Southern Africa: Kruger, Matobo, Hwange, Victoria Falls, Chobe and the Okavango

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Johannesburg

   OR Tambo Airport to a hotel in the northern suburbs, then the Apartheid Museum

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Johannesburg
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into OR Tambo International Airport (JNB), where a driver meets you at arrivals for the drive of about 25 km to our hotel in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, picked so you can walk to restaurants. If you land by about noon, your See Sight Tours guide takes the early arrivals to the Apartheid Museum in the afternoon, about 30 km and 40 minutes south. It is the clearest single introduction to the country: the pass laws, the 1976 Soweto uprising and Nelson Mandela's release, told through photographs, film and original documents. Allow two to three hours; the entry is included. Later arrivals can rest instead. At about 6 pm the whole group meets for a briefing on the route, the three countries, the borders and tomorrow's early flight north, then we sit down together for a welcome dinner. Bags stay light from here: one soft bag each makes the flights and the vehicle easy.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at OR Tambo International Airport (JNB)
   • Apartheid Museum with your guide, entry included, for guests who land by about noon
   • Welcome briefing and welcome dinner

   Option plus facile : Skip the museum and rest at the hotel until the briefing.

   Temps libre : Free until the museum visit or the evening briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about noon for the museum, or by about 4 pm for the briefing.

2. Jour 2 : Fly north to the far end of Kruger

   Johannesburg by air to Polokwane, then by road to northern Kruger near Punda Maria

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Northern Kruger (Punda Maria area)
   Détail du jour 2

   After an early breakfast we drive back to OR Tambo for the short flight north to Polokwane, about an hour in the air. It replaces about three and a half hours on the N1, which keeps today's road time near our four-hour cap. Our own vehicle and driver meet us at the airport, and we head east through Limpopo's farmland and the hills around Thohoyandou, about 270 km and four hours with a stop for a sit-down lunch on the way. We enter Kruger National Park at the Punda Maria gate in the afternoon. This is the park's far north: sandveld, mopane woodland, baobabs and far fewer vehicles than the southern camps near Skukuza. Our lodge for three nights is in or beside the park, so nobody repacks until day 5. After check-in there is time for a first slow drive near camp, looking for nyala and elephants in the late light, before dinner. Kruger gate times are strict, so arrival is planned well before the evening closing.

   Compris

   • Flight Johannesburg to Polokwane
   • Our own vehicle and driver from Polokwane into Kruger
   • Kruger conservation fees for three days
   • Lunch on the way and dinner at the lodge

   Temps libre : Late afternoon at the lodge for those who prefer to rest

   Activité : Flight time confirmed with your final itinerary; one soft bag each.

3. Jour 3 : Pafuri and Crooks' Corner

   Punda Maria area to the Pafuri region and Crooks' Corner, and back

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Northern Kruger (Punda Maria area)
   Détail du jour 3

   We set out in open 4x4s with a licensed guide when the gate opens, about 6 am in winter, because the first two hours bring the most movement. The road runs north through mopane and sandveld to the Luvuvhu River and the Pafuri region, known for its riverine forest and birdlife: fever-tree forest glowing lime green, huge baobabs, nyala bulls in the riverine bush, and a long list of birds that birders come here for. We stop at Crooks' Corner, where the Luvuvhu meets the Limpopo and South Africa meets Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and look across the sandbanks for crocodiles and hippos. Lunch is a picnic or a sit-down meal near the river. In the heat of the day we drive back to the lodge, and the afternoon is free: a swim, a nap or the camp's own waterhole. Dinner is together at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Morning game drive in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide, at most 6 guests per vehicle
   • Crooks' Corner and the Pafuri region
   • Lunch and dinner

   Activités en option

   • Guided visit to the Thulamela stone ruins, run by SANParks, priced at booking

   Option plus facile : Return to the lodge mid-morning on a shorter drive and rest.

   Temps libre : Free afternoon

   Activité : Dawn drives are cold from May to August: bring a warm layer, a hat and gloves.

4. Jour 4 : Northern Kruger at your pace

   Punda Maria area, game drives at dawn and sunset

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Northern Kruger (Punda Maria area)
   Détail du jour 4

   A slower day in the same base. Those who want it take a second dawn drive in the open 4x4, this time on the loops and pans around Punda Maria, where the sandveld holds species rarely seen further south, and elephants and buffalo come down to drink as the morning warms. Back at the lodge by mid-morning for breakfast. The middle of the day is free, and the light is too flat for good photographs anyway: read on the deck, walk the camp's short trail if it has one, or sleep. Late in the afternoon we go out again on an included sunset drive, when lions and hyenas start to stir and the mopane turns gold. We are back before the gate closes for dinner together and an early night, because tomorrow is the long road day to Zimbabwe. Your guide goes over the border paperwork and the timing tonight.

   Compris

   • Dawn game drive in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide
   • Sunset game drive
   • Border briefing for Beitbridge
   • Lunch and dinner

   Option plus facile : Skip the dawn drive and join only the sunset drive.

   Option plus active : Join both drives and the camp's guided walk if the lodge offers one (priced at booking).

   Temps libre : Free from late morning until the sunset drive

5. Jour 5 : Through Beitbridge to Bulawayo

   Northern Kruger to Musina and the Beitbridge border, then Gwanda to Bulawayo

   • Environ 8 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bulawayo
   Détail du jour 5

   This is the longest day of the trip, and we say so plainly: about 540 km and eight hours of driving, plus the Beitbridge border, which can take one to three hours. That is double our usual cap. There is no shorter road crossing from Kruger into southern Zimbabwe, and flying would route through Johannesburg and lose the day anyway. We leave the lodge at the camp gate opening, about 6 am, with a packed breakfast, and drive about 200 km and three hours to Musina for coffee. Your guide handles the forms at Beitbridge; your part is the Zimbabwe visa, bought at the border in US dollars or as an e-visa in advance. North of the river we stop in Gwanda for a sit-down lunch, then drive on to Bulawayo. We usually arrive between about 4.30 and 6.30 pm; on a slow border day in June or July, the last hour is after dark on the main tarred road. We sleep in Bulawayo, not in the hills, so nobody drives a gravel road at night. Dinner is at the hotel.

   Compris

   • Our own vehicle and driver from Kruger to Bulawayo
   • Beitbridge border crossing with your guide
   • Packed breakfast, sit-down lunch in Gwanda and dinner at the hotel

   Activité : The longest day of the trip; we stop about every two hours. Have small US dollar notes ready for the Zimbabwe visa.

   

6. Jour 6 : Rhinos on foot in Matobo, on to Hwange

   Bulawayo to Matobo National Park and World's View, then back through Bulawayo to Hwange National Park

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Hwange National Park
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Bulawayo at about 6.15 am for the 35 km to Matobo National Park, part of the Matobo Hills World Heritage Site, because the rhino tracking works best in the cool of the morning. With licensed trackers and a national park ranger we follow white rhino on foot through the bush between the granite kopjes, reading tracks and dung until we can watch them quietly. Expect two to three hours of walking on uneven, rocky ground. Afterwards we climb the bare granite of World's View, Malindidzimu, a short, steady walk, for the view over the balancing rocks, and eat an early lunch in the hills. Then comes the second long drive: about 335 km and five hours back through Bulawayo and north-west to Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest. It is over our cap because Matobo and Hwange sit on opposite sides of Bulawayo; we break it with a stop halfway. We reach our lodge near Main Camp at about sunset. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Rhino tracking on foot in Matobo National Park with licensed trackers, park fees included
   • World's View (Malindidzimu)
   • Lunch and dinner

   Option plus facile : Stay with the vehicle at the start of the tracking and join the group at World's View, or watch from the vehicle if the rhinos are near a road.

   Option plus active : Stay with the trackers for the full walk.

   Activité : Closed shoes with grip for the granite; neutral colours for the tracking. A second long drive: about five hours with a stop halfway.

7. Jour 7 : Hwange at dawn, then to Victoria Falls

   Hwange National Park and Painted Dog Conservation, then by road to Victoria Falls

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Victoria Falls
   Détail du jour 7

   Hwange is famous for its elephants, and the dry season gathers them at the pumped waterholes. We go out at dawn in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide to the pans near Main Camp, when the herds come in and the light is soft, and stay out for about four hours. Back at the lodge for a late breakfast, then a visit to Painted Dog Conservation near Hwange Main Camp, on days it is open (confirmed at booking), where the team explains how they protect the African wild dog, an endangered species, and there is a viewing platform over the rehabilitation enclosure. After lunch we drive about 190 km and three hours north-west to the town of Victoria Falls, arriving in the late afternoon. Our hotel is within walking distance of the town and a short drive from the Falls entrance. The evening is free to find a restaurant on your own, and your guide has suggestions.

   Compris

   • Dawn game drive in Hwange National Park in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide, park fees included
   • Painted Dog Conservation
   • Lunch

   Option plus facile : Skip the dawn drive, sleep in and join the group for Painted Dog Conservation.

   Temps libre : Free evening in Victoria Falls

   Activité : One night in Hwange means one long dawn drive, not two; ask about an extra night if Hwange matters most to you.

8. Jour 8 : Victoria Falls and the Zambezi

   Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, then a sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Victoria Falls
   Détail du jour 8

   We walk into the Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, around 6 am, with a local guide, before the day's tour groups arrive. The path runs about 3 km along the edge of the gorge through the spray forest, with a series of viewpoints from Devil's Cataract to Danger Point, and the guide explains the geology of the zigzag gorges and Livingstone's arrival here. Between about March and May the spray can hide the view and soak you; from July to October you see more rock face and more of the drop. Victoria Falls is a World Heritage Site, shared with Zambia. The entry is included. The middle of the day is free for the optional extras people come here for, priced when you book: a helicopter flight, white-water rafting in the low-water months, or the bridge. In the late afternoon we board a boat on the upper Zambezi for a sunset cruise, with hippos and elephants on the islands.

   Compris

   • Guided walk of the Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, entry included
   • Sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi with snacks

   Activités en option

   • Helicopter flight over the Falls
   • White-water rafting on the Zambezi (low-water months)
   • Victoria Falls Bridge activities

   Option plus facile : Skip the 6 am start and walk the Rainforest later in the morning (entry included), or walk only the first few viewpoints, about 1 km, and wait at the café.

   Option plus active : Add rafting or the bridge in the free middle of the day.

   Temps libre : Free from late morning until the cruise, and a free evening

   Activité : Bring a rain jacket or rent one at the entrance; keep cameras in a dry bag.

9. Jour 9 : Into Botswana: the Chobe River

   Victoria Falls via the Kazungula border to Kasane, then a boat on the Chobe River

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Kasane
   Détail du jour 9

   A short road day, so no early alarm. After breakfast we drive about 80 km and an hour and a half west to the Kazungula border, where leaving Zimbabwe and entering Botswana usually takes under an hour, and on to our lodge in Kasane near the Chobe River, for two nights. 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 riverbank 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. The boat stays out until the sun goes down over the Namibian bank. Dinner is at the lodge, and with two nights here there is no need to repack.

   Compris

   • Our own vehicle and driver from Victoria Falls to Kasane
   • Kazungula border crossing with your guide
   • Afternoon boat cruise on the Chobe River, park fees included
   • Lunch and dinner

   Temps libre : Free morning in Victoria Falls before we leave, and time to rest after lunch

   Activité : Botswana pula or cards in Kasane; US dollars are often accepted for tips.

10. Jour 10 : Chobe at the gate opening

    Chobe riverfront game drive, then a free afternoon in Kasane

    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Kasane
    Détail du jour 10

    We enter Chobe National Park at the Sedudu gate when it opens, in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide, to drive the riverfront tracks while it is cool. The Chobe riverfront in the dry season holds some of the largest gatherings of elephants in Africa, and the morning drive also turns up giraffes, sable or roan antelope with luck, lions on the floodplain and fish eagles calling over the water. We are back at the lodge for a late breakfast. The rest of the day is yours: sleep, swim, or take a second boat trip if the river grabbed you yesterday. Late in the afternoon your guide offers a short walk to a sundowner spot near the lodge. Dinner is together, and tonight the guide explains tomorrow's flight to Maun and the Delta day, including the light-aircraft luggage rule if the flight is a charter.

    Compris

    • Dawn game drive in Chobe National Park in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide, park fees included
    • Lunch and dinner

    Activités en option

    • A second Chobe River boat trip or a photographic boat, priced at booking

    Option plus facile : Skip the dawn drive, sleep in and rejoin the group at lunch.

    Temps libre : Free afternoon

    Activité : Dawn drives are cold from May to August.

    

11. Jour 11 : Maun and a day in the Okavango Delta

    Kasane by air to Maun, then a mokoro day on the Delta's edge

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Maun
    Détail du jour 11

    We fly south-west from Kasane to Maun, by scheduled or chartered light aircraft, confirmed at booking, about an hour over dry woodland and the edge of the Okavango. From Maun Airport we go straight out by 4x4 or motor boat, about an hour, to a poling station on the Delta's south-eastern edge. There local polers, from the communities that hold these channels, take us out two to a mokoro, the traditional dugout now usually made of fibreglass, through the reeds and water lilies. We land on an island for a guided walk and a picnic lunch in the shade, looking for elephants, red lechwe and the birds of the papyrus. The water here depends on the flood, which usually peaks from June to August; if it is too low late in the season, we replace the mokoro with an included scenic flight over the Delta. We are back in Maun by evening for a farewell dinner together.

    Compris

    • Flight Kasane to Maun (scheduled or charter, confirmed at booking)
    • Mokoro day in the Okavango Delta with local polers, island walk and picnic lunch, community fees included
    • Farewell dinner in Maun

    Option plus facile : Stay in the mokoro or at the picnic spot during the island walk.

    Option plus active : Join the full island walk with the polers.

    Activité : If the flight is a light-aircraft charter, bags are limited to about 20 kg each, soft bags only.

    

12. Jour 12 : Fly home from Maun

    Maun to Maun Airport, then by air to Johannesburg

    • Environ 15 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 12

    The trip ends in Maun. Breakfast is unhurried, and if you want one more look at the Delta, there is time for an optional early scenic flight of about 45 minutes before your flight home, priced at booking and best booked early in the high season. Your guide checks everyone's departure times the day before, and our vehicle takes you the few minutes to Maun Airport (MUB). Scheduled flights connect Maun with Johannesburg in about an hour and three quarters, and many guests connect there to the evening long-haul flights. If you would rather stay on, we can quote extra nights in Maun or a fly-in Delta camp, or a few days in Cape Town; ask when you book, and the guide can help with ideas on the way. The guide stays with the group until the last airport transfer has left.

    Compris

    • Transfer to Maun Airport (MUB)

    Activités en option

    • Scenic flight over the Okavango Delta, about 45 minutes

    Activité : Book a flight from Maun to Johannesburg leaving after about 11 am, and a flight home from Johannesburg after about 7 pm; check the Maun schedule before you buy, as it changes by season.

Faune et météo : May to October is the dry season in all three countries. As the bush dries out, animals gather at the rivers and at Hwange's pumped waterholes, and the grass is short enough to see them. Dawns from May to August are cold, sometimes near freezing in open vehicles; September and October are hot, often above 35°C. The Okavango flood usually peaks from about June to August; by late October the channels near Maun can be too shallow for a mokoro, and we switch to a scenic flight. Victoria Falls is fullest from about March to May, when spray can hide the view, and lowest in October and November.

• Johannesburg1 nuit
• Northern Kruger (Punda Maria area)3 nuits
• Bulawayo1 nuit
• Hwange National Park1 nuit
• Victoria Falls2 nuits
• Kasane2 nuits
• Maun1 nuit