Botswana Best Value Safari

11 days Botswana Best Value Safari

Safari experience

Unforgettable safari experience in Chobe, Moremi, in the western Okavango Delta and in Makgadikgadi National Park and a visit to the Victoria Falls.

HIGHLIGHTS DURING YOUR SAFARI :

Exciting outdoor activities
Exciting excursions, e.g. to the Victoria Falls
Chobe National Park: largest elephant refuge in the world
Exciting game drives, optionally also at night or on foot
Moremi and the Okavango Delta
Rides on the water
Salt pan system in the Nxai Pans
Visit the famous Baine's Baobabs


Price: from $ 9,990

Day 1 & 2

Arrival in Zimbabwe

PIONEERS VICTORIA FALLS, Victoria Falls

Itinerary

Welcome to Victoria Falls! Upon arrival at Victoria Falls airport, you will be met by a driver and taken by private road transfer to your accommodation where your journey begins.

Victoria Falls
The day is yours to spend as you wish. We are happy to book other activities for you, such as a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, a helicopter flight or a guided tour of Victoria Falls National Park. At Victoria Falls, the ground opens up and swallows one of Africa's largest rivers, the mighty Zambezi, creating the widest continuous waterfall in the world. When the water hits the narrow Batoka Gorge below, it creates a cloud of mist that rises to the sky, giving the waterfall its local name "Mosi-oa-tunya" (the thundering smoke). When the Zambezi is in flood, the mist forms a permanent rain cloud over the waterfall, giving visitors a shower even on the sunniest of days and is visible for miles.

Above the falls, tour boats cruise the calm Zambezi at sunset, while the fading sunlight breaks in the distant spray of the waterfall. Through the rocky walls of the Batoka Gorge, the Zambezi River below the falls provides a chain of world-class rapids, a prime opportunity for white water rafting.

Aside from being a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the World's Natural Wonders, Victoria Falls also forms a natural border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The falls can be visited from both countries and for the most part the same activities are offered, including helicopter tours, village visits and souvenir shopping.

Whether you prefer to relax by drinking tea in colonial surroundings or by taking an exciting bungee jump from a bridge is entirely up to you. In Victoria Falls, neither the adrenaline junkie nor the visitor with slightly weaker nerves will get bored even after several days.

On the Zambian side, you are offered a side view of the falls and a look into the Batoka Gorge. However, you can also venture to the very edge of the falls at dizzying heights on Livingstone Island.

In Zimbabwe, many vantage points and a hiking trail offer you a frontal view of three quarters of the 1.7 km wide curtain of water as you stroll through a natural hot and wet rainforest created by the spray from the falls.



Activities:

The town of Victoria Falls is located on the southern bank of the Zambezi River at the eastern end of Victoria Falls. Vic Falls is a lovely tourist town which is great to explore on foot and offers a wide range of activities. From white water rafting and bungee jumping to a helicopter flight and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, there is something for everyone here. We are happy to book the activities for you in advance



Ilala Lodge (2 nights)
Ilala Lodge is located just a ten-minute walk from Victoria Falls. Wild animals are often seen strolling across the hotel lawns as the national park borders the property.

Day 3-4

Transfer accommodation Victoria Falls - Chobe National Park

You will be picked up from your accommodation in the morning and taken by shared road transfer across the Botswana border, via Kasane, to your accommodation. This is where your safari begins. Game drives, boat trips and stunning landscapes await you.



Chobe National Park
During your stay, you will undertake exciting activities with your guide and explore the Chobe National Park. You can choose from the various activities and always discuss them the evening before with your guide or the...

The Chobe Riverfront is an elephant mecca. Nowhere else in the world will you find a greater concentration of elephants per square kilometre than here. Just visit in the African winter and you will quickly run out of not only the necessary number of fingers, but also the necessary number of toes to count all the pachyderms that come to the river to drink and play.

Thanks to its proximity to Victoria Falls, the Chobe Riverfront is the part of Botswana with the highest number of visitors (although still much quieter than most areas of southern and eastern Africa). But what Chobe lacks in solitude is more than made up for in both the quality and quantity of animals.

Nowhere else do you feel so incredibly tiny as in Chobe, when an impressive bull elephant strolls leisurely past the car or swims across the river very close to the boat. Nowhere else do you feel so insignificant as in Chobe, compared to the hundreds of hippos and Cape buffalo that populate the river meadows. When prides of lions stalk antelopes on the bank, your heart will beat in your throat. All the exciting moments of your safari day will fall silent when the red sun sinks into the river accompanied by the calls of the African fish eagles.

Chobe is not only a wonderful introduction to a Botswana safari, the area also offers the safari connoisseur some animals that rarely appear. The sable antelope, some gems on the wish list of many bird lovers and also a few quiet, remote corners that invite you to explore.



Chobe Game Lodge (2 nights)
Chobe Game Lodge is the only lodge located within the boundaries of Chobe National Park

Day 5-6

Transfer Chobe National Park - Kasane

Today, after breakfast and a morning activity (if time permits), you will be driven from your accommodation to Kasane Airport.



Flight Kasane - Okavango Delta
You fly from Kasane Airport to your next accommodation in the Okavango Delta. From above you can see winding waterways and a play of colors on dry land and palm islands. Once you arrive, your guide is already waiting at the airstrip...



Okavango Delta
During your stay you will undertake exciting activities with your guide. You can choose from the various activities and always discuss them the evening before with your guide or the management. The Okavango Delta is the ... ... epicenter of Botswana's wilderness. As a huge oasis in the middle of the Kalahari, it is full of life with all its elephants, birds and other wild animals. The true magic of the delta comes from the masses of water that come from the distant highlands of Angola and pour into the channels and flood plains of the delta.

In winter from June, when the sun leaves the Kalahari dry and thirsty, the flood from Angola reaches the Okavango Delta and transforms the flood plains into a Noah's Ark of African wildlife. Every year between June and September, when the flood water brings life to the delta, it is reshaped by its inhabitants. Little by little, termites build their huge mounds on the islands, which are densely covered with palm trees. Hippos open up new waterways as they move their large bodies through the reeds, creating a channel that can be explored by mokoros (traditional dugout canoes). The heart of the delta, with its shallow channels and flood plains, is best explored by mokoros and on foot on the islands.

The Okavango Delta has many faces that constantly change over the course of a year due to the unpredictable weather. As the water level rises and falls, the islands grow and shrink and the animals move to areas where life is easiest and the grass is greenest. Within a few days, a navigable sand road can turn into a waterway of unknown depth, forcing a safari to switch to boats. In November, the water level slowly drops again in the Okavango Delta and mokoro and boat trips are sometimes no longer possible until the flood water from Angola reaches the Okavango Delta again in May.

Camp Okavango (2 nights)
Located in the heart of the permanent Okavango Delta, Camp Okavango offers guests an unparalleled water-wilderness experience all year round.

Day 7-8

Flight Okavango Delta - Moremi Game Reserve

Today you will travel to the Moremi Game Reserve in the east of the Okavango Delta. After breakfast, your guide will drive you to the airstrip. You will fly to your next accommodation in a charter plane. From the air, you can see the many facets that Botswana has to offer.

Moremi National Park
During your stay in Moremi National Park, you can use the time to explore the habitat by jeep or boat. You can choose from the various activities (included in the price) and always discuss these with your guide or management the evening before.

In the Moremi Game Reserve, everything revolves around the big animals and their habitats are as multifaceted and varied as the animals themselves. Antelopes perfectly adapted to life on the water graze alongside watchful buffalo on river meadows, surrounded by mighty trees towering into the sky, from whose branches leopard tails and paws often dangle. Tree skeletons cast their shadows on the backs of the elephants that roam the savannah, and all of this just a stone's throw from papyrus-lined canals that extend into the delta.

Moremi is like the land of unlimited possibilities when it comes to safaris, and anything can happen... The images of African wild dogs hunting antelopes and sunsets over a lagoon inhabited by hippos will stay with you long after the end of your vacation.

Be amazed by the warm air that stands in the tall reeds or under large trees, the sharp smells that suddenly attack you and reveal so much about the events of the previous night as you follow the call of a lion. Take a short break for a coffee on the edge of a lagoon and watch the hyenas who also stop by for a refreshment while you are already hatching their next plan.

As a change from the game drives, you can explore the winding water channels by boat, accompanied by squacco herons that sail in front of the boat with their wings spread. Enjoy a sunset, gently rocking in a lagoon and look forward to the next morning game drive and what it will bring.

As national park rules apply in the Moremi Game Reserve, activities are only permitted during daylight hours and leaving the roads and main river channels is prohibited.

Camp Moremi (2 nights)
Camp Moremi is located in the heart of the Okavango Delta on the edge of the Moremi Game Reserve and overlooks the beautiful Xakanaxa Lagoon. A quiet and pleasant stay in the lovingly furnished safari tents is guaranteed thanks to the low

Day 9 - 10

Flight Moremi National Park - Makgadikgadi National Park

Flight Moremi National Park - Makgadikgadi National Park After a morning activity (if time permits) and breakfast, your guide will drive you to the airstrip. You will fly in a charter plane over the salt pans to your next accommodation. You will be impressed by how dry land and grassland come together.



Makgadikgadi National Park - Boteti
You can already observe animals from your accommodation and just relax. With your guide, you explore the park along the Boteti River and discuss the activities (included in the price) the evening before. The Makgadikgadi National Park is the place where the Okavango Delta finally flows into the desert after a long journey. The Boteti River forms the border between the dry Makgadikgadi National Park and the desert landscape of the Kalahari. This is the last opportunity for hundreds of zebras and wildebeests to make their way to the water to quench their thirst.

The Boteti is the last outlet of the Okavango Delta and reaches as far as the Makgadikgadi salt pans. Years have passed without the river containing a drop of water. It has become a long, sandy riverbed with fewer and fewer waterholes where zebras fight for space. At other times, the Boteti's water level rises rapidly and flows hundreds of kilometres from its source into the salt pans until the water finally disappears into thin air.

Here, for example, antelope can be seen making their way through thorny acacia trees, gathering under tall palms and lingering in the shade of tall trees close to the water. When the Boteti's water level is high, large bull elephants can often be seen playing in the water as the sun sets.

Although the eastern edge of the park borders the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, it is unlikely that you will see them during your stay. While the salt pans are all about experiencing this unique landscape, the Boteti is more about a traditional safari experience. Explore the river banks on a game drive, enjoy a relaxing boat ride on the river (water levels permitting), or observe animals from a hide.

As soon as the first rains arrive (October - November), the zebras and wildebeest leave the Boteti and move on to the salt pans until they finally return in winter (April - May). During the rainy season, the banks of the Boteti transform into an idyllic green landscape with colorful sunsets and many different bird species.

Leroo La Tau Lodge (2 nights)
The majestic Leroo La Tau Lodge is located on the Boteti River which runs along the western boundary of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park.

Day 11

DEPARTURE

Flight Makgadikgadi National Park - Maun


If time permits, you can experience another morning activity. After breakfast, your guide will drive you to the airstrip. You will fly over the Salt Pans back to Maun in a charter plane. With many great memories of animal observations and exciting experiences in your luggage, you will now begin your journey home.



Prices per person in a double room
from €9,990 per person / single room supplement on request

HIGHLIGHTS DURING YOUR SAFARI :

Exciting outdoor activities
Exciting excursions, e.g. to the Victoria Falls
Chobe National Park: largest elephant refuge in the world
Exciting game drives, optionally also at night or on foot
Moremi and the Okavango Delta
Rides on the water
Salt pan system in the Nxai Pans
Visit the famous Baine's Baobabs