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BOTSWANA
Everything about Botswana will take your breath away
A trip to Botswana is a window into the Africa of old, where wildlife roams the streets of towns and ancient cultural customs are still practised. With 40-plus percent of the country designated as protected game-viewing areas, Botswana's safaris are wild, breathtaking and guaranteed to be jam-packed full of animals. In fact, the conservation-focused government is doing more than any other African country to protect its wildlife heritage. The Okavango Delta, Africa's largest wetland wilderness, is the crown jewel in any safari and teems with animals year-round. Much of the rest of the country is made up of the Kalahari Desert, with the Central Kalahari home to the ancient San people, whose culture is the oldest in the world.
The Okavango Delta
Pristine natural beauty, incredible wildlife and varied activities make for a safari superstar
The Okavango Delta is a fluke of nature. In fact, it shouldn’t really exist. Spilling out over the Kalahari Desert, the wetland was formed about 50,000 years ago, when a sudden tectonic shift in northern Botswana interrupted the Okavango River’s flow towards the ocean. Now, where once there was a parched desert, a myriad of floodplains, channels and palm-strewn islands exist, supporting some of the largest and most diverse populations of birds and animals in Africa. These islands are essentially great big time capsules, and exploring them on an Okavango Delta safari is like exploring natural history – a place unchanged for thousands of years and the very definition of "wilderness".
Moremi
Moremi offers a glittering landscape where safari dreams come true.
Located in the Okavango is Moremi Game Reserve. Proclaimed in 1963, a project spearheaded by the local Bat’wana people, it incorporates 5,000 square kilometres of prime Delta real estate: floodplains, pans and lagoons, sprawling grasslands and thick forests of acacia trees, and tiny palm islands encircled by myriad waterways that shimmer in the sunlight. Over the years, the area has been well-protected and the wildlife is an ever-present reminder of how a wilderness area could (and should) be. With no walking safaris or night drives available (aside from at the lodges along the Khwai River), game drives are the name of the game, and they’ll reveal ever-present herds of impala and tsessebe, as well as buffalo, zebra and elephant. On the watery banks of the river live sitatunga and lechwe, whilst fish flitter below the surface and over 400 species of birds above it. Then there are the big cats. Lion and leopard are both frequent sightings, and no area is better for it than Moremi’s two landmasses: the ultra-exclusive Chief’s Island and the Mopane Tongue, a peninsula that merges into a glorious wetland network. But really, there are no ‘stars’ here – this is Moremi, one of the finest wilderness areas in the world.
Khwai
Just north of Moremi lies Khwai. On the ground, the safari lodges work in partnership with the local Khwai community and the Khwai Development Trust, and all three promote conservation and eco-tourism. Landscape-wise, swathes of mopane trees characterise the north whilst the south morphs into an iconic Delta scene of open grasslands, waterholes, shiny floodplains and winding waterways that weave across the greenery. The channels and lagoons are usually full enough for a mokoro safari in the peak season. The lifeblood of the reserve, the river flows along the southern boundary drawing hooves and paws from far and wide and displaying some serious David Attenborough-worthy action on its banks. And by that we mean, African-painted dogs chasing impalas, lions and leopards skulking in the shade, buffalo, zebra, elephant, sable and roan antelope.
Wildlife as diverse as the landscape.
Savuti
Savuti is the chalk to the Okavango Delta’s cheese. If this part of the world conjures up visions of glittering water channels and landscapes greener than a shamrock, think again. Savuti is dry and spectacular, arid savannahs stretching as far as the eye can see, and cut through by the Savuti Channel, a dry riverbed that flows unpredictably and erratically. But whilst water may be scarce, wildlife is not and Savuti is home to astounding amounts of game, both big and small. From warthogs, roan, sable, hyena and zebra to buffalo, painted dog and big cats, the area is most well-known for the enormous herds of elephants that saunter around the waterholes, gathering in their hundreds. Then, there are the lion prides. Fearsome hunters who have garnered a reputation for their incredible skill in hunting pachyderms, and watching life or death play out on the plains of Savuti is not for the faint-hearted, but boy, is it some of the best game-viewing out there.
A land-and-water expedition to remember in Chobe National Park
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