Countries: Botswana
Destinations: Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park , Okavango Delta
Group Size: 2
Duration (days): 10
Number of Adults: 2
Number of Children: 0
This comprehensive itinerary takes you to three premier Natural Selection camps in two vastly different wildlife areas of Botswana. You’ll be spending three spectacular nights at each camp starting at Jack’s Camp in the Makgadikgadi one of the most iconic camps in Africa, an oasis of style and old-world glamour in a landscape of savage beauty.
You will then head to two camps located in The Okavango Delta. Set amid the pristine landscape of Botswana’s acclaimed Moremi Game Reserve, Tawana offers an unrivalled discovery of the Okavango Delta. Tuludi is located in the pristine wilderness of the Khwai Private Reserve to the east, with game-rich floodplains, winding waterways and emerald forests attracting all the stars of the safari show.
Itinerary Outline
Day 1 : Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park
On arrival in Maun you will be met and assisted on to a lightaircraft for your flight to the Makgadikgadi Pans. You will be met at the airstrip and taken to Jack's Camp where you will spend 3 nights on a fully inclusive basis.
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.
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park
The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in the centre of Botswana are the remnants of the largest lake in Africa, which dried up thousands of years ago. The shimmering white, deadly landscape adds to Botswana's adventurous reputation, with only the bravest of early explorers having the courage to try and cross the seemingly endless wasteland.
We are fortunate nowadays to explore these pans from the comfort of a 4x4, and the luxury of lodges with swimming pools and shaded tents. However, even with these amenities, the Makgadikgadi Pans evoke a sense of adventure in travellers. Including the salt pans in a Botswana safari adds to the remarkable variety of your holiday, and to the beauty of your photo album.
North of the main pans is Nxai Pan National Park, which is a stunning destination for nature lovers and safari enthusiasts. The park is famous for its vast grass plains, seasonal salt pans, and diverse wildlife, including elephants, zebras, bat-eared foxes, leopards and lions. During the wet season, the landscape transforms, attracting migratory animals and a wide variety of birdlife, making it a prime spot for birdwatching and wildlife photography.
A highlight of the park is the ancient Baines' Baobabs, a cluster of majestic baobab trees that offer a striking backdrop for visitors. The dry season reveals a different beauty, with golden plains and wildlife gathering around scarce water sources, creating serene and memorable moments.
Nxai Pan is a hidden gem in Botswana, offering an authentic African safari experience where untamed nature and breathtaking scenery provide the perfect escape for adventurers and travelers alike.
After several decades of setting the standard in the Kalahari, Jack’s Camp underwent a full rebuild and reopened in 2021.
The brand-new Jack’s Camp pays homage to the property’s enduring and much-loved 1940s campaign style. The guest tents, seven twins and two doubles, are much larger and each is 270 square metres in size. The iconic interiors remain and are embellished with rich textiles from around the world, Natural History Museum cabinets, and an overhead bed cooling system. Ensuite bathrooms have both indoor and outdoor showers and outside, each veranda has a private plunge pool.
The new, larger mess tent is resplendent with the renowned Natural History Museum, library, antique pool table and a well-stocked drinks chest. The iconic nomadic Persian tea tent has been made larger and the shop has been renovated and restocked with new treasures.
Day 2 - 3 : Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park
Spend the next two days enjoying a wide variety of activities on offer at Jack's Camp. These include game drives, walking safaris, fly camping, quad biking, night drives and cultural excursions (Bushman walks).
Day 4 : Okavango Delta
Next you'll head to the stylish North Island Okavango, winner of a number of prestigious awards including the Travel + Leisure IT List Winner for Best New Hotels 2024. Each spacious tented suite is designed around a congregation of beautiful big trees, with expansive lagoon views. Here you’ll safari amongst the islands, rich with wild things and extraordinary beauty.
This is an unforgettable Okavango Delta safari experience, and it won’t take you long to settle into the pure bliss of your surroundings. With the camp being at the head of the Delta where water levels are higher for longer, guests are able to enjoy water based activities for most of the year.
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.
You can’t dream this kind of adventure up. The camp itself is located on a private island, surrounded by a mosaic of other islands all netted together by shining lagoons and transient channels. Between the floodplains, open savannah and woodlands, there is an abundance of wildlife everywhere.
Each tent has been designed around a congregation of beautiful big trees, with exceptional lagoon views. Delights of ebony, mangosteen, rain trees, leadwood and wild fig. The adventure here comes to you in waves, as you safari amongst the islands, rich with wild things and extraordinary beauty. This is without doubt, an incredible Okavango Delta safari experience.
Designed around comfort and luxury, it won’t take you long to settle right in. Here you’ll be blissfully unaware of anything else, other than the tranquility and beauty of your surroundings. This is also an exciting opportunity to experience the joy of the Okavango Delta done three ways. On land, on water and in the air. Each new adventure, as extraordinary as the last. The wildlife opportunities in and around camp are exceptional and discovering this idyllic island landscape for yourself will not only delight, but also leave you full to the brim with adventure filled stories to share.
Day 5 - 6 : Okavango Delta
For the next two days enjoy morning and late afternoon game drives. Mokoro (dug out canoe) safaris are also on offer.
Day 7 : Okavango Delta
After breakfast you will be taken back to the airstrip for your flight to Tawana in the Okavango Delta. On arrival at the airstrip you will be met and driven to Tawana Camp. Spend 3 nights here on a fully inclusive basis.
Immerse yourself in one of Africa’s last true wilderness areas. Set amid the pristine landscapes of Botswana’s iconic Moremi Game Reserve, Natural Selection’s new-build camp – Tawana – offers an unrivalled discovery of the Okavango Delta and the wider wilderness ecosystem of northern Botswana.
Opened in May 2024, Tawana has been created to stand in harmony with the lush forests and grasslands that line the banks of the perennial Gomoti river, blending the romance of a contemporary safari camp with unforgettable safari experiences.
When it comes to wildlife, seasoned African travellers speak of the Moremi in awe. Stretching across nearly 5000 square kilometers [1900 square miles], the Moremi Game Reserve is a magical corner of Botswana renowned for its high concentration of antelope, predators and large herbivores. Tawana is entirely unfenced, allowing the wildlife to wander right through the heart of the camp, unhindered. Here, the wilderness surrounds you each minute of the day.
This new addition to the Natural Selection portfolio is born of a partnership with Chief Tawana Moremi, the paramount chief of the Batawana tribe. For centuries his forefathers have called this land their home. Chief Tawana has partnered with Natural Selection to safeguard this pristine ecosystem for future generations, while providing much-needed opportunities for his people.
In Tawana we celebrate both the cultural heritage and rich wilderness of the region while offering a handful of fortunate guests the freedom to experience one of the last truly wild corners of Africa.
