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Days 1 and 2 - Okavango
- Land Activity Camp
On arrival in Maun, guests are met and transferred to the waiting charter aircraft (with all air transfers luggage is restricted to 20kg per person in a soft bag including camera equipment and hand luggage) for the flight into their first camp. Activities here center on the game drives as well as walks in some of the Okavango 's most scenic and private areas. Choice of camps are Chitabe Camp and Chitabe Trails Camp.
Set like a jewel in the Kalahari Desert , the Okavango Delta is Africa 's largest and most beautiful oasis - an isolated paradise surrounded by an often hostile environment. It is Botswana 's prime wildlife location, with palm fringed and thickly wooded islands, lush green vegetation, translucent waters and an exceptional range of bird and animal life. Much of the time spent here will be travelling across floodplains and clear waterways whilst reclining in a mokoro (dug-out canoe) handled by an experienced and knowledgable local guide. The deep waterways of the Okavango do not support huge concentrations of mammals although elephant, buffalo, lechwe, sitatunga and other animals occur on many of the islands.
Chitabe Camp is a luxurious eight-roomed, tented camp built on one of the most beautiful islands in the Okavango Delta. It is situated in a private area in the south east of the Okavango Delta, which borders the Moremi Game Reserve. The Chitabe area is a combination of open floodplains, wooded islands and lagoons - which sets the scene for a wide variety of wildlife. Accommodation consists of eight spacious East African style tents built on elevated wooden decks, beneath a lush tree canopy. Each tented room has en-suite facilities with flush toilets and both outdoor and indoor showers. Hot showers are guaranteed anytime of day or night. The thatched dining area, lounge and pub are also raised on decks overlooking the surrounding flood plains. A pool allows guests to cool off from the heat of the day. Activities consist of day and night game drives in open 4x4 vehicles accompanied by an experienced guide. Nature walks, tailor made to suit the guests, are also offered. Game viewing is good, and includes Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Reedbuck, Giraffe, Impala, Zebra, Buffalo and Hippo. Depending on the time of year, Wild Dogs are also resident in the area. Night drives can be very rewarding, with good sightings of the rarer nocturnal animals.
Chitabe Trails is a very comfortable five-roomed tented camp in an enormous concession that borders the Moremi Game Reserve. The area is situated within a varied habitat of seasonally flooded grasslands, wooded acacia islands and a number of lagoons. The diversity of habitat enables guests to see a wide variety of wildlife. Accommodation consists of five spacious and luxuriously appointed East African style tents that have en-suite facilities with flush toilets, and a shower and basin with hot and cold running water. Each room also has an outdoor shower, which overlooks the floodplain. The room interiors are of the same standard as its sister camp, Chitabe. There is a dining area, lounge and pool. The camp overlooks a waterhole, where Elephants and plains game often come down to drink during the day. Activities consist of game walks, and day and night game drives in open 4x4 vehicles, accompanied by an experienced guide. Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Reedbuck, Buffalo , Impala, Zebra and Hippo are among the major game attractions of the area. Wild Dogs are resident in the area and can be sighted - depending on the time of the year.
Day 3 and 4 - Okavango
- Water Activity or Multi-activity Camp
Guests are flown from their first camp, to a contrasting sector of the Okavango to enjoy the activities on offer there. Mokoroing, boating, fishing, walks - and at some camps, game drives are on offer. Choice of camps are Jacana Camp, Kwetsani Camp, Tubu Tree Camp, Little Vumbura Camp, and Xigera Camp.
Situated about 25 kilometres west of Mombo, outside the Moremi Game Reserve on the Jao flats, Jacana Camp is a truly water-oriented camp and offers mokoro and walking safaris all year round. From about September to May, as the floodwaters recede, game drives and night drives in open 4 x 4 vehicles are available - depending on water levels. The camp is set in one of the most densely populated wetland areas for Sitatunga and Red Lechwe - but game concentrations depend on water flow and volume and change from season to season. All the big game can be found in the area - Elephant, Lion, Leopard and Buffalo . Pels Fishing Owl is a favorite amongst birders, as well as greater and lesser Jacanas. Jacana Camp has five meru-style tents. Each tent is built on a wooden deck overlooking the floodplains and has an en-suite bathroom with flush toilet and shower. The bathroom is enclosed, but roofless. 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 cozy pub and lounge, with an area to sit around an open fire under the stars.
Kwetsani Camp is a five roomed luxury tented camp located in a private reserve 25km to the west of Mombo and to the west of the Moremi Game Reserve. The large elongated island on which Kwetsani is built is heavily wooded, cool and shady with Palm, Mangosteen and Fig trees and is one of the most remote camps in the entire Okavango Delta. Kwetsani Camp is raised on stilts beneath a shady canopy. Five wonderful, spacious tree-house chalets are built under thatch roofs, with wood, glass and a little canvas. All have en-suite facilities including a shower, flush toilet, twin basins and an additional outdoor shower for those who like showering in the open air. The camp overlooks an enormous floodplain dotted with Lechwe and Wildebeest. Guests can lie in their rooms, or in the pool, and watch the animals in front of the camp. All the Okavango 's large predators are found here. Activities include mokoroing, walking on palm-fringed islands and game drives during the day and night. Due to high flood water levels, the night drives are currently restricted to an hour's drive around the camp island. In the height of the Okavango 's annual floods, boats are used to get around the area and also to transfer to the islands where the game viewing vehicles are located. Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Wild Dog, Buffalo and Elephant are all found in this area, as well as good concentrations of Zebra, Wildebeest, Giraffe, and all the plains game.
Tubu Tree Camp is situated in the 60.000 hectare Jao Reserve which borders the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana 's Okavango Delta. The Camp is a traditional style tented safari camp built on raised wooden platforms to take best advantage of the beautiful view over the floodplains. The camp accommodates guests in 5 large, comfortable tents, each with a small, private deck in front. All the tents have en suite bathroom facilities and private outdoor shower. The main dining and lounge areas are also large tents on raised platforms, with an outdoor pub area built under the canopy of a large Marula tree. Activities at Tubu Tree Camp include day and night game drives in open 4 x 4 vehicles, as well as walking with an armed guide. When the Okavango 's annual flood is at its highest (normally May to late September), boating, fishing and mokoro trips are also offered. A variety of habitats ensures diverse and interesting game viewing. Wildlife seen here includes elephant, Lion, Zebra, Red Lechwe, Giraffe, Tsessebe, Wildebeest as well as Kudu, Impala, Leopard and Bushbuck.
Little Vumbura is a beautiful six roomed tented camp situated to the north of Mombo in a private reserve bordering the Moremi Game Reserve in the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta. Little Vumbura offers both water and land activities, as well as walks for those who are keen. Mokoros (dugout canoes) traverse the flood plains under the guidance of our experienced polers. Open 4x4 Land Rovers allow guests to get close to animals in the savannah areas. However during the annual period of high floodwaters in the Okavango , this activity is limited. For much of the March to October period, we boat to dry land and only board our game viewing vehicles there. Guests usually have the opportunity to see lion, leopard, elephant, sable and buffalo, along with all the plains game, providing an excellent all-round game experience in this remote corner of the Okavango . Walks (on request basis only) around the islands give guests the opportunity to enjoy Africa from a different perspective. The tented rooms are large and comfortably appointed, with an en-suite bathroom with hot and cold running water, a shower, and flush toilet - and an outside shower under the stars. The camp has a plunge pool too. Access into this area is only by aircraft and if the water levels are high in winter, a mokoro trip and / or a boat will transfer guests to camp.
Xigera (pronounced Keejera) is a luxury tented camp in the Moremi Game Reserve and is situated in the heart of the Okavango Delta. Xigera has something for everyone in an area where there are no other Moremi camps. Permanent water all year round allows one to enjoy an unparalleled variety of activities including foot safaris, mokoro trips, game drives and powerboat outings in total privacy. Enjoy a true Delta experience while you sit back in a mokoro (dugout canoe) and silently glide through the wonders of the tranquil Okavango waterways observed by a myriad of delta creatures. Watch the sunset and the birds gliding home to roost from a motorboat on the Xigera Lagoon. Observe the wildlife and unique delta scenery from the comfort of a landrover or, for the adventurous, track animals on foot. Or simply take in the beautiful sunrise from your comfortable bed while sipping your morning tea or coffee. Nestled in a magnificent riverine forest, Xigera consists often luxuriously furnished tented rooms with en-suite facilities and an outdoor shower. Each room is raised off the ground on a wooden deck offering a superb view of the seasonal floodplain and waterhole. Meals and evening drinks are enjoyed under the thatch of the raised lounge, pub and dining area overlooking a permanently flowing channel. A traditional African boma offers alternative dining under the African stars. Wooden walkways wind through the forest connecting the rooms to the main living area. For those hot days there is a small plunge pool in which to cool off. A feature unique to Xigera is the wooden footbridge connecting Xigera Island to the next. Guests are often treated to close-up views of lion, hyaena or leopard padding across the bridge as they move between islands. The camp "newspaper" (a sand pit built into the bridge) is "read" each morning and provides information on unseen nightly visitors to camp.
Day 5 and 6 - The
Linyanti or Savuti
From the Okavango , guests are flown northeast to the Chobe / Linyanti waterways. This is a completely contrasting region to the Okavango Delta. Activities are enjoyed around the Savuti Channel or Linyanti River on boats, vehicles or from hides. Choice of camps are Dumatau, and Savuti Camp.
DumaTau (meaning 'roar of the lion') is a ten-roomed luxury tented camp, in the private 125 000-hectare Linyanti Wildlife Reserve which borders the western boundary of Chobe National Park in northern Botswana . The camp is built on raised boardwalks under a shady grove of mangosteen trees, overlooking a large hippo-filled lagoon on the Linyanti waterways. The source of the Savuti Channel is close to the camp and game drives along the Savuti are one of the highlights of the camp. The rooms are spacious, raised off the ground and under thatch with canvas walls - allowing guests to enjoy the night sounds of Africa from the comfort of their rooms. The bathroom facilities are en-suite, with hot and cold running water. Each room has an additional outside shower. There is a dining room, pub, lounge, plunge pool and a special guest toilet with a fantastic view. The region has all the habitat diversity to make it a haven for wildlife. Activities are diverse and allow guests time on the water, on land and occasionally on foot. Day and night game drives are conducted in open 4x4 vehicles along the Savuti Channel and the banks of the Linyanti River . There are many hides in the area where guests can enjoy wildlife viewing close up and away from a vehicle. One of the best hides is right at the source of the Savuti and many species of game and birdlife can usually be seen from this hide. The area is famous for its elephant concentrations in our winter months and for the great game viewing all year. Huge herds of elephant congregate in winter along the waterways and lagoons - and at the waterholes that are located along the Savuti Channel. During these dry months sable and roan traverse the flood plains. All the predators - lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog - feast on the prey species in the area, including impala, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, lechwe, tsessebe and all the other plains game.
Savuti Camp is situated in the Linyanti Reserve along the Savuti Channel in northern Botswana . The camp is built about 17 kilometres "downstream" from the source of the Savuti. The channel stopped flowing in 1980 and what was a Hippo-filled river, is now wide, open grasslands. Savuti Camp is a comfortable camp providing accommodation in 7 large walk-in tented rooms with en-suite facilities. Five of the bathrooms are within the tents and two tents have bathrooms with wonderful open fronts facing onto the Savuti Channel. Each room is raised off the ground on wooden decks. The camp has a thatched dining area, pub and plunge pool, all on raised wooden decks. There is a waterhole close to camp and this attracts large numbers of animals that guests can view from the camp. Activities include game drives in open 4x4 Land Rovers, hides, night drives and walks with an armed guard. Game in the area includes all of Botswana 's big game, and is one of the best areas in the country to see predators. There are also good concentrations of plains game in the area.
Day 7 - Victoria
Falls
Guests are flown from their camp to Kasane where they board vehicles for the 85km drive to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe . On arrival, guests are checked into their hotel on a bed and breakfast basis, leaving them free to dine where they please and take in any of the wonderful activities available in the falls. You might want to sign up for a one day white water rafting, elephant back riding etc, or you may want to enjoy the Victoria Falls at a more leisurely pace. Overnight at Ilala Lodge.
Ilala Lodge offers distinguished yet affordable accommodation in a gracious and secluded ambiance. The decor evokes a bygone era of adventure and the quest of discovery in Africa . The hotel is ideally situated and is the closest to the Victoria Falls as well as the town centre. The National Park borders the front of property and wild animals often graze on the hotel lawns with the spray of the falls in the background. Ilala Lodge offers 32 rooms - 24 twins, 8 doubles and 2 suites. All rooms have en suite bathroom with seperate shower, air conditioning, overhead fan and satellite TV and are served early morning tea / coffee and fruit basket. The rooms are spacious with railway sleeper teak furnishings and patio doors leading onto either open lawn or a balcony where you are afforded a view of the spray of the falls from the upper level rooms.
Day 8 - Safari Ends
The safari ends after breakfast with your transfer
from your hotel or lodge to the airport.
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