12 Day Northern Wings
Countries: Botswana
Destinations: Okavango Delta , Savuti , Chobe National Park
Group Size: 7
Duration (days): 12
Number of Adults: 7
Number of Children: 0
A 12 day safari with a focus on birdwatching. This comprehensive safari visits the Okavango, Savuti and Chobe.
Itinerary Outline
| Day | Location | Accommodation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Moremi |
| 2 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Moremi |
| 3 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Moremi |
| 4 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Mababe |
| 5 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Mababe |
| 6 | Okavango Delta | Letaka Tented Camp - Mababe |
| 7 | Savuti | Letaka Tented Camp - Savuti |
| 8 | Savuti | Letaka Tented Camp - Savuti |
| 9 | Savuti | Letaka Tented Camp - Savuti |
| 10 | Chobe National Park | Letaka Tented Camp - Chobe River Front |
| 11 | Chobe National Park | Letaka Tented Camp - Chobe River Front |
| 12 | Day of Departure |
Day 1 : Okavango Delta
After your arrival at Maun International Airport (arrival flight not included in quotation) you will be met by Mack Air for your charter flight to the Xakanaxa airstrip in Moremi Game Reserve where you will be met by your guide. Your first 3 nights are spent at Letaka Tented Camp on a fully inclusive basis in the Xakanaxa region. You will have a game drive in the afternoon.
Botswana
Well known as one of the great safari destinations in Africa, Botswana offers some of the most beautiful, luxurious, and active safari experiences in Africa.
A Botswanan safari can never be long enough, and never experienced often enough. Although one of the flattest countries you will ever visit, Botswana is blessed with an incredible variety of landscapes and eco-systems.
It is the very flatness of Botswana which has created some of the world's most special wilderness areas, and exploring the Kalahari, Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi Salt Pans rewards you with memories for a lifetime.
Easily accessible from Johannesburg, and simply combined with Victoria Falls, Botswana needs to be on your safari list if you are planning a visit to Southern Africa.
As soon as you land in Maun or Kasane, you will know that you have arrived in a country which operates like nothing you have experienced before.
With the warthogs running through the streets of Kasane, and the hippos grunting in the Chobe River, your welcome to Botswana is one which tells you straight away you are in Africa's wilds.
Okavango Delta
The very word "Okavango" evokes a sense of adventure and exploration, and this is exactly what the Okavango Delta is about. Often called the Okavango Swamps, this intricate maze of waterways and sandy islands is an explorer's dream, and the destination should be on the wishlist of anyone looking for a unique travel experience.
The geology of the Delta is fascinating, with its creation being attributed to tectonic plate action from thousands of years ago causing the Kavango River to flow from Angola into the Kalahari Desert as opposed to the Atlantic Ocean.
So while the vegetation is lush, and the wildlife plentiful, the waterways are actually cutting through Kalahari Desert sand, and the entire delta is an enormous oasis.
Termites are credited with the creation of the many islands around which the water slowly flows, as their mounds, common features of the landscape, are responsible for the formation of sand and foliage around them.
There is a continuous scurry of life in the Delta, from the smallest of creatures to the largest of elephants, and every twist and turn of the channels brings some new form of life into view. The Okavango Delta is truly one of nature's greatest creations.
Letaka Tented Camp - Moremi
Contained within an area of approximately 3900 sq kms, The Moremi is an exceedingly picturesque preserve of floodplains – either seasonally or perennially wet, waterways, lagoons, pools, pans, grasslands and riparian, riverine and mopane forests.
This makes for spectacular game viewing and bird watching, including all major naturally occurring herbivore and carnivore species in the region, and over 400 species of birds, many migratory and some endangered.
The camp's tents are 4 x 3m Sahara style tents with high roof with a 2 x 3m en-suite bathroom and a 2 x 3m covered area in front of the tent. The tents are fitted with solid base camp beds made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets and pillows. The tents have en-suite long drop toilet facilities and a bucket shower at the rear of the tent. Showers can be ordered as hot, cold or warm and the water is heated in a bucket on the fire. Showers may be taken at any time but on Kalahari safaris the guide withholds the right to limit water use and showering depending upon the availability of water. Both hand towels and bath towels are supplied for the guests’ convenience but guests should bring their own personal items and toiletries.
Each tent has an oil/paraffin lamp on the veranda and in the bathroom and within the tent itself, a LED rechargeable camp light is supplied along with a side table in the sleeping area and in the bathroom. Although each tent has lighting and there are lamps strategically around the camp for navigation, an essential tool for your safari is a headlamp which lets you read a book at night in your tent or catch up with your safari journal as you listen to the sounds of the wild outside!
For families travelling with younger children on private trips, Letaka Safaris have designed a family safari tent, ensuring the children’s safety and their parent’s peace of mind. A family tent is a two-bedroom unit with an adjoining bathroom and lockable exit/entrance with each tent taking 2 people in each.
Day 2 - 3 : Okavango Delta
Your next 2 days are spent in the Xakanaxa region where you will explore the surrounding wilderness on morning and afternoon game drive excursions. You are bound to see excellent and diverse sightings of wildlife in the extremely variable habitat.
Day 4 : Okavango Delta
Following an early morning breakfast you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai and Mababe Areas. On this moving day we shall do a mokoro excursion in the calmer back-waters of the Khwai and Mbudi channels as opposed to doing the mokoro in the quicker moving section of the Khwai River that runs through Mababe.
Habitat: The Manuchira Channel is known as the Khwai River at its eastern most extremity. The day’s journey follows this water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands that to the Mababe Private Reserve where we camp on the banks of the Khwai River before it flows out and into the Mababe Depression. We pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo and shall game drive through Khwai until we reach Mababe.
Letaka Tented Camp - Mababe
Set-up in an exclusive campsite in the Mababe concession that has a strict maximum of 20 vehicles for the whole concession at any given time. We get to explore the river banks, Kalahari shrub to the east, cathedral mopane to the south on game drives both during the day and at night. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day.
We will also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot (please note that this activity is seasonal based on rains and grass height, your guide will determine the safety of walking in Mababe) to enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves. These activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Mababe Private Reserve.
The camps tents are 4 x 3m Sahara style tents with high roof with a 2 x 3m en-suite bathroom and a 2 x 3m covered area in front of the tent. The tents are fitted with solid base camp beds made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets and pillows. The tents have en-suite long drop toilet facilities and a bucket shower at the rear of the tent. Showers can be ordered as hot, cold or warm and the water is heated in a bucket on the fire. Showers may be taken at any time but on Kalahari safaris the guide withholds the right to limit water use and showering depending upon the availability of water. Both hand towels and bath towels are supplied for the guests’ convenience but guests should bring their own personal items and toiletries.
Each tent has an oil/paraffin lamp on the veranda and in the bathroom and within the tent itself, a LED rechargeable camp light is supplied along with a side table in the sleeping area and in the bathroom. Although each tent has lighting and there are lamps strategically around the camp for navigation, an essential tool for your safari is a headlamp which lets you read a book at night in your tent or catch up with your safari journal as you listen to the sounds of the wild outside!
For families travelling with younger children on private trips, Letaka Safaris have designed a family safari tent, ensuring the children’s safety and their parent’s peace of mind. A family tent is a two-bedroom unit with an adjoining bathroom and lockable exit/entrance with each tent taking 2 people in each.
Day 5 - 6 : Okavango Delta
The Khwai River meanders through the concession giving ample riverside routes to explore. We spend the following two nights camping at an exclusive campsite in the Mababe concession that has a strict max of 20 vehicles for the whole concession at any given time, exploring the river banks, Kalahari shrub to the east, cathedral mopane to the south on game drives both during the day and at night. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day. We will also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot (please note that this activity is seasonal based on rains and grass height, your guide will determine the safety of walking in Mababe) to enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves. These activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Mababe Private Reserve.
Day 7 : Savuti
Today you head further north to Chobe National Park, on a fascinating day's drive looking at evidence of the Paleo-Lake Makgadikgadi that dried up some ten thousand years ago. You will spend 3 nights in a Letaka Tented Camp on a fully inclusive basis in an exclusive wilderness campsite in the Savuti region.
Savuti
Situated about mid-way between the Chobe River and the Okavango Delta, Savuti is a harsh, arid landscape, which until recently, was only watered by the annual rains. These rains were the lifeblood of the Savute Marsh, which would then play host to huge herds of zebra, as they migrate from the north.
However, after about 30 years of dryness, the Savuti Channel has started to flow again, changing the dynamics of the area, and providing year round water access to the resident animals.
Stretching from the waterways of the Linyanti all the way to Savute Marsh, the winding waterways of the channel have pumped life into the western section of Chobe National Park for many thousands of generations. But this fickle and unpredictable channel has a fascinating history of flooding and drying up independently of good rainy seasons and flood levels elsewhere - a mystery that has intrigued geologists and other researchers for many years.
When David Livingstone discovered the Savute Channel in 1851 it was flowing. Thirty years later the channel had disappeared and the Savute Marsh had dried out, remaining this way for almost 80 years. It flowed again in the late 1950s, continuing until the early 1980s when it again receded, gaining the channel its reputation as ‘the river which flows in both directions.’
In 2009, after another extended hiatus, the channel began flowing again and by January 2010 had spilled into the Savute Marsh for the first time in three decades.
Savute has long been spoken of in awe by safari enthusiasts due to its wild reputation, and fierce concentration of predators.
Letaka Tented Camp - Savuti
Unlike the vast majority of the country, Central Chobe is not a totally flat landscape. Large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands, towering over the endless savannah. These hills provide habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants.
The Savuti Marsh has been the stage for many of the most dramatic wildlife documentaries in Africa. The wide open country, good ungulate populations and particularly strong prides of lion and hyaena clans make for dramatic wildlife interaction and excellent viewing opportunities. The now dry Savuti Channel runs through this landscape linking the dry sand-veld, the waterholes, the hills and the grassland that was the Savuti Marsh.
The camp's tents are 4 x 3m Sahara style tents with high roof with a 2 x 3m en-suite bathroom and a 2 x 3m covered area in front of the tent. The tents are fitted with solid base camp beds made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets and pillows. The tents have en-suite long drop toilet facilities and a bucket shower at the rear of the tent. Showers can be ordered as hot, cold or warm and the water is heated in a bucket on the fire. Showers may be taken at any time but on Kalahari safaris the guide withholds the right to limit water use and showering depending upon the availability of water. Both hand towels and bath towels are supplied for the guests’ convenience but guests should bring their own personal items and toiletries.
Each tent has an oil/paraffin lamp on the veranda and in the bathroom and within the tent itself, a LED rechargeable camp light is supplied along with a side table in the sleeping area and in the bathroom. Although each tent has lighting and there are lamps strategically around the camp for navigation, an essential tool for your safari is a headlamp which lets you read a book at night in your tent or catch up with your safari journal as you listen to the sounds of the wild outside!
For families travelling with younger children on private trips, Letaka Safaris have designed a family safari tent, ensuring the children’s safety and their parent’s peace of mind. A family tent is a two-bedroom unit with an adjoining bathroom and lockable exit/entrance with each tent taking 2 people in each.
Day 8 - 9 : Savuti
Unlike the vast majority of the country, Savuti is not a totally flat landscape. Large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands, towering over the endless savannah. You will explore this region for the next 2 days, with these hills providing habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants. You will also have the opportunity to strike out on walks to see Bushman paintings.
Day 10 : Chobe National Park
We will leave Savuti early to travel north towards the Chobe River stopping along the way for lunch before arriving at our final campsite near the Chobe River.
Habitat: The habitat on today’s drive takes us through the stunted mopane scrub of the Goha clay basin, across the sand-ridge and through the wonderful Zambezi teak woodlands of the Chobe Forest Reserve and along the Chobe River itself. The Chobe floodplain is tens of kilometers wide and in years of exceptional rains the water stretches as far as the eye can see.
Chobe National Park
Accessed easily via a 1.5 hour flight from Johannesburg, or a 1 hour drive from Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park is the most visited park on a Boswana safari itinerary.
With an enormous elephant population, as well as magnificent birdlife and a huge array of herbivores and aquatic animals, it is often hard to believe that Chobe National Park is for real.
The game viewing starts from the moment you land at Kasane Airport, or drive across the border from Zambia or Zimbabwe, with warthogs foraging in the streets, buffalo being habitual visitors to the town, and hippos lazing around in the river.
Letaka Tented Camp - Chobe River Front
This Letaka tented Camp has a beautiful location near the Chobe River.
The camps tents are 4 x 3m Sahara style tents with high roof with a 2 x 3m en-suite bathroom and a 2 x 3m covered area in front of the tent. The tents are fitted with solid base camp beds made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets and pillows. The tents have en-suite long drop toilet facilities and a bucket shower at the rear of the tent. Showers can be ordered as hot, cold or warm and the water is heated in a bucket on the fire. Showers may be taken at any time but on Kalahari safaris the guide withholds the right to limit water use and showering depending upon the availability of water. Both hand towels and bath towels are supplied for the guests’ convenience but guests should bring their own personal items and toiletries.
Each tent has an oil/paraffin lamp on the veranda and in the bathroom and within the tent itself, a LED rechargeable camp light is supplied along with a side table in the sleeping area and in the bathroom. Although each tent has lighting and there are lamps strategically around the camp for navigation, an essential tool for your safari is a headlamp which lets you read a book at night in your tent or catch up with your safari journal as you listen to the sounds of the wild outside!
For families travelling with younger children on private trips, Letaka Safaris have designed a family safari tent, ensuring the children’s safety and their parent’s peace of mind. A family tent is a two-bedroom unit with an adjoining bathroom and lockable exit/entrance with each tent taking 2 people in each.
Day 11 : Chobe National Park
Today will be spent looking for birds and animals in this very productive area of the Chobe National Park.
Day 12 - Day of Departure
Your last day on safari will find you up early to make your way towards Kasane for a 3 hour boat cruise on the Chobe River. From here, your guide can drop you at Kasane Airport in time for checking in for the Johannesburg flight or transferring across to Victoria Falls.