Botswana & Zimbabwe Lodge Safari

The group flights normally arrive at Victoria Falls Airport and land only

passengers can either be picked up here or at the Rainbow Hotel in Victoria

Falls town. If the group flights land in Livingstone (Zambia), land only

passengers can still be picked up at the Rainbow Hotel in Victoria Falls

(Zimbabwe). We then transfer 120kms to Kasane in Botswana. The drive from

Victoria Falls takes a little over two hours but there can be delays crossing

the border. Once we are settled into our chalets we will gather for a full

tour briefing.

Chobe National Park is best known for its huge populations of elephant and

buffalo. With an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 elephants, this is, undoubtedly

the best place to see these pachyderms. The park is also home to Wild dogs,

lions, leopards and various other African wildlife.

We start the day by going on a game drive in one of the lodge’s open

game-drive vehicles. It will be an early start as we aim to get to the park

gates as they open. We spend about three hours on safari before returning to

the lodge in time for some brunch.

There is time to relax at the lodge during the hottest part of the day or

exploring the town of Kasane before heading out again, this time to go on a

boat-safari on the Chobe River. After a short transfer to the jetty we board

the boat for a three-hour safari. This is a great opportunity to view the

vast herds of elephant and other wildlife from the perspective of the water.

Today is a long drive as we transfer the 600kms between Kasane and Maun, the

town on the edge of the Okavango Delta. We’ll make a stop en route for

lunch at the edge of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan before arriving in Maun

mid-afternoon. We spend a bit of time in town getting supplies for the delta

(this is a chance for you to get any extra drinks or snacks you may want

whilst in the delta). From here it’s only a short drive out of town to our

lodge.

After travelling 1,600kms from the highlands of Angola, the Okavango River

reaches the Kalahari and spreads into a large swamp area where the water

eventually transpires into the plant-life and evaporates, never reaching the

sea. This makes the Okavango Delta, as this swamp is known, one of the

largest inland deltas on Earth and a true natural wonder.

Year-round the delta’s islands are home to a vast array of wildlife

including all the usual suspects though numbers reach their peak during the

dryer winter months when animals, including many of the larger ones, migrate

into the delta.

We head into the delta in Mokoro dugout canoes poled by local villagers who

have grown up here.

When we arrive in the delta we will find our camp already set up, waiting for

us. The camp is made up of tents fitted with camp beds topped by mattresses

along with two communal bush-showers, two communal bush-toilets and a

gazebo/mess tent. Here we will get to experience African wilderness at its

fullest, not least at night when the milky-way can be seen spreading across

the sky with a billion twinkling stars.

We spend the next two days exploring the waterways and islands by Mokoro

canoe and on foot looking for wildlife and enjoying this amazing part of

Africa.

This morning we have our last Mokoro ride as we return to the edge of the

delta before returning to Maun. The afternoon is free to relax by the pool or

take an optional flight over the delta.

After a brief stop in Maun to resupply we transfer 300kms to Nata arriving

mid-afternoon. In the late afternoon we head to the Nata Sanctuary to watch

the sunset on the Makgadikgadi Pan.

The Makgadikgadi Pan covers over 16,000 square kilometres and forms the bed

of an ancient lake, now dried up, which once spread as far as the Okavango

Delta. Sunsets on the pan are some of the best on the continent.

Today we continue our journey back towards Zimbabwe. We go via Francistown

and Bulawayo on our way to Matobo National Park. The journey is about 380kms

and driving time shouldn’t be much more than about 5hrs, however the border

crossing can be busy and may take between two and three hours. We stay in

chalets just outside the park and enjoy sundowners from the granite ridge

overlooking the park.

Matobo National Park (also known as Matopos National Park) is an area known

for its kopjes, giant boulders which seem to be precariously balanced on top

of one-another, and wildlife. The park is one of the best places to see both

Black and White rhinos and has a very dense population of leopards (though

these predators are still elusive). It also counts amongst its inhabitants a

third of all species of eagle.

These hills were, once, home to San Bushmen who have left their mark with

rock-paintings depicting giraffes, elands and kudu. It was also the

colonialist Cecil Rhodes’ favourite place and where he asked to be buried.

We enter Matobo National Park early in the morning and go on a game drive

followed by a game walk where we can hope to see rhino on foot. We visit

World’s End, where Cecil Rhodes is buried and see some of the granite

formations and rock-paintings. We spend most of the day inside the park

returning to the lodge in the afternoon.

After a leisurely breakfast we make a quick stop in Bulawayo this morning to

resupply before driving north 335kms to Hwange National Park.

Zimbabwe’s largest National Park, Hwange covers 14,600 square kilometres of

mopane and teak woodlands and grasslands. The park is home to over 100 mammal

species and 400 bird species including all of Zimbabwe’s specially

protected animals. Its most famous inhabitants are the elephants and Wild

dogs, and it is the only place where gemsbok and Brown hyena can be found in

reasonable numbers in Zimbabwe.

We stay in a property situated within a game-management area which abuts the

park.

We spend all day on a 4WD open-game drive in search of Hwange wildlife.

After a relaxed start we take a short, final drive back to Victoria Falls,

arriving at Victoria Falls town around lunch time. In the afternoon we head

out towards the mighty falls themselves.

Measuring 1,700 meters wide and 100 meters high, Victoria Falls are the

largest waterfall in the World and one of the most famous highlights of

Africa. The volume of water changes with the seasons but when full the spray

rises into the sky – a phenomenon which has given the falls their local

name Mosi o Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders. They are a site to behold and one

which impressed Dr. David Livingstone so much that he commented that ‘’

scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.’’

Today is a free day to enjoy the many activities on offer in the area such as

white-water rafting, taking a flight over the falls, going on a sunset cruise

or crossing into neighbouring Zambia to see the falls from that side.

*The Rainbow Hotel or similar*

Those on the group flights will be transferred to the airport in time for

their flight. Those who do not have a transfer included, the trip ends after

breakfast.