classic botswana - deeper africa botswana_2017.pdfclassic botswana day by day itinerary 888.658.7102...

classic safari

Classic Botswana DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

888.658.7102 [email protected] www.deeperafrica.com

Classic Safaris with Deeper Africa

It’s all about the wildlife. Embark on the classic safari experience: endless wilderness, great guides, spectacular wildlife, and no civilization. We’ll get you to the best locations during the right seasons. Learn the basics of animal identification, tracking, and spotting wildlife in the landscape. Accommodations are comfortable and the food is delicious. Come with us and discover the brilliance and serenity of Africa in the company of experts who can give you a closer look, a richer taste, and a deeper understanding of an astonishing landscape.

CLASSIC BOTSWANA SAFARI 888.658.7102

OVERVIEW: CLASSIC BOTSWANA

© Wilderness Safaris

If this is your first safari in Africa – you want it to be brilliant, you want to see all of the wildlife, but you probably still want your creature comforts – luxurious rooms, delicious food, and quality service. If this is your profile, then Classic Botswana is your kind of adventure. The options to craft your perfect safari are endless.

You’ll travel into three diverse ecosystems in Botswana, which will give you the opportunity to view a wide variety of wildlife. We’ll move you between each lodge by bush plane, allowing you the opportunity to view the famous Okavango Delta, Moremi Game Reserve, and Chobe Savute marshes. This is a safari where you get to decide what you want to do and when you want to do it. If the mood strikes you, rise with the sun for a Land Cruiser drive in Moremi, wander by boat through the papyrus channels of the Delta, or glide across the water for a mokoro safari in a traditional dugout canoe.


INCLUDED

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Laundry

Wifi

Swimming Pool

Arrive in Maun, Botswana. One of our staff will be waiting for you in the airport to get you checked in for your bush flight into the western Chobe National Park and the Savute Marsh area. The marsh is a most unique place; the relic of a large inland lake whose water supply was cut a long time ago by tectonic movements. It is full of savannas, rolling grasslands, and extensive wetlands. This is elephant country, with enough ecosystem variety to also be home to kudus, impala, zebra, and wildebeest. Packs of lions, hyenas, and (more rarely) cheetah are visible as well.

The marshlands provide ample food available for elephants, and they can be seen wandering the grasslands, marshes, and even up to the lodge. In fact, the resident elephant population is known to casually meander the grounds of Savute Elephant Lodge, hence the name. You’ll be able to watch elephants from the lodge area, the dining room, and sometimes the comfort of your own room.

DAY 1 SAVUTE ELEPHANT LODGE | CHOBE NATIONAL PARK

© Belmond


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Laundry

Wifi

Swimming Pool

The Savute Channel is known for its unpredictability. There was abundant water flowing in the Savute Channel for at least 6 years, but this year the flow has greatly diminished. Currenly water is concentrated in limited water holes throughout the area. Luckily for those wildlife viewing in the Savute, the water holes are a tremendous draw for local animals, with high densities of zebra, impala, and giraffe all stopping by for a drink. Great predator viewing of lions and leopard is also in store as they have plenty of easy hunting concentrated in one place. The area is an elephant hot spot with the large bulls chasing competing wildlife away if they dare to come too close while the other elephants are busy frolicking in the waters.

After spending the winter in the Linyanti area, huge numbers of zebra head south into the grasslands of Savute. By November, the zebras begin to foal. By February, the zebra herds move south again. This cycle happens every year. As a result, some people are reminded of the Serengeti in Savute, both because of the grassland landscape and the breathtaking migration.


© Belmond


This is a luxurious lodge, and your tented room deserves some attention during your safari. Kick back, put your feet up on the deck, and read a good book. Or, just watch the wildlife pass you by as you lounge on a chair or your own hammock. It’s the simplest pleasures that are often the best: wilderness, peace, and tranquility.

From Savute you can also take a day trip to view the ancient San rock paintings at nearby Gubatsa Hills. This area is a small hilly outcrop which forms a prominent landmark amid an otherwise flat landscape. Images of animals including elephant, giraffe, sable, hippo, and eland are tattooed on cave walls and are thought to be several thousand years old. The red painting were created from a mix of plant juices and animal fat that brought out the ironoxides in the rocks, creating enduring images. You can stand watch and imagine the people who crafted the images that echo through time.

INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Laundry

Wifi

Swimming Pool


African Bush Camps Foundation

© Belmond


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Wifi

Laundry

Swimming Pool

Spa

Bush flight this morning into the Khwai Concession, just on the edge of Moremi Game Reserve.

Khwai Concession is nestled on the edge of the leadwood and fig tree forest of the Khwai River flood plains, bordering Moremi Wildlife Reserve. The concession extends north and east, joining protected lands from Moremi all the way to Chobe National Park. The Khwai River flows through this concession. The river is the first major water source that animals migrating down from the Linyanti concession encounter. Khwai has sweeping grasslands, mopane forests, riverine forests, and riparian floodplains. The floodplains flood most of the year and create lagoons covered in day and night lilies.

Khwai River Lodge has large and luxurious accommodations, blending the best of the wilderness with the finer luxuries of life. Enjoy the spa, with a massage at the end of your day.

DAY 4 KHWAI RIVER LODGE | MOREMI GAME RESERVE & KHWAI CONCESSION

© Belmond


This is paradise. Khwai is the part of Botswana that proves itself one of the best places for a safari in Africa. This morning, move out into the floodplains in the Land Cruiser for some great adventures wildlife viewing. A wonderful mix of ecosystems means substantial diversity in animal viewing at Khwai. You should have sightings of wildebeest, zebra, kudu, tsessebe, and elephants. There are stable populations of large predators like lion, cheetah, spotted hyena, and even some African wild dogs. From time to time you can also see leopard. This is also a good area to see roan and sable antelope.

After lunch, venture out on the Khwai River and into the lattices of lagoons and winding channels of papyrus that branch off. There is an abundance of malachite kingfishers in these water systems. You’ll see these beautiful birds diving and darting to catch fish. The water is very clear in this system, so you can see right down into the sandy bottom of the Kalahari.

At Khwai, you can journey out into the bush after dinner for a night game drive. You’ll be searching for animals by spotlight amidst the sounds of the night. This is a great opportunity to see nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day. Nighttime also bring hippos out of the water along with their lovely grunting serenades.

INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Wifi

Laundry

Swimming Pool

Spa

DAY 5 KHWAI RIVER LODGE | KHWAI CONCESSION

© Belmond


Today, travel out with a picnic lunch just across the Khwai Bridge and into the Moremi Game Reserve. Moremi is home to nearly 500 species of birds – from water birds to forest dwellers – as well as a vast array of other species. In Moremi you can expect sightings of giraffe, buffalo, impala, red lechwe, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, jackal, and African wild dog.

Moremi protects the core of the Okavango Delta. It was the first reserve in Africa that was established by local residents concerned about the depletion of wildlife in their ancestral lands from uncontrolled hunting and cattle grazing. Established in 1963, it is the only officially protected area of the Okavango Delta. It holds tremendous scientific, environmental, and conservation importance. It is one of Africa’s finest areas for wildlife viewing, with particularly high wildlife densities.

INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol & Beverages

Wifi

Laundry

Swimming Pool

Spa

DAY 6 KHWAI RIVER LODGE | KHWAI CONCESSION

© Belmond


Morning bush plane to Xaxaba Island in the Okavango Delta. Xaxaba Island or “island full of tall trees” holds a privileged position on a private island at the heart of the Okavango Delta. It possesses early flood waters and good water depths for most of the year. While at Eagle Island Lodge, you’ll have access to the lush delta waterways, as well as Xaxaba Island.

We’ll have you out this afternoon for a boating safari so you can explore the serpentine channels right into the heart of the Okavango. The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world’s largest inland water systems. You’ll move with your safari guide through its endlessly changing channels, tributaries, and lagoons.

Take your first sundowner at the Fish Eagle Bar while you watch the late afternoon colors and reflections on the water. This is a sensational place. While there, learn how to call a hippo and tell the difference between male and female fish eagle signals. You’ll remember this place forever and look forward to sunset every day so you can return. The New York Times voted the Fish Eagle Bar one of the most romantic bars in the world.

Your cottage has its own plunge pool, so enjoy. You’ll also have a view right out into the Delta from the comfort of your bed.

INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Alcohol and Beverages

Laundry

Wifi

Private Plunge Pool

DAY 7 EAGLE ISLAND LODGE | OKAVANGO DELTA

© Belmond


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner


Laundry

Wifi

Private Plunge Pool

Today you’ll have some truly unique Botswanan experiences. First, head out on a mokoro. Mokoros are traditional dugout canoes that glide over shallow, clear waters filled with papyrus and water lilies, into areas inaccessible by motorboat. You’ll find that there are many sounds in the papyrus that come from some interesting small creatures. A mokoro glides silently though shallow water, allowing you to drift upon animals wading in the Okavango channels such as aquatic antelopes like lechwe, waterbuck, and situtanga.

Enjoy catch & release fishing anytime you choose while at Eagle Island.

For an additional fee, you can take to the skies above the Delta. A helicopter flight over Botswana is one of life’s big adventures. You’re captured by the remoteness of the Delta as you get a bird’s eye view of its inaccessible lakes and islands. Hover just a few feet over great herds of zebra. They’ll just continue to graze, completely unconcerned.

DAY 8 EAGLE ISLAND RIVER LODGE | OKAVANGO DELTA

Beverly Joubert © Belmond


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner


Laundry

Wifi

Private Plunge Pool

Move on to the solid ground of Xaxaba Island with your guide for a walking safari enveloped in nature. Investigate animal tracks, scat, and swarming termite mounds. You’re walking on the Kalahari sands. Despite the abundant water flowing into the Okavango Delta, you are still officially in the Kalahari Desert. Above the waterlines, the desert sand is the best place to find wild animal tracks. There is such incredible species diversity in the Okavango.

After lunch, explore the island in a Land Cruiser and catch sight of some larger wildlife. You’ll see elephants and hippos bathing in the river waters, while leopards, lions, and other predators stalk their prey in the tall reeds and grasses. You’ll see eagles, fishing owls, carmine bee-eaters, and the endangered wattled crane. They are all native, so you will likely have sightings when you are near the water.

DAY 9 EAGLE ISLAND RIVER LODGE | OKAVANGO DELTA

African Bush Camps© Belmond


DAY 10 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL | INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT

INCLUDED

Breakfast

Enjoy one last Okavango sunrise before boarding your bush flight to the city of Maun. From Maun, you will be able to connect to your international flight home.

Flight #

• Departs: Maun, Botswana

• Arrives: TBD

DAY 11 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL | INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT

Flight #

• Depart: TBD

• Arrives: TBD

© Belmond

INCLUDED IN YOUR SAFARI

• Full board accommodations in all lodges and tented camps

• All meals as specified in itinerary

• Game drives in private 4x4 safari Land Cruisers

• All park and entrance fees

• Experienced and professional safari naturalist guides

• All in-country transportation

• Laundry

• Alcohol and Beverages

• Bottled water available at all times

• Extensive pre-departure briefing and materials in-cluding health information, reading list, and map

EXCLUDED IN YOUR SAFARI

• Gratuities • Certain brands of alcohol and beverages

We plan your wildlife adventures in areas where wildlife habitats are known to exist for the season and time you are traveling. Still, animals in the areas you are viewing are not in a zoo. They run freely, and we cannot always anticipate their movements.

Also, Deeper Africa uses best efforts to provide the lodging set out in this itinerary, but occasionally there are circum-stances that occur in Africa that require lodging substitu-tions. We reserve the right to make comparable lodging substitutions whenever necessary.

2017 GROUP DEPARTURE DATES

February 22, 2017 - March 2, 2017 • $7,599 USD per person

March 21, 2017 - March 30, 2017 • $7,599 USD per person

2017 CUSTOM DEPARTURE DATES

April - June, October 15 - November 14, December 23 - 31, 2017 • $8,649 USD per person

July 1 - October 14, 2017 • $13,299 USD per person

All pricing is in US dollars. Arrivals into Maun, Botswana and departures out of Kasane, Botswana. Prices do not include international airfare. All itineraries and prices are subject to change.

5353 Manhattan Circle, Suite 202 Boulder, Colorado 80303

888.658.7102 303.415.2574 720.565.0512 fx

www.deeperafrica.com classic safaris

ADDITIONAL SAFARI INFORMATION


2017 pricing $7,599 - $13,299

Best Value

Best Value

classic botswana - deeper africa botswana_2017.pdfclassic botswana day by day itinerary 888.658.7102...

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