Botswana’s safari experience is a lifelong one, for it’s not solely about the magnificence of the Okavango Delta and its diverse habitats, but the opportunity to marvel at it all from different angles … air, water, and land. Snaking its way mysteriously through a large slice of Botswana, is the legendary inland waterway, the Okavango Delta, an area of indescribable natural beauty, beyond imagining. Millions of litres of water reaches this part of the Kalahari Desert, enriching a habitat that is literally mind-blowing in the number of diverse species of mammal, fish and bird life that it supports. For visitors, a light aircraft flight over the Delta is not only scenically arresting, awe-inspiring for game tracking and viewing, but in certain cases, the single means of reaching the remote camps. Some camps are water based, others offer both wet and dry game viewing, so a slow meander through the watery corridors in a traditional canoe or mokoro, is balanced against the open safari vehicle, land-based game viewing experience.

The Delta may be Botswana’s best known asset, but the country boasts two of Africa’s finest game reserves: Moremi, famous for its vast herds of elephant, buffalo, giraffe and antelope; and up north, Chobe, with a reputation for the highest concentration of elephants worldwide. In Chobe a sunset cruise is a thrilling end to a day as hundreds of dusty elephants jostle at the river’s edge to quench their thirst. Within Chobe, lies the Linyanti Region where, in the dry season, the concentration of game makes it possible to witness huge numbers of buffalo in their thousands, simultaneously, followed by sizeable prides of lion. The Savuti Channel, too, is a unique part of Chobe: once home to the legendary Bushmen, their legacy of native paintings is still visible centuries later. The Makgadikgadi salt pans of the Kalahari in the south of Botswana also lay claim to wonderfully preserved Bushman artwork. Game viewing in this remote region is the complete opposite to the lush water ways and grasslands of the Delta. Here, sand dunes and vast dry pans are best enjoyed by quad bike.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Watch thousands of elephant converge on the Chobe River.
• See wild dog whilst game viewing in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve.
• See lions in abundance in Savuti.
• View prolific bird life in the world renowned Okavango Delta, whilst being gently poled along in a mokoro.
• Go on a game/nature walk in the Delta.