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Chobe National Park lies in the northeast of Botswana, teeming with animals, especially elephant with huge herds of up to 500 or more at the end of the dry season. Game is drawn to the Chobe River during the dry winter season (May to October) and spreads out to the open grasslands of the Savute Channel during the wetter summer months. Lion are common with buffalo, cheetah and an amazing variety of antelope often sighted. Staying on the Chobe riverfront is popular especially given its ease of access to Victoria Falls (1½ hours by road) and the Okavango Delta.
• Accommodation in Chobe National Park
• Safari tours in Chobe National Park
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The Kalahari, which covers 80% of Botswana, is somewhat overlooked by many visitors. Yet it has its own breath-taking beauty and no visit to Botswana can be said to be truly complete without experiencing the ‘desert’ as well as the delta. In the summer rainy months, the grasslands are lush with vegetation, attracting tens of thousands of springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest, giraffe and of course their predators – lion and cheetah - to this fresh food source. The Kalahari is also home to the last of the traditional Bushman (San) communities, some of the only people on earth who can survive in a land without permanent water.
• Accommodation in Kalahari Desert
• Safari tours in Kalahari Desert
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The Linyanti Swamps to the west are also known for their large elephant herds. This is big game country, with predators such as lion, cheetah, wild dog and hyena regularly sighted, as well as herds of impala, lechwe, kudu, zebra, giraffe, sable, roan, waterbuck and buffalo. The landscape is characterized by grassland vistas dotted with palm forest islands – all very picturesque and open. The three good private concessions here - Kwando, Selinda and Linyanti - offer a seasonal home to game migrating from the grasslands to the south, with the permanent water of the Linyanti/Kwando River drawing the animals during the dry season.
• Accommodation in Linyanti Swamps
• Safari tours in Linyanti Swamps
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This is a magical place away from all people. Two vast white pans, and a number of smaller pans, make up an extraordinary landscape covering 12,000 square kilometres. You explore the pan by quad bike, visit majestic baobab trees and take fascinating walks with skilled Bushman trackers, where you learn about survival and tracking techniques and perhaps observe the desert-adapted wildlife of gemsbok, suricate and rare brown hyena. With the summer rains, the pans partially fill with water and attract spectacular birdlife including pelicans, cranes and flamingos.. The surrounding sweet summer grasses offer a seasonal home to thousands of free-roaming zebra and wildebeest.
• Accommodation in Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
• Safari tours in Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
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Mashatu is true Africa – a wild and rugged landscape of savannah, open plains, sandstone outcrops and riverine forests. It offers great game viewing with a strong chance of seeing large herds of elephant and many of the predators such as lion or cheetah. You may also like to explore some of the ancient ruins, reminiscent of Great Zimbabwe. Scheduled flights connect the Mashatu Game Reserve with Johannesburg to the south and Kasane in northern Botswana for a safari to Chobe or the Okavango Delta.
• Accommodation in Mashatu Game Reserve
• Safari tours in Mashatu Game Reserve
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The Okavango Delta of Botswana is Africa’s largest and most beautiful oasis - an isolated, lush green paradise with some of the richest wildlife in the world. This exceedingly beautiful maze of waterways, lagoons, vast grassy plains and palm-fringed and wooded islands is home to crocodile, hippo, elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, giraffe, wild dog, rare antelope and around 400 bird species. But wildlife is just one of many elements that combine to make an Okavango delta safari such a pleasure. It is the brooding quietness of the waterways, the plaintive cry of the fish eagle, the malachite kingfisher reflected in the waters and the scent of the water lilies, which will stay with you forever.
Why does the Okavango Delta flood?
The source of the Okavango Delta lies in the extremely wet highlands of Angola to the north. From here the Cubango River flows south, through Namibia, away from the sea, gathering ever more water until it finally reaches Botswana, where the river becomes known as the Okavango. Here, the fate of the river is determined by a series of fault lines deep below the desert surface. Once the river passes over the first fault line, it splits into several channels forming the Okavango Delta - a vast, fan-shaped, astonishingly luxuriant wilderness of flood plain and forest, stream and lagoon, the ideal breeding ground for an incredible diversity of wildlife. When the water meets the final two fault lines, the water is literally dammed and cannot go further.
When does the Okavango Delta flood?
The flood starts coming into the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta in late April and makes its way steadily down reaching many camps sometime in June or possibly early July, depending on their precise location, and peaking in August.
Why do some Okavango lodges have water all year, others only during the flood and others not at all?
In the north and central part of the Okavango delta lies the permanent water, with its typically deep channels and dense banks of papyrus and reeds. Here game viewing is predominantly by motorboat, as well as game walks with an experienced and armed guide on the delta’s islands.
Safari camps in the seasonal water tend to offer water-based activities from June to October (exactly when varies by lodge and by season) when the flood levels are highest, as well as 4x4 game drives in open vehicles and game walks. Gliding along in a traditional mokoro in total harmony with nature, with a knowledgeable guide behind you, is an experience not to be missed.
In the south-eastern part of the Delta lies a slightly higher area of land, known as Chief’s Island. This wildlife haven forms part of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve. The Moremi is known for its predators, both of the mammal and feathered variety. Night drives and armed game walks are not permitted here but the exceptional quality of the game-viewing more than makes up for this.
To the north of the Moremi lie some deep river channels which are fed by the summer rains and then by the Okavango Delta. The safari camps in this area are ‘multi-activity’ camps in that they offer a choice of water or land based game-viewing activities throughout the year.
Change is the essence of the Okavango Delta. The delta changes from year to year depending on flood levels and rains and the flood constantly forges new channels which prevents the Okavango Delta silting up. Assuming you are booking well in advance, we’ll match a particular camp to your needs. Ideally an Okavango safari should include two different camps in diverse habitats to give you the best feel for the dynamic mood of the Okavango Delta. Horse riding, walking safaris and elephant safaris are some of the more unusual ways of enjoying wildlife in the Okavango delta.
• Accommodation in Okavango Delta
• Safari tours in Okavango Delta
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The Savute Channel is a rugged semi-arid wilderness region in the south-western part of Chobe National Park, famous for its excellent year-round game-viewing. Dry season game viewing (May to October) concentrates Savute’s resident bull elephant, antelope and its world-famous lion prides around the permanent waterholes. The summer rains (Nov to March) bring a feast for the predators, as thousands of migrating zebra congregate on the marsh. The area also boasts good concentrations of giraffe, jackal, bat-eared fox, tsessebe, kudu and impala.
• Accommodation in Savute Channel
• Safari tours in Savute Channel
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