There’s more to Botswana than its famous Okavango Delta
To get a taste of the Delta’s incredibly beautiful wilderness, take a look at the
National Geographic documentary, which chronicles a team of modern-day explorers, led by conservation biologist Steve Boyes on an epic four-month, 1500-mile expedition across three countries to save the Okavango river system. (Trailer, 2:16 mins)
Botswana offers an all-round safari experience, whether you are travelling alone, as a couple or with family or friends.
The magnificent Okavango Delta and its diversity of habitats is astounding enough. Add opportunity to gaze at it from different angles by air, water and land and you have the ideal safari experience!
A legendary inland waterway, the Okavango Delta slices sinuously through a large part of Botswana, creating an area of unimaginable natural splendour. Millions of liters of water reach miraculously into this part of the Kalahari Desert, infinitely enriching an environment that supports an incredible diversity of mammals, fish and bird life.
Birdseye view of the Delta
Traditional Mokoro, aka dug out canoe
Yours truly testing the waters
To fly over the Delta in a light aircraft for the tracking and viewing of game is scenically arresting and awe-inspiring. It is also, in certain cases, the only way to reach the more remote camps! Some camps are water based, others offer both water- and land-based game viewing. Here you can meander slowly through the watery courses in a traditional Mokoro (dug-out canoe), or travel over land in an open safari vehicle.
Botswana may be best known for its Delta, but the country also boasts two of Africa’s finest game reserves: Moremi, renowned for its huge herds of elephant, buffalo, giraffe and antelope; and Chobe, further north, thought to have the highest concentration of elephants in the world. For a thrilling end to a memorable day, take a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, and watch hundreds of dusty elephants ponderously cavorting with each other at the river’s edge as they quench their thirst.
Cape Hunting Dog, aka Wild Dog, aka Painted Dog
Elephants at the Chobe River
The Linyanti region lies within Chobe and here, in the dry season, the concentration of game is such that visitors will see buffalo by the thousands, followed by sizeable prides of lion. The Savuti Channel, also a part of the Chobe region, stakes its own unique claim – here the legendary San Bushmen left their unique mark of cave art on the rocks around their ancient homeland.
Further San Bushman artwork is marvelously preserved in the Makagadikgadi Salt Pans, at the edge of the Kalahari Desert in central Botswana. The scenery and game viewing in this remote region is altogether different from the lush waterways and grasslands of the Delta. Here, on the sand dunes and in the vast salt pans, horseback and quad bike excursions are the order of the day.
BOTSWANA’S MUST DO EXPERIENCES:
- Watch in awe as thousands of elephants converge on the Chobe River
- See Wild dogs, aka Painted Dogs as you traverse the Moremi Wildlife Reserve
- View the abundance of lions in the Savuti marshland
- Enjoy the prolific bird life in the world-famous Okavango Delta, as you gently float along in a Mokoro (dug-out canoe)
- Take a guided game or nature walk in the Delta
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It was just a fantastic and wonderful sundowner, so much fun and like nothing that has happened to us before or since. It was hard to believe that we were out in the middle of Africa sipping chilled white wine (my choice) from a table covered with a white tablecloth.
As I told our hosts, I liked their style! Hats off to Savuti and the wonderful people who made our stay so memorable and so much fun.”
-Shirley S. and family
