Central Kalahari & Okavango Delta Mobile Camping Safari

September 28, 2018September 28, 2018admin

Summary of this Budget Safari Package

Experience the contrasts of the harsh Central Kalahari and the Makgadikgadi Pans against the lush Khwai Community Area and Moremi Game Reserve of the Okavango Delta. Your expert guide takes you on daily game drives in an open-sided safari vehicle, searching out the abundant wildlife of these very varied habitats.

On this fully-serviced mobile camping safari, offering comfortable beds in walk-in tents with en-suite facilities, the support crew deals with all the cooking, chores and camp arrangements. This leaves you free to simply enjoy the experiences of being in the bush, watching wildlife and birds, and enjoying the beautiful landscapes. With a maximum of seven guests, all the mobile camps are set up in scenic private camping areas which are not shared with other visitors, making this a truly affordable exclusive camping safari.

Itinerary for this Tour

Tour Overview

1 Night Lodge on Boteti Riverfront
3 Nights serviced camping in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve
2 Nights serviced camping in the Makgadikgadi National Park in search of the Makgadikgadi Pans zebra migration
1 Night Private Lodge with habituated meerkat colony
3 Nights Khwai Community area neighbouring the famous Moremi Game Reserve

Day 1: Maun to Lodge on Boteti Riverfront – Botswana

You are welcomed on arrival in the busy, colourful city of Maun by your guide who will be with you for the duration of your safari. Your exact departure time depends on the commercial airline schedules and will be confirmed closer to the time of your safari. Leaving Maun around lunchtime, we travel south through the dry savannah and grazing lands to our lodge. We arrive in time to enjoy sundowners overlooking the seasonal Boteti River. We enjoy a delicious dinner served at lodge, while you simply rest, relax and explore a little, and you can relax under the amazing African night skies of Botswana.

Day 2 – 4: Boteti River to Central Kalahari Game Reserve – Botswana

Rising early, we depart after breakfast for the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where our base has been set up in a private camping area for the next three nights. Our drive takes us through dry savannah into the vast, harsh beauty of the famous Kalahari Desert. We arrive in time for lunch in our camp prepared by our cook and settle into our en-suite tents, which are set up ready and waiting for us.

Home to the reknowned Kalahari Lions and the nomadic San peoples, the 52800 km² reserve is the second largest in the world. The river valleys of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve landscape are ancient dried up rivers. After a little rain, these extinct river valleys and the vast scrub savannah plains flush with green grass, attracting huge herds of antelope, wildebeest, zebra, springbok and gemsbok in search of nutrition to feast on. You will see many pans – ancient flat lakebeds, contrasting vividly with the savannah scrub. .

After a light lunch, there is time to settle in, rest and relax before your afternoon game drive. Your knowledgeable guide will take you to local watering holes, hunting for the best opportunities for you to spot the amazing range of wildlife that survives in the harsh, stark environment, as the sun sets in the vast African skies.

Returning to camp, you have the luxury of a hot shower awaiting you in your tent, before you enjoy sumptuous three course dinner. We chat under the huge open star-filled skies, listening to the bark of the Kalahari gecko and all the other sounds of the bush around us.

We spend the next 2 days with our guide, exploring the unspoiled and unforgettable landscape of the Central Kalahari on early morning and evening game drives, taking lunch and time to relax at base camp in between. You may see the famous black maned Kalahari lions as we explore the fossilized river valleys of Deception Valley and Passarge Valley. We also visit Sundays Pan, a vast crater-like pan surrounded by high dunes and dotted with islands of acacia trees which the animals use for shelter in the mid-day heat. Cheetah, leopard and brown hyena are other predators attracted by the game here, and you may even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the endangered African wild dog.

Our evenings are spent chatting around the camp fire with drinks after a luxurious dinner, in the timeless African tradition, and soaking up the solitude of the vast, untouched wilderness of the Central Kalahari.

Day 5 & 6: Makgadikgadi Pans National Park – Botswana

This morning, after an early breakfast, we drive north east to the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Our journey takes us past through lunar landscape – the shorelines of the salt pans formed as Lake Makgadikgadi slowly evaporated into smaller and smaller lakes, millennia ago.

The Makgadikgadi pans – actually a group of separate pans – are the largest in the world, and cover over 16 000km2 of the Kalahari basin. Each year after the first rains these vast, inhospitable pans are the scene of the second largest game migration in Africa, the spectacular Mkgadikgadi-Nxai zebra migration.

We spend the next two days venturing out into the endless horizons of the Kalahari plains, on morning and afternoon game drives. We search out the zebra migration with our guide – despite numbering up to 30 000 animals, they can still hard to find in this never-ending landscape. You’ll never forget the sight of tens of thousands of black and white striped zebra, who come to the unspoilt oasis of the Makgadikgadi pans for the nutritious grasses and safe breeding grounds, in the midst of the huge, hostile desert.

Springbok, impala, gemsbok, giraffe, kudu, hartebeest, zebra, wildebeest also come for the rich grazing. Look out for the lions, bat eared fox, wild African dog, and brown hyenas who are never far from their prey. You will also pay a visit to the amazing seven Baines Baobabs, which are over 1000 years old – the same trees that Thomas Baines painted when he travelled in Botswana in 1865.

We have lunch at base camp during the heat of the day, taking our rest when the game do, and return after our afternoon game drives each evening to the comfort of our camp, to relax around the fire. With no light pollution, the stars in the skies never seem to end, as we relax and share our experiences of the day.

Day 7: Meerkat Colony – Makgadikgadi Pans – Botswana

Today, we set off to our lodge in a private concession just outside of the Makgadikgadi Pans National park. We arrive in time to settle in to our tents at the lodge before a leisurely lunch. Explore the camp with a stroll, take a dip in the pool, or have a siesta.

This afternoon we head out late to pay a visit to the habituated meerkat colony and get to know these charming social creatures, which live in colonies throughout Botswana. Don’t be alarmed if you find yourself being used as a lookout post by the meerkat on sentry duty. This evening we all enjoy a meal together at the lodge’s long table, before heading off to our tents.

Day 8 – 10: Khwai Community Area & the Okavango Delta – Botswana

Leaving the amazing contrasts of the Makgadikgadi pans behind us, we head for Maun this morning after breakfast, en route to the famous Okavango Delta. You’ll experience the local flavours when we visit a restaurant in Maun for lunch, surrounded by vibrant bustle of urban Botswana. After lunch, we set off to our next mobile tented camp, adjacent to the Moremi Game Reserve, in a private concession in the Khwai area.

A seemingly endless maze of lakes, waterways and rivers, covering up to 18 000 square kilometres, the Okavango Delta is a gentle green watery contrast to the harsh, stark beauty of the plains.

For the next three days we dive deeply into the spectacular scenery and rich wildlife of the unique ecosystem of the Okavango Delta.

You will get a chance to take a two and half hour mokoro trip, exploring the delta by water. The mokoro, a traditional dug-out canoe, is propelled by your expert guide standing with a pole behind you. This once in a lifetime mokoro safari gives you a really close up view of the Okavango Delta. As you’re steered through the reeds along the narrow channels, keep your eyes open for game. You could spot red lechwe or sitatunga in the water, or hidden on a papyrus raft. Or maybe get up close to an elephant drinking from the shores, as you silently navigate deep within the Okavango Delta’s, and the crystal clear waters and reeds teem with wildlife of a smaller kind too.

We take morning and night time game drives on each day, as we explore the Moremi Game Reserve area. Combining pans, grasslands, woodlands and lagoons and rivers, the varied habitats of the Moremi Game Reserve area offer exceptional good game viewing. Among the game you may see are elephant, hippo, many buck including buffalo, as well as wild dog and lions, and if you’re very lucky, leopard. Remember to look up – the skies are full of birdlife too.

Our night game drives take place outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Khwai community area – night drives are not permitted in the Moremi Game Reserve. You will experience the thrill of seeing some of the Okavango Delta’s nocturnal animals lit up by spotlight as you explore the dark African night. You may see porcupine snuffling along, a bushbaby (galago) perched up in a tree, or catch a glimpse of a leopard, serval or genet -amongst many others who are at home in the darkness of the Okavango Delta.

Returning to base camp from a night drive, you can really appreciate the beauty of the unspoilt night skies, and the air is rich with sounds of insects and birds, as you relax and chat about the sights of the day. We enjoy another hearty meal together, as we relive the sights and experiences of the day, before retiring to our tents.

Day 11: Okavango Delta – Maun – Botswana

This morning we leave the amazing Okavango Delta, after a last early morning game drive to take in some final memories from the Moremi Game Reserve. We say goodbye to our fantastic support team. If you have chosen the optional, additional 50 minute scenic flight over Chiefs Island, you will be dropped at the nearby bush airstrip, to gain an aerial view of the extraordinary wilderness of the Okavango Delta en route back to Maun.

If you don’t take this extra excursion, your guide will drive you overland to Maun, with a picnic lunch along the way – where you can say your final goodbyes and pick-up on your onward plans. You’ll be taking unforgettably powerful memories of the extreme and contrasting beauty of Botswana with you to remember forever.