
• Best time to visit Kasane
• Practical notes

What Kasane actually is

Kasane is a small town — 9,095 people at the 2022 census — strung along the south bank of the Chobe River. It is not a resort and it is not a village. It is a working town with a hospital, an airport, government offices and, as Botswana Tourism puts it, small shopping malls where all essential provisions can be purchased, along with arts and crafts.

That matters more than it sounds. Kasane is the last place on most northern itineraries where you can restock properly, fix something, draw money or replace what you forgot. Travellers heading west towards the Okavango or south towards the pans should treat it as the point where convenience ends.

The river is the reason

Everything about Kasane follows from the Chobe. The river draws game to a permanent water source in a region where surface water is otherwise seasonal, and the concentration of elephant on the Chobe front in the dry months is the single thing this corner of Botswana is famous for.

It also means the town has a genuine front. Lodges and campsites along the bank look out at the floodplain on the Namibian side, and a great deal of the wildlife viewing here happens from a boat rather than a vehicle. That is unusual in Botswana and it is the main reason Kasane suits travellers who are not natural safari-vehicle people.

What you do from Kasane

Botswana Tourism describes flexible land and water-based itineraries from the town: morning and afternoon game drives, and boat cruises. That is an accurate summary of the daily rhythm.

The riverfront section of Chobe National Park is the obvious destination, and at 10 km it is close enough that a game drive genuinely can be a morning rather than an expedition. The park itself, its four sections and how they differ, we cover on Chobe National Park; the wider region, the seasons and the border logistics are on Chobe and Kasane.

Getting there and getting around

Kasane has an airport with scheduled services, which makes it one of the few places in Botswana you can reach without either a long drive or a charter. For a lot of itineraries that single fact decides the shape of the trip: fly in, do the river, then drive or fly onward.

By road, the A33 runs about 300 km south to Nata, which is the junction for Maun in the west and Francistown in the east. It is tar the whole way. Our Nata page covers that junction and what it connects to.

In town you can walk between the shops and much of the riverfront, but lodges are spread along the bank and most visitors rely on lodge transfers or an operator. A hire vehicle is worth having only if you intend to self-drive the park or move on by road — and if you do, read our 4×4 and vehicle requirements page before you book a saloon.

Three borders, and the day trips

Four countries meet within about an hour of Kasane, which is why the town feels less like a Botswana cul-de-sac than a regional hub. Zambia is across the Kazungula Bridge, Zimbabwe is along the Kazungula road, and Namibia is west at Ngoma.

Botswana Tourism gives Victoria Falls as 80 km away and calls a day trip an essential addition to a Kasane itinerary. We weigh up the day trip against an overnight on Botswana and Victoria Falls. It is a genuinely good day out and it is also an international border crossing in each direction, with visa and vehicle documentation consequences that catch people out.

Where to base yourself, and how long

Botswana Tourism describes an array of hotels, guest houses and campsites in Kasane, some with views of the river and its wildlife. The practical split is between properties on the river bank, properties in town, and campsites, and the difference in experience is larger than the difference in category suggests: a river-facing room is a large part of what you came for.

We publish no rates, no availability and no ratings of our own; what we can tell you is what a property is and where it sits. Start at accommodation in Botswana.

On length: two nights is the honest minimum to get a boat cruise and a game drive without rushing either. Three lets you add Victoria Falls without losing a park day. Beyond that, Kasane becomes a base for the wider region rather than a destination in itself, which is a reasonable thing for it to be.

Best time to visit Kasane

Kasane follows the northern calendar rather than the pans one. The dry months concentrate game on the river, which is when the elephant numbers on the Chobe front are at their most extraordinary. Botswana Tourism puts the country’s optimal travel window at April through October, and for this town that is close to exactly right.

The wet months bring green landscapes, migrant birds, fewer visitors and heat: shade temperatures of 38 °C and above, occasionally 44 °C. Note that this is the opposite of the advice for the pans and the Kalahari, which is the single most common planning mistake on a first Botswana trip. We set the whole picture out on best time to visit Botswana.

Practical notes

Elephant move through Kasane itself. This is not a curiosity: it is a reason to take advice about walking after dark seriously, and to keep food secured at campsites. Baboons are the more persistent daily problem.

Restock here. Draw money here. Fill up here. The next town of comparable size in any direction is a long way away, and the difference between a smooth onward leg and an awkward one is usually decided in Kasane rather than after it.

Official sources

• Botswana Tourism Organisation — Kasane (gateway to Chobe, 10 km to the park, 80 km to Victoria Falls, land and water activities, accommodation, shopping and provisions)
• Botswana Tourism Organisation — Climate (seasons, temperatures, optimal travel window)

Reviewed August 2026. Flight schedules, border arrangements and services change; if something here is out of date, tell us.