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By staying in a combination of lodges and custom-designed en-suite safari tents at exclusive Discoverer
camps, this luxurious Kingfisher Safari allows you to explore Botswana’s best know wildlife areas in comfort
and style. It offers luxury camping in two prime areas, fantastic guiding and detailed insights into habitats
and game movements. You can explore its game-rich plains, and the clear waters and wooded islands of the
flooded inner Okavango Delta by air and on a variety of walks, boat, canoe and mokoro excursions and
day and night wildlife viewing. The spectacular finale to your trip is a visit to the majestic Victoria
Falls in Zambia.
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Malachite Kingfisher Safari Summary:
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| Day 1 |
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Flight to Botswana |
| Day 2 |
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Maun, lodge |
| Day 3, 4 & 5 |
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Okavango Delta, lodge |
| Day 6, 7 & 8 |
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Selinda Reserve, discoverer camp |
| Day 9, 10 & 11 |
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Linyanti Reserve, discoverer camp |
| Day 12 |
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Chobe River & Zambia, lodge |
| Day 13 |
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Victoria Falls / Flight to London |
| Day 14 |
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Arrive in London |
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DETAILED ITINERARY:
Day 1 – Flight to Botswana
Scheduled overnight flight from London, via Johannesburg, to Maun: the gateway to the Okavango Delta.
Day 2 – Maun
On arrival in Botswana you are met and driven to Motsentsela Tree Lodge to relax after your flight. This
delightful tented lodge is situated on a small private game farm on the outskirts of Maun. You can spend the
afternoon by the pool or stroll around some of the property’s marked nature trails. The reserve is home to game
species including springbok, kudu, zebra and giraffe.
Day 3, 4 & 5 – Okavango Delta
After a leisurely breakfast at Motsentsela, you return to Maun to meet your safari guide and fellow travelers
before embarking on your Botswana safari proper. From here you transfer to a light aircraft for the flight deep
into the Okavango Delta. Your destination is the permanently flooded region of the private Jao reserve.
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Jacana is a true water camp: it represents the essence of the Okavango Delta: abundant water, sunlight and soil
combine to form a paradise bursting with life. Activities here include year-round mekoro safaris as well as
island bush walks and, water level permitting, motorboat cruises. In fact, when the flood levels are at their
peak (June to August), you can go by motorboat from the airstrip to the safari lodge, a truly surreal camp
arrival! Safaris by 4WD are possible when water levels are low, typically from September to May.
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Jacana Camp is set on a small palm island in one of the wetland areas most densely populated with the elusive
sitatunga and more common red lechwe. Wildlife concentrations depend on the water flow and volume, thus changing
from season to season, but all the large animals can be found in the area including elephant, lion, leopard and
buffalo. Pel's fishing owl is a favourite amongst birders as well as the greater and lesser jacanas for which the
camp is named.
The camp has just five Meru-style safari tents linked by simple pathways around the island. Each tent is on a
wooden deck overlooking the floodplains and has an en-suite bathroom with flush toilet and shower. The bathroom
is enclosed but roofless, allowing for showers by starlight. The camp has a plunge pool for cooling off from the
midday sun. The main dining area is on an elevated wooden deck between two magnificent sycamore fig trees and
surrounded by dense wild date palms. Downstairs, there is a cosy pub and lounge with an area perfect for an open
fire under the stars. It’s a lovely small camp to stop of at during your holiday in Botswana, with a relaxed,
tropical air.
Day 6, 7 & 8 – Selinda Reserve
Fly by light aircraft from Jao to the north-eastern corner of the Okavango Delta. Seeing the Okavango from the
air is an unforgettable experience, allowing you a fascinating view of the floodplain as a whole and insights
into how its magical landscapes were formed.
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The private Selinda Reserve protects 1,350km2 around the Selinda Spillway, an ancient watercourse linking the
Okavango Delta with the Linyanti River. Ketumetse Discoverer Camp is located in the south-western sector of the
Selinda reserve, in the seasonally flooded portion of the Okavango Delta where it joins into the Selinda Spillway.
This exclusive safari camp overlooks the wildlife-rich plains and rarely flowing Selinda Spillway and is set
under large shady leadwood and russet bushwillow trees, affording views of the floodplain in cool comfort. In
early 2006 the Spillway flowed for the first time in many years, linking the Kwando and Okavango Rivers.
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Activities concentrate on guided nature walks around the bushy and wooded islands, canoeing along the Spillway as
well as day and night safari drives through the surrounding open plains and riverine woodland.
Day 9, 10 & 11 – Linyanti Reserve
After a light breakfast, you fly north-eastwards to the Linyanti Reserve. From the airstrip it’s a short game
drive to the exclusive Linyanti Discoverer Camp. Set up under African ebony and knobthorn acacia trees the camp
overlooks the Linyanti marshes which attract a variety of animals as they come down to slake their thirst.
The landscape of the Linyanti includes open floodplains beside the water, an adjacent band of riverine forest,
and dense (mostly mopane) forests stretching away to the south, creating a paradise for a high diversity of
wildlife and bird species. Activities include game drives in the northern sector of the private concession on the
border of Chobe National Park, exploring a range of habitats from riverbanks to scrub and forest.
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Also on offer is a game drive to a private area for lunch, then a siesta in hammocks and the possibility of an
afternoon canoe trip, before returning to camp at dusk. (Canoeing is not always possible, as it depends on the
movement of hippo pods in and out of the area.) Another possible option is an all-day game drive to the Savuti
Channel. This drive gives you an excellent view of the wildlife found in what’s sometimes known as the ‘stolen
river’. Your guide will discuss the options with: if s/he believes the wildlife viewing to be better in Linyanti,
as there is permanent water there, you will concentrate your safari drives in that area.
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Day 12 – Chobe River & Zambia
After a final short morning drive and breakfast, you will be transferred by light aircraft to the town of Kasane,
on the northern edge of Chobe National Park. Here the game-viewing is often better from the river than from a
vehicle, as animals come down to the water to drink during the heat of the day. Therefore we enjoy a light lunch
aboard a shaded boat for a stunning cruise along Chobe River – watching the area’s vast herds of elephants and
buffalo come to drink, as well as a host of antelope. Sable are found here, it’ll be your first chance to see
puku and there are good chances of spotting the shy Chobe bushbuck.
You cross from Botswana into Zambia at Kazungula, the point where Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe meet.
Your accommodation in Zambia is a lodge hidden away from the tourist crowds of Livingstone, safely hidden in a
wild area. Each of the rooms has its own private deck with a view across the mighty Zambezi River.
Day 13 – Victoria Falls / Flight to London
At 1,708 metres wide in full flood, the Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of water in the world and drops
more than 100 metres into the sheer Batoka Gorge. After breakfast you have time for a guided tour of this
spectacular natural feature, deservedly one of the world’s natural wonders, before transferring to the airport
for your scheduled flight to the UK.
Day 14 – Arrive in London
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Departures:
Cost is per person sharing, departing and returning UK
There is a single supplement of £690.
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| 07/01/09 - 20/01/09 | £5573 | | 31/01/09 - 13/02/09 | £5573 | | 08/03/09 - 21/03/09 | £5573 | | 15/03/09 - 28/03/09 | £5573 | | 23/03/09 - 05/04/09 | £5573 | | 26/03/09 - 08/04/09 | £5573 | | 01/04/09 - 14/04/09 | £5705 | | 04/04/09 - 17/04/09 | £5705 | | 07/04/09 - 20/04/09 | £5705 | | 16/04/09 - 29/04/09 | £5573 | | 19/04/09 - 02/05/09 | £5573 | | 22/04/09 - 05/05/09 | £5573 | | 01/05/09 - 14/05/09 | £5573 | | 04/05/09 - 17/05/09 | £5573 | | 07/05/09 - 20/05/09 | £5573 | | 19/05/09 - 01/06/09 | £5573 | | 22/05/09 - 04/06/09 | £5573 | | 31/05/09 - 13/06/09 | £5573 | | 03/06/09 - 16/06/09 | £5573 | | 06/06/09 - 19/06/09 | £5573 | | 21/06/09 - 04/07/09 | £5573 | | 30/06/09 - 13/07/09 | £5573 | | 03/07/09 - 16/07/09 | £5573 | | 12/07/09 - 25/07/09 | £5851 | | 19/07/09 - 01/08/09 | £5851 | | 28/07/09 - 10/08/09 | £5851 | | 30/07/09 - 12/08/09 | £5851 | | 03/08/09 - 16/08/09 | £5851 | | 12/08/09 - 25/08/09 | £5705 | | 15/08/09 - 28/08/09 | £5705 | | 26/08/09 - 08/09/09 | £5705 | | 10/09/09 - 23/09/09 | £5705 | | 13/09/09 - 26/09/09 | £5705 | | 16/09/09 - 29/09/09 | £5705 | | 25/09/09 - 08/10/09 | £5705 | | 28/09/09 - 11/10/09 | £5705 | | 01/10/09 - 14/10/09 | £5705 | | 13/10/09 - 26/10/09 | £5705 | | 16/10/09 - 29/10/09 | £5705 | | 25/10/09 - 07/11/09 | £5705 | | 03/11/09 - 16/11/09 | £5705 | | 09/11/09 - 22/11/09 | £5705 | | 15/11/09 - 28/11/09 | £5705 | | 23/11/09 - 06/12/09 | £5705 | | 30/11/09 - 13/12/09 | £5705 | | 15/12/09 - 28/12/09 | £6104 | | | | | | |
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This itinerary can be downloaded from our Downloads Page
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