Highlights
Entrance & conservation fees to Okavango Delta
Open vehicle transfers into & out of Okavango Delta
Dug out canoes (mokoros) in the Okavango Delta
Local guides in the Okavango Delta
Game walks inside the Okavango Delta
Day 1: Nata (Botswana)
The tour departs early morning from Johannesburg and Pretoria from where we pick clients up from any backpackers hostel, guest house or hotel. Your guide will stop en-route for breakfast (own cost), banks and last minute shopping while still on the South African side of the border. The guide will assist you with changing money after you have crossed the border into Botswana. From where we head further north to Nata, where we camp the night.
Accommodation: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation.
Included meals: Dinner
Day 2: Maun (Botswana)
The day starts with an early morning breakfast, before heading west along the northern border of the Kalahari Desert to Maun, a small town on the edge of the Okavango Delta. This is a fairly short drive, which means that we arrive early enough to do all the shopping for things needed in the Okavango Delta.
We stay the night at Sitatunga campsite, which is a few kilometers outside Maun. This afternoon you can relax by the pool & pool bar or visit the crocodile farm where you will see hundreds of Nile crocodiles, ranging from small to 16 foot crocks.
Accommodation: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Days 3, 4, 5: Okavango Delta (Botswana)
The Okavango Delta must be one of the greatest experiences on offer in southern Africa. The Okavango Delta is a series of flood plains, waterways and rivers, that gets its water from Angola 6 months after the rain season. The Okavango Delta is not only extremely beautiful and peaceful, but also home to a large variety of animal and bird species. The best time to visit the Okavango Delta for game viewing is in the winter months, when the water levels are at its highest. The summer months attract a large variety of bird species and is a wonderful experience with less mammals, as they migrate north to larger quantities of water.
We start the day with a breakfast, before heading into the Okavango Delta with 4x4 open-sided game viewing vehicles which will take us all the way into the park to the edge of the water channels. Here we meet the local guides (polers), and we transfer all the equipment and our personal belongings into mokoros (traditional dug out canoes), which we use to glide down the water channels deeper into the Delta.
Camping in the Okavango Delta is an amazing experience in its own. There are no campsites in the concession that we visit, which means that we do free or bush camping. There will be no fences, no running water, no showers, no buildings and no electricity. We camp in the wild with only what we take with us. We enjoy a light lunch after setting up camp. It is normally very warm by this time of the day (especially in the summer), which means that we will have to cool off. The Okavango Delta offers fantastic natural swim pools in the smaller rivers, with white sand and crystal clear water.
Every day we will do early morning and late afternoon game walks, searching for as many different animal species as possible. The guides will explain more about all the animals, their tracks, the vegetation and the Delta during these walks. You may have the opportunity to get as close (safety first) to the wildlife of the Okavango Delta.
After dinners you can relax around a campfire, while listening to the nocturnal animals calling out in the night. We often hear elephants rumbling, lions roaring and jackals and hyenas crying out in the night.
You start your last morning in the Okavango delta with a cup of coffee before doing your final game walk. After the walk you will enjoy a quick breakfast, break down camp, and then return with the mokoros to the place where the 4x4 vehicles will meet you.
Your guide will prepare a light lunch on return to camp in Maun. This afternoon you have the opportunity to do an optional one hour game flight over the Okavango Delta. This is another fantastic experience. It is amazing how much distance the small planes cover in an hour, and how much wildlife you see from the skies during the flight. Remember to take your camera, as you can take good photos during a flight.
Accommodation - Days 3 & 4: Free bush camping
Accommodation - Day 5: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 6: Palapye (Botswana)
We leave Maun after breakfast driving south to Palapye, where you can relax by the pool. You will stop for lunch (own cost).
Accommodation: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation.
Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 7: Return to Johannesburg & Pretoria (South Africa)
We depart early morning driving further south crossing the border into South Africa. The guide will drop you at any backpackers hostel, hotel, guest house or the airport in Johannesburg & Pretoria. Your guide will stop en-route for breakfast and lunch (own cost).
Included meals: No meals included