Botswana:Under African Skies
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Overview
Highlights
- Feel the pulse of the African bush during carefree mobile camping in Botswana.
- See how the rains shape the wildlife action in the Kalahari Desert.
- Experience the Okavango Delta at Moremi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Feel the roar of Victoria Falls, the world’s largest sheet of falling water.
- Explore predator rich areas to photograph Leopard in trees and resting Lion prides.
- Track and photograph a habituated Meerkat family.
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Trip includes
- All leaders, transport, park entry fees, landing fees and permits for all activities described in the detailed itinerary.
- Charter flight from Maun to Moremi Game Reserve on February 22.
- Lodging and camping for the nights of February 22 to March 12.
- Meals from dinner on February 22 through breakfast March 13.
- Drinks while in our private mobile camps and drinking water while on game drives.
- Transfers upon arrival in Moremi to our mobile campsite on February 22 and to the airport on March 13.
- Park entry fees (subject to change).
- Trip Materials – information about flights, packing, entry and departure requirements, airport transfers, gratuities, etc.
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Itinerary
Travel from your home airport or the Tanzania safari to Johannesburg for the morning flight from Johannesburg to Maun, Botswana on February 22. We recommend you overnight on February 21 near the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, at one of the many lodges conveniently located near the airport.
In the morning take the South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to Maun, to catch our charter flight to Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta. Rainfall from the Angola highlands surges 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) into the Okavango Delta, creating a unique ...
Set aside in 1963 by the Batawana tribe, Moremi lies on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta, so it contains multiple habitat types, including wide-open floodplains, marshes, ox-bow lakes, riverine forest, lagoons, papyrus-fringed channels, vast reed-beds of Mi...
We’ll game drive our way back to Maun in time to catch the orange glow of sunset during a walk along the Thamalakane River. Keep an eye out for many of the resident birds, plus the migrants from Europe and Asia that call this home this time of year.
Our seven-hour drive winds through an interesting combination of vegetated dune-veld, valleys of ancient rivers, and green pans to the Kalahari Game Reserve. Covering the area about twice the size of Massachusetts, USA (about 32,800 mi2), the Kalahari Game Reserve is ...
Pass through sand dunes stabilized by vegetation and descend into the Central Kalahari pans during our 25-mile drive to Passarge Valley. Scan for Leopards or their prints in the sand, and look for Lion and Cheetah in the valleys. Giraffe, Greater Kudu, and Bush Duiker...
Travel to Deception Valley’s open grassland on Kalahari sand, dotted with small islands or trees. This is the largest open eco-system remaining in Botswana, so you’ll feel like you’ve traveling back in time to an Africa of long ago. If a reasonable amount of rain has ...
During our drive to the Makgadikgadi Pans, watch the semi-arid scrub of the Central Kalahari transform to the bright white salt-plains of the these vast pans. The pans stretch as far as you can see and a fringed by small islands of acacia trees and salt resistant gras...
Our route toward the outpost of Nata will depend on water levels in the pans, so be prepared for a longer drive depending on the conditions. Arid tolerant species such as Springbok, Gemsbok, and Greater Kudu live here. Be on the lookout in the trees at our lodge for Arrow-marked babblers, Meyer’s Parrot, and many thirsty seedeaters that come for a drink from the birdbaths provided by the lodge.
We transition from the saline desert of the Makgadikgadi to the lush teak and riverine forests of Chobe, where we’ll find a diverse landscape of mixed broad-leafed woodland, mopane scrub, savannah with dense clusters of Hyphaene palms, and arid grassland. With new hab...
After our final bush breakfast with our mobile camp staff, we’ll spend our last day along the Chobe River. En route to our hotel, we’ll take a late afternoon boat trip on the Chobe River, for some the highlight of the safari, especially herds of elephants drinking and bathing.
Today we travel from Chobe across the border to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls, one of nature's most awesome spectacles, on the mighty Zambezi River. Our journeytakes us through Miombo woodland that makes up the scenery for the majority of the drive. Greater Kudu ar...
We’ll have time to walk along Victoria Falls in the morning light. Later this morning, drive to the Victoria Falls Airport, arriving in time for an early afternoon flight to Johannesburg to connect homeward.
Arrive home depending on flight schedules.
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Cheeseman's Ecology Safaris.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
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Logistics
What's excluded
- All airfare (except flights listed as included), airport and departure taxes, and excess baggage fees. Airfare is approximately $1,370 to $2,500 from USA to Maun, Botswana, and returning from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to USA, depending on origin in the USA (estimated September 2015).
- We can arrange divergent airport transfers and extra hotel nights for an extra cost.
- Gratuities: tipping is, of course, discretionary, however we suggest budgeting about $15 to $20 per participant per day for February 22 to March 13 with our guide (about $300 to $400 total per participant).
- Emergency medical and evacuation insurance and trip cancellation insurance. Read more about travel insurance.
- Items of a personal nature such as laundry, telephone calls, medical costs or hospitalization, room service, alcoholic and other beverages, and items not on the regular menu, etc. If you have special dietary needs, please indicate them on your Reservation/Release Form.
Accommodation
In Botswana, our outfitters, Letaka Safaris, handle all the camp set up and take down as well as cooking. Our mobile camping here is in tents (9×9 feet) with a high roof with an attached en-suite bathroom (9×7.5 feet) and a covered area in front of the tent (9×7 feet). Our tents have beds, bedside tables, LED lights, en-suite toilet and shower (attached to your tent), and a covered veranda area with chairs and washbasins.
We’ll be camping in HATAB (Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana) sites where there are no fixed buildings or facilities. Camp beds are made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets, and pillows. A washbasin is filled with fresh warm water first thing in the morning outside your tent and again on every arrival in camp. Showers are bucket showers hung from a tree with a canvas screen around the shower. Hot showers can be requested for the shower tents and the water is heated in a bucket on the fire. Towels are provided, but washcloths and toiletries are not.
Although each tent has a lantern, it is a good idea to bring a flashlight or a headlamp with plenty of spare batteries to use inside the tent. There is also a dining tent, but with the normally excellent weather and skies, the table is often set beneath the stars. The food is excellent with three-course dinners prepared by a professional safari chef. Wine, local beer, and soft drinks are provided. Water, juice, tea, and coffee are available all day. There is no electricity while in our mobile camps; the safari vehicle has the ability to charge camera batteries at any time. There is time for reading during the midday breaks.
Until the Final Payment due date, deposits are refundable except for a cancellation fee of $150 per person, which can be applied toward another tour if reserved within six months of the cancelled trip’s departure date. No refunds are given after the Final Payment due date.
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