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| DAY 1
- MAUN / KALAHARI GAME RESERVE – PRIVATE CONCESSION
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After arriving in Maun and clearing customs you will be met an assisted aboard your light aircraft flight into the heart of the Kalahari. After arrival in Maun, you are met and assisted with your air transfer to the Kalahari, touching down at the airstrip where you will be met and driven to the new Kalahari Plains Camp. This small camp is located in a private wildlife concession within the productive and diverse, Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). This tented camp has 10 Meru-style tents (9 twin and 1 family) each with full en-suite bathrooms.
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During the rainy season the landscape here teems with a multitude of antelope species and large predators. This area is characterized by vast open grassy plains, seasonal pans, wooded acacia islands, prehistoric scrub-covered dunes and fossil riverbeds.
After lunch set out on an afternoon game drive or guided walk.
Overnight
- Kalahari Plains Camp (L, D & activities) |
| DAYS 2/3
- CENTRAL KALAHARI GAME RESERVE – PRIVATE CONCESSION
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The CKGR offers one of the most remote and unspoiled experiences on the African
continent – at over 12 million acres this reserve is one of the largest in the world. During the summer months the northern part of the CKGR, where the camp is situated, offers some of the best wildlife viewing in Botswana. At this time of year these verdant flatlands are alive with aggregations of gemsbok, springbok and blue wildebeest. Predator concentrations are also high and sightings of the legendary black-manned Kalahari lions are complemented with some of the best cheetah viewing in Africa. Wild dog and leopard are seen on occasion and other mammal possibilities include southern giraffe, steenbok, red hartebeest and charismatic ground squirrels and meerkats (suricates). Bird life is equally diverse with over 220 species recorded to date.
Spend your days on game drive and guided walks.
Overnight
- Kalahari Plains Camp (all meals & activities) |
| DAYS 4/5
- OKAVANGO DELTA – MOREMI GAME RESERVE
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The Okavango Delta represents the extreme contrast of a water-filled world in an otherwise arid desert: abundant water, sunlight and soil combine to form a paradise bursting with life. The difference between the Kalahari and the Okavango becomes amazingly clear even as you fly from the one to the other. Your accommodation on this leg of the safari is at either Jacana or Xigera Camp, both of which are situated in the heart of the Okavango Delta’s myriad waterways. This is the ultimate Delta experience, with serene waters flowing through innumerable channels around remote islands and a profusion of plant and animal life. The experience focuses on the permanently flooded inner Delta, the serene waterways and the islands of trees and bush.
Jacana Camp is situated just west of the Moremi Game Reserve and consists of 5 Meru style
tents nestled discreetly into lush vegetation on a seasonal 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 also a cozy bar and lounge with an area for an open fire under the stars.
Xigera Camp is a private luxury tented camp situated in the Moremi Game Reserve and consists of consists of 10 luxuriously furnished tented rooms with en-suite facilities and outdoor shower. Each room is raised on a wooden deck offering superb views of the seasonal floodplain and lagoon. Meals are enjoyed under the thatch of the raised lounge, pub and dining area overlooking a permanently flowing channel. The wooden footbridge, a unique feature to Xigera, connects Xigera Island to the next one and is often used by hyena and leopard moving between the islands allowing guests great viewing opportunities.
Activities at the two camps feature excursions on the water in both mokoro and motor boats as well as game drives. Birding is excellent, with specials like Pel’s Fishing Owl, Slaty Egret, Wattled Crane and African Skimmers to be found. In contrast to the Central Kalahari, game viewing here features the water-adapted red lechwe, occasionally amphibious elephant and the small herds of tsessebe and greater kudu resident on the larger islands. Predators such as lion and leopard may be encountered.
Overnight
- Jacana or Xigera Camp (all meals & activities)
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| DAYS 6/7
- KWANDO RIVER - MUDUMU NATIONAL PARK, NAMIBIA
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Today you depart by light aircraft to the Kwando airstrip from where you will enjoy a boat ride on the magnificent Kwando River to scenic Lianshulu Lodge situated inside Namibia’s Mudumu National Park. Lianshulu Lodge accommodates guests in 9 twin rooms and 1 family room, each individually styled and tastefully furnished, with en-suite bathroom and secluded viewing deck. The camp is shaded by a fringe of dense riparian forest and overlooks the tranquil Kwando River. The airy thatched dining, lounge and bar areas open onto spacious, split-level wooden decks, affording sweeping views over the Lianshulu Lagoon. Breakfast, brunch and congenial dinners by candlelight are served on the deck. Two fireplaces, scenic outlooks and a secluded swimming pool create idyllic places to relax in the natural surroundings. The area is once again a contrast to the tight waterways of the Okavango Delta and opens into lush wilderness of riverine forest, marsh and open woodland.
Activities here include morning or sunset boat cruises, game drives in the park and visits to the Lizauli Traditional Village, a model homestead where members of the local community give fascinating insights into their way of life in this remote corner of Namibia. Many typical savannah species occur in the area including buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and waterbuck with elephant and hippo being particularly abundant. Predators are sometimes encountered and around 400 bird species have been recorded in the East Caprivi. Hippo, crocodiles and fish such as bream, tiger fish and catfish can be seen from the lodge’s deck.
Activities concentrate around the bushy and wooded islands, open plains and the seasonally flooded channels surrounding the camp. In this area local populations of plains game allow for game drives by day and night.
Overnight
- Lianshulu Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 8
- CAPRIVI STRIP / LIVINGSTONE – VICTORIA FALLS
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After a light breakfast, you depart by road to Livingstone, Zambia. This interesting 5-hour drive takes you across the Caprivi Strip and into Zambia via the border town of Katima Mulilo in Namibia. After crossing into Zambia, you continue through beautiful teak forests and African villages, stopping to visit the old cathedral of Mwandi. You arrive in the early afternoon at Toka Leya Camp, situated on the banks of the Zambezi River in the eastern sector of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park, 7 miles upriver from the falls.
Accommodation consists of 12 en-suite safari-style tents (3 of which are family rooms), each with a view of the magnificent Zambezi River. The dining and bar area are under a canopy of trees overlooking the River and there is a swimming pool. Activities include a tour of the Falls on the Zambian side, game drives, river cruises and fishing. Other activities on offer in the area at an additional charge include sunset cruises, helicopter flights, micro-lighting, canoeing, jet boating, and white water rafting.
Relax for the rest of the day.
Overnight
- Toka Leya Camp (all meals & most activities) |
| DAY 9
- LIVINGSTONE – VICTORIA FALLS / DEPART
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After a leisurely breakfast you will be taken on a guided tour of the falls. Afterwards you will be driven to the airport in time for your departing flight.
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FROM DECEMBER TO THE END OF APRIL, SHORT AFTERNOON SHOWERS CREATE THE GREEN SEASON IN BOTSWANA, PROMPTING A PROFUSION OF NEW LIFE. THIS IS THE BIRTHING TIME FOR MANY ANIMALS – WITH OPPORTUNISTIC PREDATORS TAKING ADVANTAGE. THE LIGHT RAINS BRING IN MILLIONS OF BIRDS AND DORMANT PLANTS BURST THROUGH DESERT SOIL. THIS FLYING SAFARI IS, VALID BETWEEN DECEMBER AND MARCH, TAKES YOU TO DIVERSE HABITATS - THE KALAHARI DESERT, OKAVANGO DELTA, KWANDO RIVER AND THE THUNDERING VICTORIA FALLS.
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