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This Owl Safari to Botswana allows you to travel with your very knowledgeable and professional guide deep
into the country’s best known wildlife areas. The various highlights of this safari include the
Xakanaxa area of Moremi Game Reserve which teems with animals and the waterways of the unique
Okavango Delta. You spend three nights at a private mobile camp in the Khwai Community Area
where your visit generates funds for the Community Trust. This wildlife area is not in a national park
allowing you to explore on foot and by night – it’s a particularly good area and time to spot leopards!
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Scops Owl 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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Moremi Game Reserve, mobile camp |
| Day 6, 7 & 8 |
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Khwai community, mobile camp |
| Day 9 |
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Flight to London |
| Day 10 |
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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 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 could 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 – Moremi Game Reserve
There is time for a leisurely breakfast and a last walk at Motsentsela before your transfer back to Maun airport
to begin your Botswana safari proper. Here you will meet the rest of the group before boarding a light aircraft
for the 25-minute minute flight to Xakanaxa. Seeing the Okavango Delta from the air is very different from being
on the ground. An aerial view of the small palm islands formed by termites, the hippo-filled pools and the
criss-crossing animal pathways begins to give you an idea of the vastness of this unique eco-system.
Your guide meets you at Xakanaxa airstrip and transfers you to your pre-erected camp where the rest of the safari
team will be waiting to welcome you. There will be time for a short afternoon game drive before your first day in
the Okavango Delta ends with a relaxed dinner.
Day 4 & 5 – Moremi Game Reserve
The Okavango Delta is a unique ecosystem, an inland delta situated in the middle of the largest stretch of
continuous sand in the world – the Kalahari basin. In 1962 the local BaTawana people set aside a third of the
Okavango Delta to protect for the future. They called this the Moremi Game Reserve, and it now forms the core of
the region’s reserves. Moremi encompasses a large area of the Okavango Delta’s eastern wetlands. The main dry
peninsula that juts into the Delta here is known as the Mopane Tongue and it is at the tip of this tongue that
the Xakanaxa Lagoon lies.
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Where land and delta meet, a patchwork of lagoons, grasslands, forests and pans provides an extremely rich and
diverse habitat in which a multitude of animals flourish. Leopard and cheetah are regularly seen and the density
of antelope is amazing. The area’s birdlife is exceptionally varied, from innumerable herons, egrets, storks and
other waders to many species of harrier, buzzard and kite.
Spend time exploring this lush and diverse reserve with your guide. Plan your days like the predators; rising
early to hunt for game, resting in the middle of the day, and then heading out again in the mid-afternoon.
On one of the days, an early-morning game drive takes you to the Xakanaxa boat station from where you will
travel deep into the heart of the Okavango Delta. You’ll spend the day exploring the endless network of
crystal-clear waterways and secret lagoons by motorboat and may venture onto one of the surrounding
palm-fringed islands on foot.
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Today’s mode of transport allows you a different view of this unique habitat. Boating through papyrus
channels might reveal crocodiles basking on logs, a perching fish eagle or a pair of fishing otters;
shallow reed beds and flood plains provide security for red lechwe and the elusive sitatunga; or you may
spot a rare Pel’s fishing owl roosting deep under the cover of a jackalberry tree.
Day 6 – Khwai Community Area
From Xakanaxa you game-drive your way north-east towards the Khwai community area and your private mobile
camp here. The Khwai River forms a boundary between Moremi and the community area. Although the animals don’t
know the difference, being outside the boundaries of a national park allows you to go on night drives and
guided walks.
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Day 7 & 8 – Khwai Community Area
Khwai forms the northeast tip of Moremi Game Reserve. It is a lovely area where tall evergreen trees line a
wide floodplain. It boasts an excellent density and diversity of predator and prey species. In recent years
there’s been a large pride of lion here, hunting buffalo, while leopard sightings are consistently good and
cheetah are relatively common. The flood plains are particularly good areas to spot saddle-billed storks, the
protected wattled crane, bee-eaters and kingfishers.
You could spend the morning driving along the waterline where huge crocodiles bask and herds of buffalo come
to drink. After your midday siesta it is well worth setting out from camp on a guided walk for an up-close
and personal encounter with the smaller aspects of Botswana’s flora and fauna. Of course, it may happen that
you and your guide decide to go back out on a drive to find the wild dogs you saw that morning and see what
they are up to instead!
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Then your day could end with a spot-lit drive in search of the nocturnal animals that you’ll rarely encounter
during the day – there’s a particularly good chance of seeing leopard.
Day 9 – Flight to London
After a final morning game drive you return to Maun. Your guide will drop you off at the airport in time for
your scheduled flight to London, via Johannesburg.
Day 10 – Arrive in London
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Find out more about this safari on the general
Owl Safaris
page.
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Departures:
Cost is per person sharing, departing and returning UK
There is no single supplement on this trip.
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| 20/04/09 - 29/04/09 | £2415 | | 22/05/09 - 31/05/09 | £2415 | | 06/06/09 - 15/06/09 | £2415 | | 23/06/09 - 02/07/09 | £2415 | | 02/07/09 - 11/07/09 | £2415 | | 11/07/09 - 20/07/09 | £2415 | | 25/07/09 - 03/08/09 | £2415 | | 06/08/09 - 15/08/09 | £3680 | | 25/08/09 - 03/09/09 | £2415 | | 26/08/09 - 04/09/09 | £2415 | | 20/09/09 - 29/09/09 | £2415 | | 22/09/09 - 01/10/09 | £2562 | | 23/10/09 - 01/11/09 | £2562 | | 29/10/09 - 07/11/09 | £2562 | | 30/11/09 - 09/12/09 | £2562 |
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This itinerary can be downloaded from our Downloads Page
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