Photographic Safari

DAY 1:

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

Arrive at Kasane International Airport. You will be met at the Airport by a Marvelous Mobile Safari guide who will take you to your hotel. Look out for a sign board that reads “MARVELOUS MOBILE SAFARI”..You will be transferred from Kasane to Victoria Falls for your activities at the Falls.You will stay for a night at your own preferred hotel/lodge on bed and breakfast basis at your own expense. Lunch and dinner will be served also at your own expense.

DAY 2-3:

CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

Wake up early to take a beautiful trip to the famous Chobe National Park. You will notice when we drive the vegetation changes from time to time. Along the way you get mophane woodland and acacia tortilis. Chobe National Park is mostly dominated by the Zimbabwe teak, which is very good for making furniture. On the way we will see lots of animals until we get to the Chobe enclave which incorporates five villages. We arrive at Chobe National Park around lunch. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served every day. After a siesta you will go for an afternoon game drive along the Chobe River where we will see big herds of buffalo, elephant, pods of hippos, and prides of lions. Chobe is a unique park because during dry season big herds of animals congregate along the river. You will see elephants swimming from one bank to the other, buffalos crossing to Sedudu Island. Get back from a beautiful game drive, freshen up and have dinner. Bedtime is determined by the last guest.

DAY 4:

ELEPHANT SANDS

Arrive at Elephant Sand. You will camp here for one night. You will be using permanent ablutions here. You will later go for your night drive with a professional guide. You will get to see animals in their natural habitants.

DAY 5-6:

NATA BIRD SANCTUARY

Depart to Nata bird sanctuary. The Nata Bird Sanctuary is a community managed reserve on the Sowa pan where bird life and wildlife is protected. The Sowa pan forms a part of the Makgadikgadi Pans. You will experience the magnificent vast open space of the salt pans driving towards the look out point and with luck you will find the flamingos who come to breed in the winter. It is one of the greatest breeding sites for lesser and greater flamingos in the world. There are more than 150 other bird species to be found such as pelicans, stilts, korhaans, bustards and spoonbills. Birding tours in Africa give you an experience of both wildlife, primate and culture tours because birds are found in all these habitats. The birds are abundant and generally easy to see in their habitats in both protected and unprotected community land. Our bird watching tours will take you across the country traversing different bird habitats with professional bird guides. Other wildlife to be seen here includes springbok, ostriches, jackal, oryx, hartebeest, wildebeast and kudu

DAY 7:

MAKGADIKGADI (GWETA)

The Makgadikgadi forms part of the Kalahari Basin, located in the central region of Botswana and consists of a number of pans. The area it covers is about the size of Portugal. It was an enormous lake in the ancient past but when that dried up these dazzling white pans were all that remained. The Makgadikgadi is extremely arid and waterless for most of the year and it is hard to see how anything can survive, yet you'll see evidence of stone-age habitation and spot smaller creatures that have adapted to life in such extremes. When the rains do come, the pans are totally transformed, attracting abundant game, predators, thousands of Pink Flamingos and other astounding bird species. You will camp here for two nights. You will get a chance to camp out in the open and watch the sun as it rises and goes down. In the evening you will enjoy star gazing, it is an amazing experience you will never forget. “You'll enjoy a unique sense of freedom here in the Makgadikgadi pans”.

DAY 8-9:

LEKHUBU ISLAND

Wake up early and head for Lekhubu Island immediately after breakfast. Lekhubu Island is a rock outcrop which was submerged in the waters of the great Lake Makgadigkadi which was one of the largest lakes in Africa. Kubu is a Setswana name for hippopotamus, while Lekhubu means a rock outcrop.

About 10 000 years ago the Lake Makgadikgadi dried up and Lekhubu was left, an island surrounded by miles and miles of white salt. Research indicates that climatic changes and earth movements over thousands and thousands of years caused this dramatic change to take place. Low rock walls on the southern side of Lekhubu Island date back to the great Zimbabwean empire.

Packed lunch will be served along the way. Upon arrival, clients will be taken for a game drive and later return to camp for a shower and dinner before heading to bed.

DAY 10:

RAKOPS VILLAGE

Rakops, also called Tsienyane, is a village located in the Central District of Botswana. It is positioned South-West of Makgadikgadi Pan, which is a large salt pan in the middle of the dry Savanna of North-Eastern Botswana. Activities here include cultural tours around the village as well as cultural dancing, story telling of the people who live here. Enjoy a cultural experience and learn about the history of the San people. You will camp here for one night.

DAY 11-12:

CKGR

After breakfast we depart to Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which covers an area of 52 000 square kilometers. The region of vast open plains, salt pans and ancient riverbeds is home to large herds of springbok, gemsbok. Blue wildebeest, red hartebeest and the largest of all antelopes, the eland. Made famous by Mark and Delia Owen in the book Cry of the Kalahari, we will camp here for two nights. During our stay here we will track the black maned lion of the Kalahari. African wild dogs, cheetahs, brown hyenas can also be found following their prey in this unmated wilderness. The black maned lion of the Kalahari has a dominant colour, its adaptation is very high and therefore it can survive in harsh conditions.

Wake up at around 06:00 for a light breakfast and then head out in search of honey badgers and jackal whilst keeping a look out for lion, cheetah and wild dog. Return to camp for lunch, and a siesta. In the afternoon, a trip to the famous Deception Valley, campsite of the unorthodox Owens during their research and where their book, The Cry of the Kalahari, was written. The valleys are a unique ecosystem within the Kalahari and one can expect to find large concentrations of springbok and gemsbok on the verdant beds of sweet desert grasses. Meerkat abound and there is always a good chance of brown hyena and some unexpectedly good birding.

Deception Valley hosts huge herds of gemsbok, springbok, wildebeest and hartebeest, as well as giraffe, brown hyena, warthog, wild dog, cheetah, leopard, lion, eland and meerkat. Game viewing is best between December and April, when the animals tend to congregate in the pans and valleys, attracted to the area by the flush of sweet grasses that flourish in the ancient valley following the rains. Time will be spent exploring Deception Valley, visiting the Deception Pan and an excursion to the Piper Pan area searching for other intriguing desert species.

DAY 13-14:

MAKGADIKGADI NATIONAL PARK

Depart for Makgadikgadi National park. You will drive along the A3 road which interconnects Maun and Nata. Upon arrival at the entrance gate, clients will have a chance to do a game drive before they get to their full set campsite. Arrive at the camp site, freshen up and then lunch follows. After lunch you will go for a siesta. After siesta have high tea and then resume your afternoon game drive within the park. Come back before sunset, have a shower and then dinner will be served. Time for bed will be determined by the clients.

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is one of the largest flat salt pans in the world. During the wet season (November to March), wildlife viewing is excellent, particularly when large herds of zebra and wildebeest begin their westward migration to the Boteti region. Species include gemsbok, eland and red hartebeest, as well as kudu, bushbuck, duiker, giraffe, springbok, steenbok, and even elephant, with all the accompanying predators, as well as the rare brown hyena.

DAY 15-16:

NXAI SALT PANS

We will then depart for Nxai Pan National Park. It takes about 4 hours to reach the salt pans. We will bring packed lunches and snacks with us. Upon arrival, we will set up camp, and there will be time for you to relax and refresh yourself after the trip. After the siesta, you will join your Professional Guide for a short game drive around the pan until sunset, coming back to camp in time for a shower before dinner under the African sky.

Wake up at around 06:00am and have a light breakfast before your day trip - a game drive to explore Nxai Pan. We’ll expect to see elephants, giraffes, impalas, wildebeest, zebras, and some of the big predators. We’ll bring along packed lunches and snacks as we’ll be spending the whole day in the bush.

The game drive will include a trip to Baines Baobabs. Baines Baobabs were named after the famous 20th century painter and explorer who painted this unusual group of baobabs during his journey through southern Africa in 1862. The baobabs stand on the edge of a large salt pan that, although dry for most of the year, transforms into a massive sheet of water dotted with water lilies during the rainy season from December to March. During those wet months, water birds abound at the lagoon and create a spectacle of great beauty. We will drive back to camp in the evening, just in time to relax and take a shower before a superb dinner cooked over an open fire.

DAY 17:

MAUN

Arrive in Maun, Botswana’s tourism hub. Maun is Botswana’s tourism capital and lies on the southern fringes of the Okavango Delta. You will sleep here for one night and stock for your essentials before proceeding to the next destination.

DAY 18-19:

OKAVANGO DELTA

Get ready to depart to the famous Okavango Delta, the biggest inland delta in the world. After breakfast, the mekoros can be taken again to enjoy the channels, the intricate veins of waterways which interconnect the lagoons, or take a guided bush walk before having lunch or snacks. In the afternoon, the guides will take you in the mekoros to a safe location where swimming is possible in the waters of the Okavango Delta, followed by a chance to learn how to pole a mokoro using the gnashi. Time can be taken to relax and have a drink. After the bush walk, you can relax and unwind in the camp, refresh and take dinner under the milky way starlit skies after which the guides and polers will narrate cultural stories and entertain you with traditional dances which display animal tracking techniques and gathering methods for traditional medicinal purposes. Guests interested in astronomy will be treated to one of the most expansive displays of stars on earth, before retiring in cozy tents for the night and drifting off to the sounds of the wild. You will camp here for two nights.

DAY 20-21

MOREMI GAME RESERVE

Have breakfast and depart to Moremi Game Reserve. Moremi game reserve is widely considered as one of the finest wildlife reserves in Africa. It has a diversity of habitats combining acacia forests and mophane woodlands with floodplains and lagoons. Here we will be camping at an exclusive campsite. Our drives will take us to the park’s most beautiful areas such as Third Bridge, Bodumatau and Dead Tree Island. Game is plentiful in these areas. Sightings include elephant, buffalo, giraffe ,lion, hyena, jackal and many different antelopes including red lechwe and the shy sitatunga, a web-footed antelope perfectly adapted to life in the swamps. Wild dog, whose numbers are so rapidly dwindling elsewhere, are regularly sighted in the Moremi Game Reserve. We will camp for two nights.

Wake up at around 06:00 for a light breakfast and then off to a game drive. After lunch game viewing continues and before sunset guests will be taken back to the campsite where they will have time to refresh, have dinner and spend a night under canvas tents.

DAY 22-23

MOREMI KHWAI

Your safari will begin in the morning with a warm shower, have breakfast then you depart for Khwai where you will have the opportunity to see some of the game along the road. Your arrival time to the camp will be determined by what you see on the way. Upon arrival at the camping site, you will find your tents ready and lunch will be served at that moment, then its siesta time. After a siesta have high tea and resume your afternoon game drive. Later before sunset you will drive back to the camp, have a warm shower and then dinner will be served. You will enjoy the morning sunrise on a morning game drive while searching for what nature has to offer on a daily basis. After each morning activity, you will be driven back to the camping area to have lunch and siesta time. Another game drive activity will follow in the afternoon where you will take good pictures. You will camp here for one night.

DAY 26-27

MABABE CONCESSION

The Mababe village is situated on the banks of Khwai River, approximately 125km north East of Maun the Safari Capital. The village is 50 Kilometers from Moremi/ Khwai village, 10 kilometers to Mababe Gate and 60 kilometers from Savute in the Chobe National Park. You will camp here for three nights.

Wildlife is demanding its price. The inhabitants of Mababe are not able to grow crops due to the presence of elephants, buffalo and numerous antelope species. Neither can they keep life stock due to the presence of predators such as lions, hyena, wild dogs, cheetah, jackal etc.

The location of the campsites enables one to see most of the big five game: Lion, Buffalo, Elephants and Leopards other animals like Hippo, herds of Zebras, Giraffe, Wildebeest and others.

In our camps we offer the following activities:

CAMPING: At our campsites you are closest to nature as you can without foregoing at least a minimum of comfort.

DAY & NIGHT GAME DRIVES: Let us take you for a once in a life time game viewing drive anytime of the day with our experienced tour guides fully customised safari 4x4 land cruiser.

GUIDED BUSH WALKS: Stretch your legs in the bush and get up close and personal with nature. Always listen to your professional tour guides and leave nothing behind (except) footprints).

BUSHMEN CULTURAL ACTIVITIES: Get some insights in the culture and living of local Bushmen people and sit in and learn on their daily activities like hunting, collecting, building and watch the Bushmen perform some of their cultural heritage.

CAMPING FACILITIES

All three campsites are situated on the banks of the Khwai River, thereby offering wildlife viewing “on the doorstep”. As the camps are not fenced, animals will pass freely through the camp. All campsites provide shower and ablution facilities. Water is provided. Wood for barbeques can be purchased. The campsites are large and can accommodate a number of families. They are placed far apart from each other so as to provide the ultimate privacy.

v Hot and cold water showers

v Flush water toilets

v Face washing basins

v Water standpipes

v Fire places

v Scavenger proof refuse bins

THE THREE CAMPS

Dizhana is bounded by Chobe National Park and the Chobe triangle (NG 40) on the north and west respectively. while the multi-purpose concession areas NG42 and NG 43 are the eastern and southern neighbours, Mababe village is situated in the Western part.

The campsite provides six campsites. Toilets are placed under thatched roofs. The showers are in typical bush style do not have a roof. Hot water is provided.

XANAKGAEI

Xanakgaei campsites are conveniently located on the banks of the famous Khwai River about 5o kilometres south of Chobe National Park and about 80 km east of Moremi Game Reserve. We are settled at the Mababe concession which 125 km north east of Maun and is accessible by air and road.

The camp provides six campsites. Their location is probably the most romantic of all camps. Toilets are placed under thatched roof. The shower in typical bush style does not have a roof. Hot water is provided.

DIJARA CAMP

There are six campsites available at Dijara. As the camp is situated in a more open part of the Mababe Wilderness, game viewing from campsites is easier. Dijara boosts a game viewing deck available to all camping tenants.

Shower and toilets are screened by canvas. In typical safari style, the canvas shower buckets have to be filled and pulled into position by the visitors. No hot water is presently provided

DAY 24-25

SAVUTI

Have breakfast and depart to Savuti which is part of Chobe National Park. It is called Savuti because a certain chief called Sauté used to live there with his tribe. Tawny eagles can be seen soaring in the sky as we go. The drive is very enjoyable as you will see lots of birds and animals on the way. The scenery is amazing and very African looking, with lots of umbrella thorn, acacia tortilis with giraffe feeding and many more including the most photographed bird, lilac breasted roller, a national bird of Botswana. You will not resist from taking a picture of it, it’s the most beautiful bird in Africa. We arrive in time for lunch; our exclusive camp will be set up and we will camp for one night. Depart for a game drive at 3:30pm, to the beautiful Savuti marsh where we will see vast herds of zebras and wildebeest and also have an opportunity to see pairs of kori bastards which are the heaviest flying birds. We get back to camp after sunset for a lovely dinner around the camp fire. Again the last guest determines bedtime. You will camp here for two nights.

DAY 26

Wake up early, have breakfast and depart to Kasane where you will catch a flight back home.