Botswana: the Okavango Delta, Chobe and Victoria Falls

Arrive in Maun

Maun Airport to your hotel on the Thamalakane River

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Maun
• Environ 15 min de route

Après-midi

Take the afternoon to rest after the long flights, watch the river birds from the garden, and repack for tomorrow: the light aircraft into the Delta take soft bags only, with a limit of about 20 kg each, hand luggage included. Your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at about 6 pm for a briefing on the camp, the flights, the border into Zimbabwe and how each safari day is paced.

Soir

Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner at the hotel.

Compris

• Pick-up at Maun Airport (MUB)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Fly into the Okavango Delta

Maun by light aircraft to a camp in the Okavango Delta

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Okavango Delta
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive the few minutes to Maun Airport for the flight into the Delta in a small light aircraft, about 20 to 45 minutes depending on where the camp lies. From a few hundred metres up you see the shape of the place: channels and lagoons through the papyrus, islands ringed by palms, and game trails worn between them. The Okavango River rises in Angola and spreads out into the Kalahari instead of reaching the sea; the Delta was listed by UNESCO in 2014. A camp vehicle meets the plane at the airstrip.

Après-midi

We settle into tents with their own bathrooms, then have lunch at camp and rest through the heat of the day. In the late afternoon we go out by mokoro, the Delta's narrow poled canoe, once carved from a single tree trunk, two guests to a boat, poled silently through the reeds by a local poler.

Soir

Back at camp there is a fire, a sundowner and dinner.

Compris

• Light-aircraft flight from Maun to the camp airstrip
• Late-afternoon mokoro trip with a local poler
• All meals at camp

On foot in the Delta

A full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Okavango Delta
• En bateau

Matin

Wake to coffee and a light breakfast by the fire before sunrise, then cross by mokoro to one of the larger islands for a guided walk with a licensed camp guide and your poler, in the coolest and quietest hours of the day.

Soir

On foot you notice what a vehicle drives past: last night's tracks in the sand, termite mounds several metres tall that seed new islands, a red lechwe splashing off through the shallows. Your guide decides how close is safe, and the group walks in single file and talks quietly. We are back at camp by late morning for lunch, and the middle of the day is free: rest in your tent, read on the deck or watch the lagoon. In the late afternoon we go out by mokoro again, on a longer trip towards a hippo pool, keeping the distance your poler judges safe. Dinner at camp, then the sounds of the Delta at night.

Compris

• Dawn guided walk on an island with a licensed guide and your poler
• Late-afternoon mokoro trip towards a hippo pool
• All meals at camp

Channels and lagoons by water

A second full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Okavango Delta
• En bateau

Matin

A slower start today, with breakfast at camp before we head out on the water. Depending on the flood and the camp's area, we go by mokoro or by motorboat into the larger channels and open lagoons, where hippos surface and crocodiles bask on the banks. The birdlife is at its best near water: African fish eagles calling from dead trees, malachite kingfishers on the reeds, jacanas stepping across the lily pads, and herons and storks in the shallows. Your camp guide picks the route for the conditions of the day.

Soir

Lunch at camp and a free afternoon follow; it is the right moment for a nap, as tonight is your last evening in the Delta. Late in the day we go out once more, on foot or by mokoro, to a spot chosen for the sunset, with a drink as the light fades over the floodplain. Dinner at camp, and a last night with the hippos calling in the dark.

Compris

• Morning boat or mokoro trip into the channels and lagoons
• Sunset outing on foot or by mokoro
• All meals at camp

To Kasane and the Chobe River

Okavango Delta by light aircraft to Kasane, then a boat on the Chobe River

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Kasane
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

Coffee on the deck, breakfast, and then the camp vehicle takes us to the airstrip for the flight north-east to Kasane, roughly an hour to an hour and a half in the air, sometimes with a short stop at another airstrip. Below, the water gives way to dry woodland and then to the green line of the Chobe River. A vehicle meets us at Kasane Airport for the short drive to our lodge near the river, where we stay two nights.

Après-midi

After lunch and a rest, we board a boat for the afternoon on the Chobe River inside Chobe National Park, Botswana's first national park. From the water, the river edge is the show: elephants come down in family herds to drink, swim and cross to the islands, buffalo and hippos graze the floodplain, and crocodiles lie on the sandbanks. We stay out until the sun goes down over the Namibian bank.

Soir

Dinner is at the lodge.

Compris

• Light-aircraft flight from the Delta to Kasane
• Afternoon boat cruise on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park, park fees included
• Lunch and dinner at the lodge

Chobe by land at dawn

Kasane to the Chobe riverfront and back

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Kasane
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

We leave the lodge before sunrise in two open 4x4s, at most six guests in each, to be at the Sedudu gate of Chobe National Park as it opens. The first hours are the best on land: the air is cool, the cats are still active, and the riverfront track is quiet before the day visitors arrive. The drive follows the river west along the floodplain, with stops wherever the animals are: elephant and buffalo herds, giraffe, sable antelope in the woodland, and the puku, an antelope rare elsewhere in Botswana. Lions and leopards are seen here, though never promised. We are back at the lodge by late morning for brunch.

Soir

The afternoon and evening are free: swim, sleep, walk into Kasane, or take the optional small photographic boat on the river for a second, lower look. Dinner tonight is your choice, at the lodge or in town.

Compris

• Dawn game drive in Chobe National Park in an open 4x4, park fees included
• Brunch at the lodge

Activités en option

• Small-boat photographic trip on the Chobe River (priced at booking)

Across the border to Victoria Falls

Kasane through the Kazungula border to Victoria Falls, then a cruise on the Zambezi

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Victoria Falls
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A free morning for a late breakfast or a last look at the river, then we leave Kasane at about 10 am for Victoria Falls, about 80 km and an hour and a half on the road. First comes the Kazungula border: we leave Botswana and enter Zimbabwe, where you buy your visa at the post in US dollars cash if you do not already have one (we confirm the fee when you book), and your guide steers the group through the forms. Allow up to an hour here. Past the border, the road runs through mopane woodland, where elephants sometimes cross, into Victoria Falls town.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in town, then we check in to our hotel for two nights.

Soir

In the late afternoon we board a boat on the upper Zambezi, above the Falls, for a sunset cruise past islands where hippos surface and elephants come down to the banks, while the spray of the Falls rises downstream. Dinner tonight is your choice in town.

Compris

• Transfer from Kasane to Victoria Falls through the Kazungula border with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Victoria Falls town
• Zambezi sunset cruise, national park fee included

Victoria Falls at opening

The Victoria Falls Rainforest, then a free day in town

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Victoria Falls
• Environ 15 min de route

Matin

We are at the gate of the Victoria Falls Rainforest, in Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls National Park, when it opens in the morning, before the tour groups arrive. The Falls are about 1.7 km wide and drop up to 108 m into a narrow gorge, and the path on the Zimbabwe side runs along the opposite lip of that gorge, facing the water. Your guide walks you through the viewpoints, from the statue of David Livingstone at the western end past the Devil's Cataract and the Main Falls to Danger Point, where you look down into the gorge and across to the Victoria Falls Bridge. From March to May the spray can soak you and hide parts of the Falls; later in the year the view is clearer. We are back for a late breakfast, and the rest of the day is yours: a helicopter flight over the Falls, the bridge tour, white-water rafting in season, or nothing at all.

Soir

In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner.

Compris

• Guided walk of the Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, entry included
• Farewell dinner

Activités en option

• Helicopter flight over the Falls (priced at booking)
• Victoria Falls Bridge tour
• White-water rafting on the Zambezi below the Falls, in season

Departure from Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls to Victoria Falls Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

Breakfast at the hotel, then a free morning to go back to the Falls on your own (a new ticket is needed), walk out to the Victoria Falls Bridge, or browse the craft stalls in town for carvings and baskets. Your guide stays with the group until the transfers leave and checks everyone's flight times. Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) is about 20 km south of town, roughly 25 minutes by road, and a driver takes you there in time for your flight; most flights from here go to Johannesburg for connections home.

Soir

If you would like longer at the Falls, or a night across the river in Livingstone, Zambia, ask us when you book and we arrange the extra nights, the transfer and the visa advice. For the flight home, allow at least two hours at the airport for check-in and departure formalities, and choose a flight that leaves after about noon so you do not lose the morning.

Compris

• Drop-off at Victoria Falls Airport (VFA)