Northern Highlights Safari
9 night/ 10 day Northern Highlights - explore Moremi Game Reserve, eastern Okavango, Savute and northern Chobe on this excellent camping safari.
Day 1: Maun to Xakanaxa. Travel Day. 140km, flight
After your arrival at Maun International Airport (arrivals have to be no later than 14.00), you will be met and assisted onto your charter flight to Moremi Game Reserve, the first stop on your safari.
Your first three nights are spent in the Xakanaxa region where you explore the surrounding wilderness on extensive morning and afternoon game drive. Wildlife is abundant in the Moremi, and you have the chance to see elephant, buffalo, lechwe, and hippo. Predators are also present, with lion, leopard and wild dog all well represented.
Birding is also excellent, and the enthusiast will be well rewarded with some excellent sightings, and a good variety of species.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 2 & 3: Xakanaxa Exploration Days - Moremi Game Reserve
Moremi Game Reserve is on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta, and boats a wide variety of habitats - from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, to woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.
Day 4: Xakanaxa to Khwai. Travel Day. 60km. 3-4 hours
Enjoy an early morning breakfast and then you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai Community Area. The day’s journey follows the Munachira water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands that make Khwai one of the most scenic areas of the Okavango. You also pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 5 & 6: Khwai Exploration Days.
The Khwai River forms a boundary between the reserve and the community area. You spend the following two nights camping at an exclusive campsite in the community area, exploring the Khwai floodplains on game drives both during the day and at night. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day.
You also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot and mokoro and enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves – as these activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Khwai community area.
The Khwai region boasts an excellent elephant population. Lion, leopard, serval and African wildcat are common predators in this area, with wild dog and cheetah being less common. Buffalo use this area seasonally with large herds moving in during the summer rains. The swampy areas in the west are home to red lechwe. Other ungulates include tsessebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope and impala.
A great birding area, with an excellent diversity of species.
Activities: Game Drive, Walking Safaris (conditions permitting) Night Drives and mokoro excursion
Day 7: Khwai to Savuti. Travel Day. 100km. 4-5 hours
You head further north en-route to Chobe National Park, were you spend the following three nights camping in an exclusive wilderness campsite in the Savute region, exploring the desert-like landscape on game drives.
The most challenging part of the trip is crossing the Magwikwe Sand-ridge that formed the shoreline for what was a massive inland sea. The old lake bed is now the Mababe Depression. The dense clay floor of the depression results in high protein feed for wildlife and the area teams with game after the rains. During the rainy season the depression is impassable due to the “cotton soil” and alternative routes must be used.
This is a day when anything could happen in terms of wildlife viewing. The range of habitat that is covered encompasses most of the habitat types of northern Botswana. You pass through excellent lion country and some of the best cheetah country that your safari will cover. Elephant occur throughout the drive but are more common at the start and end of the drive where permanent surface water can be found.
The Mababe Depression is a birder’s paradise. The nutritious grasses that grow on the rich soils provide excellent seed for an impressive array species.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 8 & 9: Savute Exploration Days.
Savute is not a totally flat landscape. Large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands, towering over the endless savannah. These hills provide habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants. The Savute Marsh has been the stage for many of the most dramatic wildlife documentaries in Africa. The wide open country, good ungulate populations and particularly strong prides of lion and hyena clans make for dramatic wildlife interaction and excellent viewing opportunities. The now dry Savuti Channel runs through this landscape linking the dry sand-veld, the waterholes, the hills and the grassland that was the Savuti Marsh.
You get to explore this beautiful area on extensive game drives.
Day 10: Savuti to Chobe River. 170km (5 hrs)
On your final day on safari, leave Savute early to travel along the Chobe River arriving in Kasane where you stop for a picnic lunch before taking an afternoon boat cruise to end your safari. As today is a long day it is recommended either spending a night or two in Kasane at Chobe Safari Lodge or two nights in Livingstone at Taita Falcon Lodge (for example).
For those transferring across to Zambia it is recommended that your transfer be organized to meet you at Chobe Safari Lodge at 15h30.
The habitat on today’s drive takes you through the stunted mopane scrub of the Ghoha clay basin, across the sand-ridge and through the wonderful Zambezi teak woodlands of the Chobe Forest Reserve and along the Chobe River itself. The Chobe floodplain is tens of kilometres wide and in years of exceptional rains the water stretches as far as the eye can see.
Roan and sable antelope thrive in the teak woodlands where the low density of predators and lack of competition for food by other ungulates makes this prime habitat for these large ungulates. Leopard occur in these woodlands in low numbers but they are highly secretive and seldom seen. The Ghoha region has natural waterholes that hold water well into the dry season and herds of buffalo, Burchell’s zebra, greater kudu and elephant come down to drink.
Included:
Spacious and comfortable tented accommodation, including beds and bed linen, with a private bathroom en-suite.
Services of a professional guide, safari chef and camp assistants, complete with a supply vehicle.
Game drives and local transfers in customised safari vehicles
Exclusive camping in private campsites within the national parks and reserves
All entrance and camping fees within the national parks and reserves
All meals and drinks (mineral water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T) whilst in Tented Camps
All activities as specified in the itinerary
Not included:
Travel Insurance
All flights
Items of personal nature
Toiletries
Staff gratuities
Optional safari extensions
Any drinks at lodges or accommodation other than in the Tented Camps.
Day 1: Maun to Xakanaxa. Travel Day. 140km, flight
After your arrival at Maun International Airport (arrivals have to be no later than 14.00), you will be met and assisted onto your charter flight to Moremi Game Reserve, the first stop on your safari.
Your first three nights are spent in the Xakanaxa region where you explore the surrounding wilderness on extensive morning and afternoon game drive. Wildlife is abundant in the Moremi, and you have the chance to see elephant, buffalo, lechwe, and hippo. Predators are also present, with lion, leopard and wild dog all well represented.
Birding is also excellent, and the enthusiast will be well rewarded with some excellent sightings, and a good variety of species.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 2 & 3: Xakanaxa Exploration Days - Moremi Game Reserve
Moremi Game Reserve is on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta, and boats a wide variety of habitats - from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, to woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.
Day 4: Xakanaxa to Khwai. Travel Day. 60km. 3-4 hours
Enjoy an early morning breakfast and then you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai Community Area. The day’s journey follows the Munachira water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands that make Khwai one of the most scenic areas of the Okavango. You also pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 5 & 6: Khwai Exploration Days.
The Khwai River forms a boundary between the reserve and the community area. You spend the following two nights camping at an exclusive campsite in the community area, exploring the Khwai floodplains on game drives both during the day and at night. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day.
You also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot and mokoro and enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves – as these activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Khwai community area.
The Khwai region boasts an excellent elephant population. Lion, leopard, serval and African wildcat are common predators in this area, with wild dog and cheetah being less common. Buffalo use this area seasonally with large herds moving in during the summer rains. The swampy areas in the west are home to red lechwe. Other ungulates include tsessebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope and impala.
A great birding area, with an excellent diversity of species.
Activities: Game Drive, Walking Safaris (conditions permitting) Night Drives and mokoro excursion
Day 7: Khwai to Savuti. Travel Day. 100km. 4-5 hours
You head further north en-route to Chobe National Park, were you spend the following three nights camping in an exclusive wilderness campsite in the Savute region, exploring the desert-like landscape on game drives.
The most challenging part of the trip is crossing the Magwikwe Sand-ridge that formed the shoreline for what was a massive inland sea. The old lake bed is now the Mababe Depression. The dense clay floor of the depression results in high protein feed for wildlife and the area teams with game after the rains. During the rainy season the depression is impassable due to the “cotton soil” and alternative routes must be used.
This is a day when anything could happen in terms of wildlife viewing. The range of habitat that is covered encompasses most of the habitat types of northern Botswana. You pass through excellent lion country and some of the best cheetah country that your safari will cover. Elephant occur throughout the drive but are more common at the start and end of the drive where permanent surface water can be found.
The Mababe Depression is a birder’s paradise. The nutritious grasses that grow on the rich soils provide excellent seed for an impressive array species.
Spend your 3 nights camping at a private Tented Camp.
Days 8 & 9: Savute Exploration Days.
Savute is not a totally flat landscape. Large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands, towering over the endless savannah. These hills provide habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants. The Savute Marsh has been the stage for many of the most dramatic wildlife documentaries in Africa. The wide open country, good ungulate populations and particularly strong prides of lion and hyena clans make for dramatic wildlife interaction and excellent viewing opportunities. The now dry Savuti Channel runs through this landscape linking the dry sand-veld, the waterholes, the hills and the grassland that was the Savuti Marsh.
You get to explore this beautiful area on extensive game drives.
Day 10: Savuti to Chobe River. 170km (5 hrs)
On your final day on safari, leave Savute early to travel along the Chobe River arriving in Kasane where you stop for a picnic lunch before taking an afternoon boat cruise to end your safari. As today is a long day it is recommended either spending a night or two in Kasane at Chobe Safari Lodge or two nights in Livingstone at Taita Falcon Lodge (for example).
For those transferring across to Zambia it is recommended that your transfer be organized to meet you at Chobe Safari Lodge at 15h30.
The habitat on today’s drive takes you through the stunted mopane scrub of the Ghoha clay basin, across the sand-ridge and through the wonderful Zambezi teak woodlands of the Chobe Forest Reserve and along the Chobe River itself. The Chobe floodplain is tens of kilometres wide and in years of exceptional rains the water stretches as far as the eye can see.
Roan and sable antelope thrive in the teak woodlands where the low density of predators and lack of competition for food by other ungulates makes this prime habitat for these large ungulates. Leopard occur in these woodlands in low numbers but they are highly secretive and seldom seen. The Ghoha region has natural waterholes that hold water well into the dry season and herds of buffalo, Burchell’s zebra, greater kudu and elephant come down to drink.
Included:
Spacious and comfortable tented accommodation, including beds and bed linen, with a private bathroom en-suite.
Services of a professional guide, safari chef and camp assistants, complete with a supply vehicle.
Game drives and local transfers in customised safari vehicles
Exclusive camping in private campsites within the national parks and reserves
All entrance and camping fees within the national parks and reserves
All meals and drinks (mineral water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T) whilst in Tented Camps
All activities as specified in the itinerary
Not included:
Travel Insurance
All flights
Items of personal nature
Toiletries
Staff gratuities
Optional safari extensions
Any drinks at lodges or accommodation other than in the Tented Camps.
