Botswana Wildlife Safari

Our tour starts today in Victoria Falls. Often referred to as the adventure capital of Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls offers a thrilling combination of land, air and water-based activities. For those arriving in time, our tour leader plans to meet you in the hotel reception at 6pm for a welcome meeting and for those that wish, there is the chance to go out for dinner. There are no other activities planned today, so you're free to arrive in Victoria Falls at any time. If you'd an airport transfer, you'll need to arrive into Victoria Falls Airport (VFA), which is around a 30-minute drive from the hotel. If you miss the welcome meeting, your tour leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. This evening, we'll either be staying at the Batonka Guest Lodge or Pioneer Lodge. The two are sister properties located just over 1 kilometre/0.6 miles from each other and are almost identical. Both are set in beautiful, landscaped gardens and feature a swimming pool, spacious rooms, an expansive terrace where breakfast is served, a bar and a stylish lounge and dining room which are both extremely comfortable. If your flight arrives earlier in the day, you might like to choose from a host of adventurous activities including white-water rafting, canoeing and cruises on the Zambezi River. Full details are listed in the 'Budgeting and packing' section of the trip notes.

This morning, we have a one-hour drive to the Kazungula land border where we cross from Zimbabwe to Botswana. Once border formalities are completed, we'll continue to our accommodation for a quick stop. With our bags dropped, it's time for our first safari. We'll head out for a late-afternoon drive in Chobe - the heart of elephant country, home to around 100,000 of the creatures. To get the best view of the wildlife, we use customised open-sided land cruisers. It's worth noting these can be a bit windy - it's a good idea to bring some layers for travel days. Please note, roads in Botswana aren't in the best condition and travel days might be slow and bumpy. It's all worth it to see the scenery and wildlife.

We have two game drives in Chobe National Park today - one in the morning and the second in the afternoon. If we're lucky, we'll spot herds of elephants around the southern bank of the Chobe River, where we might also find Chobe Bushbuck and Puku Antelope. We'll also be on the lookout for buffalos, kudus, elands, waterbucks, sables and roan antelopes, zebras, lions, leopards, impalas and reedbucks. In the river are hippos and crocodiles and the waters teem with bream, barbel and tiger fish (freshwater barracuda). Our tour leader will lay out the running time of the day depending on weather conditions to give us the very best viewing opportunities. This afternoon, there's also an optional cruise along the Chobe River, where you'll have a good chance of seeing lions, leopards and wild dogs from the boat. See the 'Budgeting and packing' section for prices.

As we travel south today, we'll explore the Savuti region, known for its wide-open plains, rolling grasslands, and marshes shaped by the unpredictable Savuti Channel. Once dry for over 20 years until it began flowing again in 2008, the channel has since returned to a more seasonal pattern, but the area remains rich in wildlife. We'll spend time watching the animals that gather here, with good chances of seeing elephants and lions, and possibly leopards. There's also plenty of birdlife to look out for, including bee-eaters and kori bustards. Tonight, we stay at a comfortable campsite in dome-style tents with private open-air en-suite facilities at the back. The tents are spacious enough to stand in and come fully set up with camp beds, mattresses, bedding, and duvets. There are also washstands, camping basins, and bucket showers, along with camping toilets. Our support team takes care of the camp setup, cooking, and cleaning, so we can relax and enjoy the experience.

Today, we'll begin to explore Savuti with game drives in the morning and late afternoon. The Savuti area is known for its wide-open, desert-like planes, which give us a good opportunity to spot lions roaming. Here, we might be lucky enough to spot big cats, antelopes, buffalo herds and elephants, to name just a few. The breathtaking landscape, with the Savuti Channel flowing through it, leading to marshland, attracts an abundance of wildlife and birdlife, giving us a great opportunity for game spotting.

This morning we'll continue over dirt roads into Moremi Game Reserve's Xakanaxa area (pronounced ka-ka-na-ka) or Khwai which is an integral part of the eastern waters of the Okavango Delta. The area is encompassed by Moremi Game Reserve and boasts some of the best game viewing in Africa. The game reserve has areas of dry lands rising between vast wetlands, and crystal-clear water channels on the edges of mopane and apple-leaf woodlands. Game viewing takes place alongside waterways and floodplains. Giraffes, zebras and wildebeests are just a few species that we might spot here, along with an astonishing variety of birds. For the next three nights, we'll wild camp in the reserve where the waters feed an abundance of flora and fauna, including the frequently visiting wild dogs. The beauty of wild camping is that we can migrate with the movements of Moremi's wildlife. Our crew will set up and break camp, handling all preparation, including cooking. Camping brings us back to basics but closer to Moremi's wildlife - imagine falling asleep to the sound of nearby hippos and waking up with nature at your feet. Please note that, due to exceptional rainfall and occasional flooding in Moremi Game Reserve, we may sometimes stay near Kizikini or Mababe, outside the park, if access becomes restricted or is closed at short notice by local authorities. Depending on conditions, we may also choose to spend three nights closer to Savuti. This flexibility helps us maximise wildlife-viewing opportunities while ensuring a safe and enjoyable safari experience.

We'll enjoy two game drives today. Setting off for our morning game drive at first, we'll get the chance to experience one of Africa's wonderlands with the chance to see hippos, crocodiles and a great variety of birds, as well as the elusive sitatunga antelope. This place is also an ornithologist's paradise with fish eagles, kingfishers, herons, storks, egrets, weavers and bee-eaters all regularly seen. We'll make our way to the banks and floodplains of the northeastern section of the Okavango Delta this morning. Returning for brunch, we'll have the hottest part of the day free at our campsite - a chance for a siesta, to relax reading a book or do a spot of birdwatching. We'll set off for our second game drive around 4pm, returning in the early evening. Game drives and activities vary from one day to the next, depending on sightings and animal activities, generally, we drive quite far and slowly to absolutely maximize game-viewing potential, all expertly guided by our highly experienced tour leader.

The mighty Okavango is the third largest river in southern Africa. The delta area covers 16,000 square kilometres/6,177 square miles and is made up of crystal-clear channels, countless fleeting lakes and ever-changing islands. The waters flow down in a south-easterly direction from the Angolan highlands, over 1,000 kilometres/621 miles away, taking up to six months to reach the delta area which floods on an annual cycle. Remaining in the Moremi Game Reserve, today we'll drive further into the delta area. The exceptional geography and topography attract amazing wildlife to the waterways and we'll begin game viewing on our arrival. Our guide will generally cover as wide an area as possible, so you have the best chance to see a variety of wildlife.

This morning, we'll take a slow drive out of Moremi, looking for wildlife along the way. Our destination is the Thamo Telele lodge, just outside of Maun - a luxury lodge with a resident herd of giraffe. The magnificent Thamo Telele is set amongst a lush forest of leadwood and acacia trees, around 25 minutes outside of Maun. Our lodge for tonight consists of luxury safari-style tents on raised wooden platforms with hardwood floors and en-suite bathrooms, all with outdoor showers and nature as the backdrop. The stylish canvas tents all have twin beds, which can be converted into doubles, and air conditioning above the bed. There's a swimming pool and a central main lounge and bar area, where you'll find comfy couches and locally designed wall art. The early afternoon is yours to enjoy at leisure - explore the lodge's wild surroundings on self-guided walking trails or simply unwind by the swimming pool.

Departing after breakfast, we'll drive up the west side of the Okavango delta panhandle to Shakawe, where we'll leave our vehicle behind and board a motor launch to our houseboat. On arrival, we'll meet our friendly crew who will be our hosts for the next two nights. After settling in, lunch is served in the top-floor dining room, with panoramic windows offering a backdrop of the Okavango River basin. The accommodation is comfortable but small and compact, with eight en-suite cabins. Each room has glass sliding doors that look out onto the wilderness of the remote panhandle area and there are seating areas for watching the sunset up on deck. The boat will be for our exclusive use during our stay. Due to seasonal variations in the level and strength of the river, the houseboat itself might only be able to access limited parts of the river for much of the year. During these times, we'll explore the river on smaller launches. We'll take a leisurely afternoon launch in the hope of cruising past submerging pods of hippos and crocodiles basking in the shallows and on the riverbanks. We'll return to the houseboat for dinner.

This morning, there is the opportunity to visit the intriguing and sacred World Heritage Site of the Tsodilo Hills. The San Bushmen community believe the hills are the site of the first creation and they painted an astonishing 4,000 rock paintings across 350 sites marking the area's significance. Here, four impressive rocks jut out of the expanse of the surrounding land, and it's believed by the San Bushmen that the largest of the rocks is the 'man', the second largest the 'woman', and the smallest the 'child'. The fourth rock, which stands apart from the others, is said to be the male's first wife. Some of the paintings are thought to be over 24,000 years old, and as well as the chance to see ancient rock paintings, the hills offer vast views across the countryside below. An expert local guide will accompany us around the site, interpreting a selection of the paintings. The tour will last around two hours, walking along a flat well-graded path. It's possible to opt out at any stage and return to the shade of the small museum located at the entrance of the site. After a late lunch back on board the houseboat, we'll head out for further wildlife viewing on board our launch. For those who wish to have more time on the houseboat, we'll offer a morning launch as an alternative to visiting Tsodilo Hills.

We'll have an early start this morning as we set off on the very long journey to Victoria Falls. Today's total journey time is approximately eleven hours (depending on time spent at the border crossings) including comfort breaks and a lunch break. The crossing point into Namibia is the Mohembo Border Post. The drive will take us through north to Namibia's Caprivi Strip, before heading to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The Caprivi Region has a colourful and interesting history, playing a central part in the Berlin Conference of 1890. Named after German Chancellor General Count Georg Leo von Caprivi di Caprara di Montecuccoli, the strip was once administered by the British before it was swapped for Zanzibar with the Germans at a time of great European political manoeuvring. We'll arrive in Victoria Falls in the late afternoon, just in time for a refreshing sundowner at our lodge accommodation.

Often referred to as the adventure capital of Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls is most famous for being home to one of the natural wonders of the world, its namesake - Victoria Falls. This morning we'll visit the falls from the Zimbabwean side of the river where the Zambezi River plummets over a sheer cliff wall spanning more than 1,676 meters/5,498 feet and dropping approximately 100 metres/328 feet into the abyss below. The locals named the waterfall, Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning 'the smoke that thunders' because of the plumes of water vapour that rise like smoke into the sky above the falls, accompanied by the deafening roar. After the visit you can take your time to further explore the network of paths and enclaves around the falls. This afternoon is free to relax, or you can book a two-hour game drive in Zambezi National Park in search of the Big 5. Alternatively, there is the option to take a scenic helicopter flight over the falls or go white-water rafting in the Zambezi. All activities can be booked at your lodge directly and full prices are available in the 'Budgeting and packing' section of the trip notes.

Our tour ends this morning after breakfast. Depending on the schedule of your departing flight, you might like to spend a few hours exploring the town independently. There are no activities planned today, so you're free to depart from Victoria Falls at any time. If your flight is departing later in the day, luggage storage facilities are available at our guesthouse. If you'd like an airport transfer today, you'll need to depart from Victoria Falls Airport (VFA), which is around a 30-minute drive from the hotel.