Botswana desert to delta
Safari BotswanaImagine the freedom of a Botswana holiday
There still remains a good sense of the adventure of safari in Botswana. Its expansive game reserves and parks, offer wildlife as varied and plentiful as that found anywhere else in Africa, it remains largely undeveloped and untamed. For those who enjoy the wilds, a Botswana safari is perfect: vast tracts of Africa in pristine condition. Huge herds of game roam here between the Kalahari's plains and the Okavango's waterways; it's one of Africa's top safari destinations. Unlike in many countries, the movement of Botswana’s wildlife is not restricted. It’s a huge fenceless wilderness around which the game roams freely.
The Okavango River empties into the Kalahari sands, creating the largest inland river delta in the world. While the Okavango Delta is home to relatively few large game animals in comparison to other areas of Botswana, its clear waters and myriad small islands are home to an astounding variety of birds, plants, and smaller species of animals.
When you think of a Botswana safari, the Okavango Delta leaps to mind. It certainly hosts the greatest concentration of different environments. However, the patchwork of ecosystems that makes the Delta so fascinating is found all over northern Botswana. So don't restrict your safari trip to just the Okavango Delta, instead try to see a number of Botswana's different habitats, and you'll leave with a much broader picture. The main areas to consider are:
The Okavango Delta – Private Reserves
A cluster of private reserves around northern Botswana offers small camps and exclusive game-viewing safaris. Flexible rules allow 4WDs to go off-road in search of game, night drives and walking safaris
Moremi Game Reserve
A well-protected area, which covers a varied slice of the Okavango Delta remains an untouched wilderness, is now popular for mobile safaris and ringed by top private reserves.
Kwando-Linyanti – Private Reserves
There are three excellent private safari reserves clustered around the waterways of the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers, and the nearby dry Selinda Spillway. It's outside the Okavango, but still top-class big game country.
Chobe National Park
This is an old safari area. Livingstone visited it in the 1850s, as have countless big-game hunters since. A beautiful grassland reserve that has gained international fame for its abundant elephant and buffalo populations that collect in herds of mammoth proportions. With an estimated population of 40,000 to 60,000 elephant these gentle giants are constant companions. In the dry season the Chobe River sees thousands lining the banks and crossing the water. Boat trips at this time provide excellent photographic opportunities.
Encompassing an impressive 11,700km of wilderness the Chobe National Park stretches from the tip of Northern Botswana to the fringes of the Okavango Delta. An abundance of palatable grass species attracts a variety of herbivores including wildebeest, impala, kudu, waterbuck, giraffe and tsessebe. The puku is found as is the endemic Chobe bushbuck. Predator sightings are good with leopard, cheetah, wild dog and prides of lion large enough to hunt elephant.
The key to this safari area is Chobe's animal migrations. Chobe's animals move in complex, ancient patterns determined by the rain and available food. Within Chobe National Park there are two areas with a few luxurious private lodges: the Chobe Riverfront and Savuti Marsh (sometimes spelt 'Savute Marsh'). Elsewhere, these parks are perhaps best explored using a mobile safari.
The park's north and northwest border is marked by the Chobe River, and the river's popularity as a water source has made game viewing by boat a particular attraction - with a river that apparently flows both ways; and for the mysterious, disappearing Savuti Channel.
Kalahari’s Great Salt Pans
Southeast of Chobe are Botswana's enormous Makgadikgadi salt pans, home to large herds of blue wildebeest, several antelope species, and those international lovers of salt pans, flamingos.
Okavango Panhandle
On the northwestern side of the Delta, in an area known as The Panhandle, stand several old, established camps, including Drotsky’s Cabins and Nxamaseri Lodge. These are often regarded as fishing camps, as the tiger-fishing here is particularly good, but the bird-watching is also first class, with rarities like skimmers, as well as a host of egrets, storks, kingfishers and warblers. These camps offer an Okavango experience that can be good value if you're driving on the west side of the Delta. The panhandle is also the gateway to the fascinating Tsodilo Hills – which is best visited on a mobile safari
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
The Gemsbok National Park in Botswana is an extension of the Kalahari Gemsbok Park in South Africa, it is separated by the dry river bed of the Nossob River. It covers an area of 9000 square kilometres of Kalahari Desert. The entrance to the park is at Twee Rivieren.
Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was proclaimed in 1931 mainly to protect migratory game, especially the gemsbok. During the late 1990's it was combined with the adjacent Gemsbok National Park in Botswana to form The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park - one of the first in the world and the first in Southern Africa.
The Kgalagadi comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares, which is one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude, left in the world.
Red sand dunes, sparse vegetation and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob show antelope and predator species off at a premium and provide excellent photographic opportunities.
Call 0845 345 0065 or email: info@visionsofafrica.co.uk
Visions of Africa
Not sure where to go, let us try and help you decide.
All Botswana's permanent safari camps use open 4WD safari vehicles and professional safari guides; and most are very comfortable. Tents usually have en-suite flush toilets and hot/cold showers; often they also have fans. We can guide you to the best options for your trip.
However you visit, you'll see that a huge area of Botswana is wilderness. It's never cheap, but it can be good value. Most trips include meals, activities, laundry and park fees; some even include drinks. There are no hidden extras. You are able to see superb wildlife and have untouched environments virtually to yourself. For a safari Botswana is wild, magical and very exclusive!
Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve form the heart of northern Botswana's protected areas. There are a few campsites and safari lodges in these public parks. The scenery and wildlife here are continually fabulous, but you will share the area with other vehicles and people so these public areas don't offer the most exclusive of game-viewing experiences. Strict park rules forbid anyone in these parks from driving at night, conducting walking safaris, or driving off the tracks – especially annoying when interesting game is spotted far away from the track.
Lying around these parks and reserves is a group of private wildlife reserves. These are sometimes called 'concessions', each of these covers about 800–2,500km², yet each contain just a couple of small, private safari camps. Guests arrive at these by air. They have no campsites or public access, so game-viewing here is generally undisturbed.
You are offered much greater flexibility from private game reserves in their safari activities: their guides are able to drive off the tracks when searching for game; most offer night drives; and some offer walking safaris guided by expert armed guides.
To start thinking about the many different environments in the region, you can divide them very roughly into two categories: dry and wet areas. We'll usually advise travellers to mix different types of camps and environments, to experience the full range of activities, flora and fauna.
You will find most camps stand on, or close to, large dry areas. These are easiest to explore by 4WD safari trips and night drives. It's in these drier areas that you'll usually have the best sightings of big game, plus dry-country bird species.
Numerous camps also have access to wet areas – some with deep water, others with shallow. You'll usually explore areas with deep water using motorboats, driven by a guide. Shallower floodplains are best seen from a mokoro, or dug-out canoe. Both are excellent for bird-watching, but you'll usually see less game in a wet area than in the drier areas.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
The ultimate in 'remote' safari destinations, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve covers over 50,000km², most of which is inaccessible. It was, until very recently, closed to the public, although there have always been small groups of Bushmen living in the reserve. Even now, this region is seen by only a handful of visitors every year.
The best-known account of the area was the haunting book, Cry of the Kalahari, written by American biologists Mark and Delia Owens about their research in Deception Valley.
It is during the first few months of the year that the Central Kalahari is probably at its most appealing when travel there is most difficult. The beautiful inter-dune valleys are lush with vegetation, attracting thousands of springbok and gemsbok. There are also a good numbers of ostrich and giraffe, herds of wildebeest, excellent cheetah and the Kalahari's famous black-maned lions. Leopard and brown hyena are common residents, too, though rarely seen.
Kalahari’s Salt Pans
Although expected, the Kalahari isn't a desert at all. It is, in fact a vast sandsheet, a fossil desert, now largely covered in bushes, trees and grasses. Fortunately, for about the last 65 million years, all this sand has always seemed of little use, so most of the Kalahari remains arid and untouched. This is the place, perhaps more than anywhere; you'll be struck by the feeling that you're many miles away from modern life.
In the middle of the northern Kalahari, lies an area of huge, flat saltpans. It's a harsh, spare landscape, not to everyone's taste, but it offers isolation as complete as anywhere in Southern Africa, and a wealth of hidden treasures for those prepared to make the effort. Their geology and history are fascinating, they play a vital role in the area's ecosystems… and they're very photogenic.
Makgadikgadi Pans
The great Makgadikgadi Pans, covering about 10,000km² of the Kalahari, are nothing but salt. Some are enormous; others are the size of a small duck-pond. Around these are rolling grasslands and the occasional picturesque palm-tree island. On opposite sides of the Makgadikgadi National Park are two contrasting areas: the Central Pans and the Boteti River Area.
Central Pans
Three sister-camps stand on palm islands outside Makgadikgadi National Park; all are very different in style, although they offer similar activities, which are unique for Botswana! If you visit any of these camps, then we suggest that you stay for at least three nights.
Kwando-Linyanti area
There are four large private reserves (Kwando, Selinda, Linyanti and Chobe Enclave) beside the Kwando-Linyanti river system, which protect high concentrations of wildlife. Like the exclusive safari reserves around the Okavango Delta, these offer more remote, private safaris than are possible in the busier national parks. Walking and night drives are both allowed, as well as off-road driving (which makes finding predators much easier).
Wildlife in the Kwando-Selinda-Linyanti-Chobe Enclave areas
The animals move freely between the reserves and the national parks, as there are no fences here. During the dry season, when concentrations of elephant and buffalo are very high, the permanent water of the Kwando-Linyanti riverfront is a big attraction. Near the water you'll also find plenty of red lechwe, impala and sometimes sable antelope. Meanwhile, in the riverine forest and on the plains, wildebeest, kudu, zebra, baboon, warthog, giraffe and tsessebe are a familiar sight! As you move away from water, the highlights of the drier forests are herds of eland and roan antelope.
The predators are plentiful: lion are everywhere, whilst leopard favour the wooded areas in more broken country and cheetah prefer open plains. Wild dogs range throughout these reserves, and in the last few years there have been several dens in these areas. The dogs are relatively easy to follow when hunting across the open plains found here.
Maun - Botswana
Maun is the gateway to the one of the best wildlife experiences you will ever have - a safari in the unforgettable Okavango Delta. Maun has grown rapidly from its early days as a small, rural frontier town and has now spread along the wide, usually dry Thamalakane River. It has good shopping centres, hotels and lodges as well as car and 4-wheel drive vehicle hire. However, it retains a rural atmosphere. You might see antelopes grazing the quieter riverbanks and you will certainly dodge donkeys and goats on the main road. Travelling between Maun and Johannesburg by scheduled flights is effortless.
Moremi Game Reserve
The local BaTawana people set aside a third of the Okavango Delta to protect it for the future in 1962. They called this the Moremi Game Reserve and it encompasses a large area of the Delta's wetlands and the main dry peninsula that juts into the Delta, known as the Mopane Tongue.
As one of the finest areas for wildlife in Africa, Moremi protects the core of the Okavango’s Delta, and several safari camps are built within it. However, most of the Okavango's small safari camps and wildlife lodges lay outside Moremi – in their own private wildlife reserves. Moremi is lush and varied – a cluster of lagoons, shallow flooded pans, plains and forests. With particularly high game densities, the animals found here are plentiful and relaxed, often allowing vehicles to approach closely.
Chief's Island is probably Moremi's finest area, where you'll find several of Botswana's top safari camps. Nevertheless, there are several prime areas on the edge of the Mopane Tongue, where the land meets the Okavango's permanent waters, which can also be reached with a mobile safari, including the Khwai River (or North Gate) area, Xakanaxa Lagoon and Third Bridge.
Within the Moremi Game Reserve
Chief's Island
Despite what you might imagine, many areas within the Okavango Delta are largely dry. Chief's Island is huge and perhaps the Okavango's most famous island. It was once the royal hunting reserve of Chief Moremi, the traditional leader of the local tribes. He gave it to supplement Moremi Game Reserve in the 1970s, and it is now one of the region's best areas for game. Although part of the Moremi Game Reserve, Chief's Island is private. Though camps here do still abide by the national park's rules on walking and driving at night, you will have a very personal, undisturbed time here.
Khwai River
Khwai River is on the northeast tip of Moremi, a lovely area where tall evergreen trees line a wide floodplain. It boasts an excellent density and diversity of predator and prey species. There has been a large pride of lion here in recent years, hunting buffalo and elephant, while leopard sightings are consistently good. Saddle-billed storks, wattled cranes and many species of kingfishers and bee-eaters are common.
On the north side of the Khwai River, you can stay at the Khwai River Lodge, which overlooks Moremi Game Reserve in a particularly scenic area.
Xakanaxa Lagoon
Xakanaxa Lagoon lies in the heart of Moremi, at the tip of the Mopane Tongue. Here the mopane forests meet a cluster of deep waterways and shallow flooded areas. It's unforgettably beautiful and packed with game. Leopard and cheetah are regularly seen and the density of antelope is amazing. The area's birdlife is exceptionally varied, from innumerable herons, egrets, storks and other waders to many species of harriers, buzzards and kites.
Third Bridge
In the heart of Moremi, a short drive from Xakanaxa, Third Bridge stands on an island with plenty of thickets and several large, open plains. There are campsites for mobile safaris and lots of animals – a combination that has brought it fame for close encounters of the animal kind! Being on the boundary of the land and water areas of Moremi, mobile safaris will often organise boat trips from here, or sometimes excursions to sleep out on the islands.
South Gate
In quite a thickly forested area, at the southern entrance to Moremi, is a campsite that is used by mobile safaris. The area south of here, just outside the game reserve, has more open areas and some attractive stands of acacia, which attract surprisingly prolific game, often including herds of giraffe.
Okavango Delta Safari Reserves
It is in the highlands of Angola that the Okavango River and flows southeast into the Kalahari, where it spreads out into a delta formation. The Okavango River delta, or 'Okavango Delta' as it's usually known, is one of Africa's top safari areas. Covering over 15,000km² with a lush water-wilderness of papyrus swamps, shallow reed-beds and floodplains, dotted with islands and laced with a network of channels, a safari to the Okavango Delta' is one of Africa's top big game safaris – and the Okavango Delta is also a wonderful place to relax.
What could be better than an Okavango Delta safari? It may not be your first idea of a safari but gliding silently in a dugout canoe, you'll watch wildlife at eye level. It might take your guide's keen eyes to spot the terrapins basking on floating logs, or a fish eagle just perching, watching and waiting. It’s often the smaller things in the Okavango Delta that catch your eye, like the tropical fish that flash through the Delta's clear waters or the iridescent malachite kingfishers that dive for them; sometimes it's larger animals - red lechwe wading through the river's shallows, or elephants on the islands - whilst all around water-lilies bloom and birds call.
Safaris in the Okavango Delta
Being amongst the richest and most diverse in Africa, the Okavango Delta's ecosystem has been effectively protected for years, and with wildlife tourism now thriving here, this looks set to continue – witness the success, and expansion, of the programme to re-introduce black and white rhino to the area over the last few years.
Flora of the Okavango Delta
There are over 1,000 species of plants recognised in the Okavango Delta, yet large tracts of the drier parts of it are dominated by one tree: Mopane. Named after their gracefully arching branches, which resemble a Gothic cathedral, these cover many areas with rich but badly drained soils, often in beautiful, tall 'cathedral' Mopane woodlands. You'll often find large areas in the Okavango River Delta where there are virtually no other species of trees represented.
You'll find extensive floodplains beside the area's many rivers, and stretches of classic riverine (or 'riparian') forests, which contain wide range of species of bushes and trees. Open areas dotted with camelthorn trees follow the sandy beds of ancient watercourses, joined by silver terminalias, wild seringas and Kalahari apple-leaf trees.
Wildlife in the Okavango Delta
Now, with the reintroduction of rhino, in the Okavango Delta, you can see all the 'big five' on a safari to, and a lot more besides.
Elephant and buffalo are on hand here year-round in large numbers, and you're likely to see blue wildebeest, Burchell's zebra, impala, kudu, tsessebe, red lechwe, waterbuck, reedbuck, giraffe, common duiker, bushbuck, steenbok, warthog, baboon and vervet monkey all over the Okavango Delta. Eland, sable and roan antelope also range across the region – but are less common, than they are elsewhere in Africa. The deep-water and papyrus areas of the Delta have thriving populations of sitatunga, which live deep in the swamps.
There is also thriving populations here of lion, leopard, cheetah and spotted hyena. The Okavango Delta is central to wild dog, which range widely across most of Northern Botswana – and they're easiest to find on the north and East sides of the Delta.
Both black-backed and side-striped jackals occur – though the former are more common. Brown hyenas are also visible, but relatively rarely, and probably only in drier areas where there are lower densities of the other large predators. Similarly, bat-eared fox are found here, though not so commonly as in Botswana's drier areas. There is a wide variety of mongeese found here, including the slender, banded, dwarf, large grey, water and Selous' mongoose. Meanwhile in the water, spotted-necked and Cape clawless otters are often seen, though they seldom hang around to allow visitors a good view!
Serval, aardwolf, caracal and aardvark are found throughout the Okavango Delta, though due to their largely nocturnal habits, they are only occasionally seen. Pangolins are also found here, and seem as if they might be slightly less rare than in other areas of their range!
Up until 2001, rhino had been exterminated from here by poaching. Then in October 2001 the first white rhino were reintroduced into the Mombo Reserve, within Moremi Game Reserve. They're now free to roam, and have done so widely. They're also breeding, and Botswana is well on its way to having a nucleus of successfully breeding rhinos.
Birdlife in the Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta has over 400 bird species, a great variety of which are patchily distributed in association with particular habitats. Though visiting any area, the sheer number of different species represented here will strike you as amazing.
Although no birds that are truly endemic to Botswana, the Okavango Delta is hugely important to many species, including a number rarities worthy of noting here. First on the Okavango's list of 'specialties' is the slaty egret – which can be found in shallow, reedy back-waters and pans. Aside from the Okavango River's delta, this rare egret is only resident in quieter corners of the Chobe and Linyanti areas, and the Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia.
Easier to spot are magnificent wattled cranes, which can be seen easily in the Delta. They're usually seen in pairs or small groups, wandering about shallow floodplains or wet grasslands, searching for fish, small amphibians and reptiles.
For keen birdwatchers, other Okavango Delta specials here include coppery-tailed coucal, brown firefinch, Bradfield's hornbill, lesser jacana, pink-throated longclaw and the tiny chirping cisticola.
Okavango Delta
This extensive inland river delta is one of the most pleasurable sites on the continent for safari. Travel is typically by small boats or even dugout canoe, providing a level of tranquillity that is difficult to attain in a landrover, sit back and relax as you gently travel through the mysterious reed. Okavango is home to elephant, zebra, giraffe, and other large game species, but the park's true strength is in its abundance of birds, plant life, and sheer poetic beauty. Hippos and crocodiles are quite common in Okavango, as one might expect. The fishing is also excellent, particularly in the northwestern section.
The Delta covers over 15,000 square kilometres when the waters are at their highest and it is divided into a number of private concessions created to protect the unique wildlife of this area.
Moremi Wildlife Reserve
Located in the northeastern portion of the Okavango Delta, Moremi combines the attractions of the delta with more solid terrain. The result is an outstanding reserve that includes a wide variety of ecosystems and a commensurate diversity of wildlife.
Call 0845 345 0065 or email: info@visionsofafrica.co.uk
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