Day 1 - Flight to Zambia
Begin your Okavango & Desert Adventure with a flight from London to Livingstone in Zambia, via Johannesburg in South Africa.
Includes dinner on the flight.
Day 2 - Victoria Falls, Zambia
After clearing customs at Livingstone Airport you are met and transfer directly to the Victoria Falls. This spectacular curtain of water is the longest curtain of water in the world with a width of 1,708 metres in full flood. You are guided to various vantage points from which you can enjoy the view of this impressive sight.
From the Victoria Falls you drive, following the Zambezi River, to your lodge which is situated about 25km upstream. Spend a comfortable night in an open-fronted, en-suite chalet with views over the river. Keep a look out for basking hippos, clambering monkeys and the odd elephant passing through the lodge grounds. It's a wonderful spot to spend your first night getting over the long flight.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 3 - Chobe River & Linyanti Reserve
Leave Zambia and head into Botswana through the Kazungula border: the point where Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia meet. Soon after passing through immigration you arrive in the town of Kasane where you board a shaded boat for a stunning cruise along the Chobe River, your first real wildlife adventure. As vast herds of elephant and buffalo come to drink during the heat of the day, game viewing in Chobe National Park is often better from the river then from a vehicle. There is also an array of antelope to be seen including the stately kudu, the rare sable, the shy Chobe bushbuck and the puku which is found in only a few pockets of Africa.
After the relaxing boat trip you begin your drive from Kasane to the private Linyanti Reserve. It's an interesting drive that takes you past rural villages before entering the Chobe Forest Reserve heading deep into Chobe National Park's interior. Chobe borders the exclusive Linyanti Reserve to the east and south whilst the Linaynti Marshes border the north.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 4 & 5 - Linyanti Reserve
Spend the next two days exploring the private Linyanti Reserve extensively with your guide. This is an incredibly diverse region with habitats that include mopane woodland, lush riverine forests and open floodplains, each area home to a myriad of animals. Some of your time is spent game driving along the Linyanti River watching animals come to slake their thirst; most notably family herds of cow elephants with their young during the dry season (August to October).
On one of the days you might undertake a full-day's adventure and drive to explore the Savuti Channel with a picnic lunch en route. On shorter excursions you might track wild dog footprints or follow the dawn roar of a lion. Your safari guide will discuss the most productive options with you depending as this camping safari to Botswana retains some element of flexibility to adjust around the seasons and animal movements.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 6 & 7 - Selinda or Khwai Reserve
If you join the Okavango & Desert Adventure before 1 May 2010, Day 6 of the safari will take the form of a full day's game drive to Lechwe Island camp in the private Selinda Reserve, breaking for a picnic lunch at a scenic spot en-route. Although long, this is a varied and interesting drive and there is usually lots of wildlife to see on the way. You begin by taking a leisurely game drive along the eastern edge of the Linyanti swamps, before passing through the Savuti Channel and circumnavigating the Zibadianja Lagoon. From here you transfer through dense mopane woodland favoured by the more secretive species such as the diminutive steenbok and shy roan antelope. If the Savuti Channel continues to flow, as it unexpectedly did in 2008, you may take a light aircraft flight from Linyanti to Selinda - your guide will advise you of this.
Your comfortable camp will be situated on a wooded island overlooking the seasonal Selinda Spillway which links the Linyanti River with the Okavango Delta, and the surrounding floodplain, in the south-western corner of the Selinda Reserve. Spend two days here exploring the wooded islands, the open plains and the flooded and dry channels surrounding the camp. In stark contrast to the much drier desert regions you visit later in the camping safari, the Spillway and surrounds remain relatively green throughout the year. This is a fantastic area for walking adventures and your guide will usually recommend this activity here. You can also enjoy canoe trips (seasonal) as well as day and night safari drives. Walking, canoeing and night drives are not usually permitted within Botswana's national parks so travelling through a private reserve has very definite benefits.
If you join the tour departing after 1 May 2010, the safari group will board a light aircraft on Day 6 and fly south to Khwai, the north eastern reaches of the Okavango Delta. Here your comfortable camp is located in a wildlife area north of the Khwai River. This waterway forms the border between Khwai Community Reserve and the Moremi Reserve - although the wildlife isn't aware of the boundary and passes freely between the two areas. This region of the Okavango Delta is one of the most divers in northern Botswana with wildlife sightings that rarely disappoint. Riverine woodland and open floodplains flank the Khwai River and attract herds of plains game and the predators that hunt them. Explore the area on day and night safari drives, guided walking safaris and seasonal mokoro (dug-out canoe) excursions.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 8 to 10 - Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta
Take a 30-minute flight for a spectacular aerial view of Botswana's fascinating Okavango Delta's unique ecosystem. Your destination is Xigera (pronounced 'keejera'): a private area within Moremi Game Reserve that is very different in habitat to the previous reserves. You'll find a profusion of animal and plant life in this permanently flooded area of the Delta, all set within a paradise of palm-covered islands surrounded by clear-water channels. Your comfortable mobile camp is located on a remote island that can be reached only by boat.
Although there is game to be seen, this isn't your main focus at Xigera. Instead you spend your time experiencing one of the Okavango Delta's lushest and most tropical areas by mokoro (dug-out canoe) and motorboat. Spend time enjoying the smaller creatures, such as the fascinating painted reed frogs, and seeking out particularly spectacular birdlife from the tiny malachite kingfisher to the giant goliath heron.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 11 - Deception Valley Lodge
After breakfast you transfer by boat to Xigera airstrip and board a light aircraft flight to Maun. From Maun you will collect your next safari vehicle and drive east then south through rural Botswana, passing villages and cattle posts towards the Kalahari desert. Your destination is Deception Valley Lodge which is situated on a private reserve adjacent to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 12 & 13 - Central Kalahari Game Reserve
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve covers over 50,000km², most of which is inaccessible. It was, until very recently, closed to the public, although there have always been small groups of Bushmen living in the reserve. The best-known account of this desert area is the haunting book Cry of the Kalahari, written by American biologists Mark and Delia Owens about their research in Deception Valley.
Deception Valley is a fossil riverbed of fine clay, flanked by petrified dunes. When the rains arrive in Botswana and the Kalahari (Jan-Mar), they herald a short period when ancient river valleys like this one break out in new growth of nutritious grasses. This attracts huge herds of springbok, oryx and zebra from all over the park, creating a short yet incredibly prolific period of wildlife viewing. During this time you may also see large congregations of ostrich, giraffe and wildebeest, as well as cheetah and the Kalahari's famous black-maned lions. Leopard and brown hyena are also resident, though rarely seen. Although a lot sparser through the drier months of the year there is always interesting game sightings to be had here making a camping safari to this desert area still worthwhile. On one of the days spent here your guide may take you on a full-day game drive, with a picnic lunch, to explore areas further afield such as Piper's Pan and the Letiahau Valley.
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 14 - Flight to London
After breakfast, you begin your game drive back towards Maun. You reach Maun Airport in time for your scheduled homeward flight to the UK, leaving with fond memories of an amazing safari adventure through Botswana's Okavango and Kalahari Desert.
Includes breakfast and lunch. Dinner is on the flight.
Day 15 - Arrive in London
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