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

1. Day 1: Arrive in Johannesburg

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

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Johannesburg
   Day 1 details

   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, chosen so you can walk to restaurants in the evening. If you land by about noon, your See Sight Tours guide takes the early arrivals to the Apartheid Museum at 2 pm, about 20 km south. It closes on Mondays, so on a Monday arrival we go instead to Constitution Hill, the old prison where Mandela and Gandhi were held. The museum sets out, in about two to three hours, the history behind the country you are about to cross: the pass laws, the 1976 Soweto uprising and Nelson Mandela's long road out of prison, told through photographs, film and the original documents; the entry is included. Guests who land later can rest instead. At about 6 pm the whole group meets for a briefing on the route, the flights, the four border crossings and the luggage rule: one soft bag of about 20 kg for the light aircraft tomorrow. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at OR Tambo International Airport (JNB)
   • Apartheid Museum with your guide, entry included, for guests who land by about noon (Constitution Hill instead on a Monday, when the museum is closed)
   • Welcome briefing and welcome dinner

   Easier option: Skip the museum and rest at the hotel until the briefing.

   Free time: Free until the museum visit or the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about noon for the museum (closed Mondays), or by about 4 pm for the briefing.

2. Day 2: Fly to Maun and into the Delta

   Johannesburg by air to Maun, then by light aircraft to a camp in the Okavango Delta

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Okavango Delta
   Day 2 details

   An early breakfast, then the short drive to OR Tambo for the scheduled flight to Maun in Botswana, about an hour and 45 minutes. This one flight replaces the two days on the road through Serowe that the overland trucks drive. In Maun we clear immigration and walk across to the light aircraft for the hop into the Delta, 20 to 45 minutes depending on where the camp lies. From low altitude you see the shape of the place: channels and lagoons through the papyrus, islands ringed by palms, game trails worn between them. The Okavango River rises in Angola and spreads into the Kalahari instead of reaching the sea; the Delta joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2014. A camp vehicle meets the plane. Lunch, a rest in your tent with its own bathroom, then in the late afternoon our first trip by mokoro, the Delta's poled canoe, two guests to a boat with a local poler. Dinner at camp by the fire.

   Included

   • Scheduled flight Johannesburg to Maun
   • Light-aircraft flight from Maun to the camp airstrip
   • Late-afternoon mokoro trip with a local poler
   • Lunch and dinner at camp

   Free time: Rest at camp after lunch

   Activity: Soft bags of about 20 kg each, hand luggage included; flight times are confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

3. Day 3: On foot in the Delta

   A full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Okavango Delta
   Day 3 details

   Coffee and a light breakfast by the fire before sunrise, then we 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. On foot you notice what a vehicle drives past: last night's tracks in the sand, termite mounds taller than a person that slowly grow into new islands, 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 brunch, and the middle of the day is free: sleep, read on the deck or watch the lagoon from the shade. 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, and come back as the light turns gold over the reeds. Dinner at camp, then the sounds of the Delta at night.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Skip the walk and stay at camp, then join the gentler afternoon mokoro.

   More active option: A longer walk of about three hours on a bigger island, where the camp guide allows it.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at camp

   Activity: Walks are 2 to 3 hours on flat, sandy ground at a slow pace. Wear neutral colours and closed shoes.

4. Day 4: Channels and lagoons by water

   A second full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Okavango Delta
   Day 4 details

   A slower start, with a full 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 wider 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, herons and storks working the shallows. Your camp guide chooses the route for the water levels of the day. Lunch at camp and a free afternoon follow; it is a good moment for a nap or a slow look through your photos, as tomorrow we fly north. Late in the day we go out once more, on foot or by mokoro, to a place picked 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 around the tents.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Stay at camp in the morning and join only the sunset outing.

   Free time: Afternoon free at camp

   

5. Day 5: To Kasane and the Chobe River

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

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kasane
   Day 5 details

   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. 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. We stay out until the sun goes down over the Namibian bank. Kasane is one of three one-night stops on the trip, with Johannesburg and Shingwedzi, so dinner is at the lodge and bags stay packed.

   Included

   • 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

   

6. Day 6: Chobe at dawn, then Victoria Falls

   Chobe riverfront game drive, then Kasane through the Kazungula border to Victoria Falls

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Victoria Falls
   Day 6 details

   Coffee before sunrise, because the park and its animals are at their best at first light, then two open 4x4s, at most six guests in each, take us to the Sedudu gate of Chobe National Park as it opens. The first hours are the best on land: the air is cold from May to August, so bring a fleece and a hat, the cats may still be moving, and the riverfront track is quiet before the day visitors. We follow the floodplain west with stops wherever the animals are: elephant and buffalo herds, giraffe, sable in the woodland and the puku, an antelope found in Botswana mainly along this river. Back at the lodge by about 10 am for a full breakfast, then we drive about 80 km to Victoria Falls, an hour and a half on the road plus the border. At the Kazungula border we leave Botswana and enter Zimbabwe, where you buy your visa in US dollars cash if you do not already hold one; allow up to an hour. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Victoria Falls town, then we check in for two nights. The evening is yours.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive in Chobe National Park in an open 4x4, park fees included
   • Transfer from Kasane to Victoria Falls through the Kazungula border with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Victoria Falls town

   Easier option: Sit the drive out and take a slow breakfast at the lodge before the transfer.

   Free time: Evening free in Victoria Falls

   Activity: Bring a warm layer for the open vehicle, and keep your passport, visa fee in US dollars and a pen in your day bag for the border.

7. Day 7: Victoria Falls at opening

   The Victoria Falls Rainforest, a free middle of the day, then the upper Zambezi

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Victoria Falls
   Day 7 details

   We are at the gate of the Victoria Falls Rainforest, in Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls National Park, when it opens, 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, facing the water. A local 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 dry season the view is clearer. We are back by late morning, and the middle of the day is yours: a helicopter flight, the bridge tour, lunch in town, or the pool. In the late afternoon we board a boat on the upper Zambezi for a sunset cruise above the Falls.

   Included

   • Guided walk of the Victoria Falls Rainforest at opening, entry included
   • Zambezi sunset cruise, national park fee included

   Optional experiences

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

   Easier option: Walk only to the Devil's Cataract and Main Falls viewpoints, then head back for a rest.

   More active option: White-water rafting in the gorges below the Falls when the river is low enough, usually from about July (confirmed at booking).

   Free time: Middle of the day and evening free

   Activity: About 3 km on a mostly flat path with some steps, wet in high water. A rain jacket and a dry bag for your phone help from about March to June.

8. Day 8: Painted dogs and Hwange

   Victoria Falls to Painted Dog Conservation at Dete, then Hwange National Park

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Hwange
   Day 8 details

   A free morning for a last look at the Falls or the craft market, then we leave at about 10 am on the road south-east, about 190 km and three hours through mopane woodland to the edge of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest, at roughly 14,600 square kilometres. Just before the park we stop at the visitor centre of Painted Dog Conservation near Dete, which works to protect the African wild dog, one of the continent's most endangered carnivores; its staff explain the anti-poaching patrols, the snare removal and the rehabilitation pens. Lunch is at our lodge near Main Camp, where we stay two nights. In the late afternoon we set out on the first game drive in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide, heading for the pans. Through the dry months the park's waterholes, many of them pumped, draw elephant herds in from the Kalahari sand, along with buffalo, sable and the lions that follow them. Dinner at the lodge.

   Included

   • Visit to Painted Dog Conservation near Dete
   • Afternoon game drive in Hwange National Park in an open 4x4, park fees included
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Free time: Morning free in Victoria Falls

9. Day 9: A full day in Hwange

   Game drives in Hwange National Park from the Main Camp area

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Hwange
   Day 9 details

   We leave at first light in the open 4x4s, at most six guests in each, for the longest drive of the stay. The Main Camp side of Hwange is a mix of grassland, teak woodland and open pans, and in the dry months the animals come to the water in shifts: elephants by the hundred through the day, buffalo in dust clouds, and sable and roan antelope, which are hard to find in most other parks on this trip. A stop at the Nyamandhlovu Pan viewing platform gives a raised view over one of the busiest waterholes. We are back at the lodge for lunch, and the middle of the day is free; the lodge waterhole often has visitors of its own. In the late afternoon you choose: a second game drive to a different set of pans, or a guided walk with a licensed professional guide. Both end at sunset. Dinner at the lodge, with the sounds of the bush around it.

   Included

   • Morning game drive in Hwange National Park in an open 4x4
   • Afternoon game drive or guided walk with a licensed professional guide
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the afternoon drive and watch the lodge waterhole from the deck.

   More active option: The guided walk of about 2 to 3 hours with a licensed professional guide.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: Dawn in an open vehicle is cold from May to August; bring a warm layer, a hat and gloves.

   

10. Day 10: Through Bulawayo to the Matobo Hills

    Hwange to Bulawayo, then the Matobo Hills

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Matobo Hills
    Day 10 details

    One of the trip's longer road days, about 320 km and four hours in all, right at our cap, so we leave after breakfast at 8 am and break it in the middle. The A8 runs south-east through Lupane towards Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, with a coffee stop on the way. In Bulawayo we stop for a sit-down lunch and about an hour at the Natural History Museum, the largest in the country, with its mammal halls and its galleries on the geology and early peoples of the region; your guide also points out the wide colonial-era streets, laid out broad enough to turn an ox wagon. Then it is about 35 km south into the Matobo Hills, where granite domes and balancing boulders rise out of the bush. We reach our lodge in the hills by mid-afternoon, with time to settle in and watch the light go orange on the rocks. Dinner at the lodge.

    Included

    • Natural History Museum in Bulawayo, entry included
    • Sit-down lunch in Bulawayo
    • Dinner at the lodge

    Free time: Late afternoon free at the lodge

    Activity: A long road day with a coffee stop and a lunch break in Bulawayo.

11. Day 11: Rhino tracking and rock art in Matobo

    Matobo National Park: rhino tracking, Nswatugi Cave and World's View

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Matobo Hills
    Day 11 details

    Matobo National Park lies at the heart of the Matobo Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003 for its granite landscape, its San rock paintings and its living sacred places. We set out after an early breakfast with licensed local guides to track white rhino on foot in the park's protected rhino area, reading spoor and dung in the cool of the morning and closing in quietly once the animals are found; the guides set the distance. Tracking takes two to four hours on rocky, uneven ground. After a picnic lunch we drive to Nswatugi Cave, a short climb up a granite slope, where giraffe, kudu and running human figures are painted on the rock in ochre. In the late afternoon we walk up the bare dome of Malindidzimu, called World's View, where Cecil Rhodes was buried against the wishes of many local people; the hill is sacred to them, and the sunset over the boulders is the reason to go. Dinner at the lodge.

    Included

    • Rhino tracking on foot with licensed local guides, park and tracking fees included
    • Nswatugi Cave and its San paintings
    • Sunset at World's View (Malindidzimu)
    • All meals

    Easier option: Join the tracking by vehicle and walk only the last short stretch, or stay at the lodge and join for the cave and the sunset.

    More active option: Stay out longer with the trackers if the rhino are far off, where the guides allow it.

    Free time: Midday rest after lunch

    Activity: Closed shoes with good grip for the granite. The World's View walk is about 15 minutes up a bare rock slope.

12. Day 12: Through Beitbridge to northern Kruger

    Matobo Hills through Beitbridge to Musina, then the Pafuri gate of Kruger National Park

    • Drive about 7 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Northern Kruger (Pafuri)
    Day 12 details

    This is the trip's one really long day: about 490 km and seven hours on the road, plus the Beitbridge border, which can take one to three hours. We take it on because Beitbridge is the only direct road crossing between Zimbabwe and South Africa, and coming into Kruger from the north saves flying back through Johannesburg. The Pafuri gate closes at about 5:30 pm from May to July, with no late entry, so this is the one day we leave at 6 am, before sunrise, with packed coffee and breakfast; doze in the van if you like. A stretch stop in Gwanda, then Beitbridge at about 10:30 am. Your guide handles the forms on both sides. Over the bridge, lunch is a quick 45-minute meal in Musina, or packed in the van if the border runs long. Then about 160 km east on the R508 and R525 through baobab country to the Pafuri gate, which we aim to reach by mid-afternoon. If the border keeps us past about 2 pm, we switch to the planned night near Musina, already in the price, and drive in when the gate opens.

    Included

    • Transfer through the Beitbridge border with your guide
    • Lunch in Musina, or packed if the border runs long
    • Kruger National Park conservation fees from today
    • Dinner at the lodge, or near Musina if we stop there

    Activity: The longest day of the trip, over the 4-hour cap because of the border and the gate times. Stops about every two hours. A late border means a planned night near Musina at no extra cost to you, not a race for the gate.

13. Day 13: Pafuri and Crooks' Corner

    Game drive in the Pafuri area of northern Kruger, to Crooks' Corner and back

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Northern Kruger (Pafuri)
    Day 13 details

    No packing today. We go out at first light in open 4x4s with licensed guides, at most six guests in each, into the Pafuri area between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers, the wildest and quietest corner of Kruger. There are fewer animals than in the south, and far fewer vehicles: nyala in the riverine thickets, elephants under the baobabs, buffalo at the river, and birds you rarely see elsewhere in South Africa. The drive passes through a forest of yellow fever trees, glowing lime-green in the low sun, and ends at Crooks' Corner, where the Luvuvhu meets the Limpopo and South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique touch. We are back at the lodge for lunch and a free afternoon, after a long day yesterday. Late in the day there is a short sunset drive along the Luvuvhu, or you can stay by the pool. Dinner at the lodge, with the frogs and the night birds calling from the river below.

    Included

    • Morning game drive to Crooks' Corner in an open 4x4 with a licensed guide
    • Short sunset drive along the Luvuvhu River
    • All meals at the lodge

    Optional experiences

    • Guided visit to the Thulamela heritage site, a stone-walled royal settlement from about 500 years ago (priced at booking, where SANParks runs it)

    Easier option: Skip the sunset drive and rest at the lodge.

    More active option: A guided morning walk with an armed ranger, where the lodge or SANParks offers it.

    Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

14. Day 14: South through Kruger to Shingwedzi

    Pafuri to Punda Maria, then south to Shingwedzi inside Kruger National Park

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Shingwedzi, Kruger National Park
    Day 14 details

    After breakfast we drive south inside the park, about 130 km at park speeds and roughly four hours with stops: this is a game drive with a destination, in our own vehicle with your guide. The road climbs from the Luvuvhu valley through the sandveld around Punda Maria, where the plants and birds change, and then out into the open mopane country that covers much of Kruger's north. We stop for lunch at a rest camp on the way and arrive at Shingwedzi early in the afternoon. The camp sits above the Shingwedzi River, and in the dry season the riverbed and its pools are where elephants, buffalo and the occasional lion come down to drink, so the river road below camp is a good late-afternoon loop. The rest of the afternoon is free. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner, our last night in the bush together.

    Included

    • Game drive from Pafuri through Punda Maria to Shingwedzi with your guide
    • Lunch at a rest camp on the way
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • SANParks sunset drive from Shingwedzi, where offered (priced at booking)

    Free time: Late afternoon free at Shingwedzi

    Activity: Kruger's speed limit is 50 km/h on tar and 40 km/h on gravel, so park distances take longer than the kilometres suggest.

15. Day 15: Through Kruger to Phalaborwa, fly to Johannesburg

    Shingwedzi to Letaba and the Phalaborwa gate, then Phalaborwa by air to Johannesburg

    • Drive about 4.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    Day 15 details

    We leave Shingwedzi when the gate opens, about 6 am, because the first hours are the best for game; if you would rather sleep, the van is the place to doze, as there is no other way out. It is a last game drive south through the heart of Kruger's north: about 170 km and four and a half hours with stops, longer than our usual cap because the whole morning is a game drive, not a transfer. The road passes the Mopani area and crosses the Letaba River, and we reach Letaba rest camp in the late morning. Lunch there is a sit-down meal at about noon, and those who like can walk through its elephant hall, a small museum of the park's great tuskers, open until 4 pm. Then about 50 km to the Phalaborwa gate and the airport just outside it. The flight to Johannesburg takes about an hour and lands at OR Tambo in the late afternoon or early evening, depending on the schedule we confirm, where your trip ends. Choose a flight home leaving Johannesburg after about 8 pm, or ask us to book a night in Johannesburg.

    Included

    • Game drive from Shingwedzi to the Phalaborwa gate
    • Lunch at Letaba
    • Flight from Phalaborwa to Johannesburg OR Tambo

    Activity: Book a flight home leaving Johannesburg after about 8 pm; the Phalaborwa flight time is confirmed with your final itinerary, and we check that rule against it before you book.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is the dry season across all three countries. The Delta flood is usually highest from about June to August, so mokoro trips run well, and as the bush dries out animals gather at the rivers and at Hwange's pumped waterholes. Dawns from May to August are cold, sometimes near freezing in open vehicles; September and October are hot, often above 35°C. Victoria Falls is fullest from about March to May, when spray can hide the view, and lowest in October.

• Johannesburg1 night
• Okavango Delta3 nights
• Kasane1 night
• Victoria Falls2 nights
• Hwange2 nights
• Matobo Hills2 nights
• Northern Kruger (Pafuri)2 nights
• Shingwedzi, Kruger National Park1 night