Today, President Clinton visits the Chobe (CHOH-bay) National Game Park in Kasane (ka-SAH-nay), Botswana. Chobe National Park, established two years after Botswana's independence in 1966, extends over 11,000 square kilometers (4,297 square miles) and contains the most diverse wildlife in the country. The Chobe River provides a year-round water supply for one of Africa's healthiest herds of elephant. The Government of Botswana is attempting to balance the needs of its citizens in Chobe District and a massive elephant population. The burgeoning herd at Chobe, numbering approximately 25,000, has devastated large tracts of land and increasingly finds itself at odds with local communities dependent on natural resources that are being destroyed by pachyderms.

The Chobe River channel also serves as the border between northern Botswana and Namibia's Caprivi (ka-PREE-vee) Strip. The town of Kasane, at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers, marks the converging boundaries of four countries --Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Kasane is the administrative center of Chobe District and the gateway to Chobe National Park.