Kasane

Kasane grew up on the south bank of the Chobe River, a 200 to 300 metre-wide stretch of water in Botswana's far north-eastern corner, close to the point where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe almost meet. The wider Chobe region was first home to San communities, known in Botswana as Basarwa. Today the Basubiya, who call themselves Veekuhane, keep their own language, Chiikuhane, and their own heritage alive in villages across the district, while Kasane itself, the district's working town, draws people from many groups looking for work.

In the colonial era nearby Kazungula was the administrative centre of the Chobe District from 1909 until the resident magistrate's residence moved to Kasane in 1921. A hollow baobab now standing behind the Kasane Police Station is remembered as a holding cell for prisoners awaiting transfer. From 1935 to 1969 the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WENELA) recruited men at Kazungula for South African gold mines, and the Kasane baobabs became a gathering point for recruits. Between 1944 and 1956 a timber company felled teak and mahogany at Serondela, which grew to more than 3,000 residents.

Conservation reshaped the town. A national park was first proposed in 1931, and in 1932 about 24,000 km² of the district was declared a non-hunting area. Chobe Game Reserve followed in 1960 and became Chobe National Park in 1968, when the residents of Serondela were moved out. Tourism grew alongside the park: Chobe River Lodge, now Chobe Safari Lodge, opened in 1959, Chobe Game Lodge followed in 1972, and in 1975 Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton remarried in Kasane, putting the town in headlines around the world.

Kasane's position on the border also made it a waypoint in the region's liberation struggles: fighters rested beneath its baobabs before crossing into Zambia. Today the town is the headquarters of the Chobe District. A 7,800 square metre airport terminal opened in February 2018, and in May 2021 the 923-metre Kazungula Bridge replaced the old ferry crossing to Zambia. The 2022 census counted 9,143 people living in Kasane.