Join trip at Maun Airport and drive to the Okavango Delta

Our trip begins at Maun Airport (MUB) at 3.30pm. If you would like to join the complimentary airport transfer today, the latest your flight can land is 3pm. We will travel together as a group by 4WD safari vehicles into the Okavango Delta, which will be our base for the next three nights.

This morning we will game drive around the Okavango Delta. The mighty Okavango is the third largest river in Africa and its delta area covers 16,000 square kilometres of crystal clear channels, a myriad of ephemeral lakes and ever changing islands, surviving in the Kalahari desert. The river flows south east from the Angolan highlands over 1,000 km away and takes up to 6 months to reach the delta area that floods on a perennial annual cycle. The Okavango Delta covers an enormous wilderness area composed of permanent swamps, islands, forest and dry land. Exceptional though the geography of the Delta may be, it is the amazing wildlife of the waterways that draws us.

Today we will head out on game drives to explore the diverse scenery and wildlife of the Delta. We will have the chance to see hippo, crocodile, red lechwe, and a great variety of birds are easy to spot. Bird lovers may spot fish eagle, jacana, kingfisher, heron, stork, egret, weaver and bee-eater - just some of the magnificent species found here.

This morning we take a slow drive out of the concession and should arrive back into Maun around lunch time. The afternoon is free for you to explore the town or relax in the hotel surroundings. Tonight we go to a cultural evening where we'll meet young people from a grass roots project. There will be folklore music around a fire and a traditional dinner provided.

Today we drive to the west side of the Okavango Delta Panhandle to meet our specially chartered houseboat. Due to the seasonal variations in the level and strength of the river, fed by rainfall in the Upper Zambezi basin, please be aware that for much of the year the houseboat itself remains securely moored and we explore the river by smaller launches. Our itinerary is very flexible. A typical day involves a morning on the houseboat launch followed by a stop on the houseboat for lunch. Then another optional trip in the afternoon and back to the houseboat for the night. During our time on the river there may be a good possibility of seeing a variety of game. On our launch, we may cruise past submerging pods of hippos, while crocodiles bask in the shallows and on the riverbanks. Bird life in the area is also prolific and you may care to try your hand at fishing. Local fishermen are often seen aboard their traditional dugout canoes, known locally as mokoros.

This morning you may choose an optional days excursion to Tsodilo Hills. We drive to this intriguing and sacred place where the San Bushmen believe was the site of the first creation. They painted an astonishing 3500 rock paintings here to celebrate this over 350 sites. For all the golden light of late afternoon will be enjoyed with a traditional 'sundowner'. This is a home away from home where you are encouraged to enjoy this part of Africa. It is not hard to imagine yourself as David Livingstone when he was in Africa all those years ago.

This morning we make our way into the Serondela area of Chobe National Park and base ourselves just outside the park near the riverside town of Kasane. A variety of habitats of flooded grassland, thicket, salt pan and particularly the banks of the Chobe River, one of the Zambezi's main tributaries, is home to an abundance of wildlife. A major feature of Chobe is its elephant population and is considered to be the largest surviving continuous elephant population and is currently estimated at 120 000 strong! This population covers most of northern Botswana plus northwestern Zimbabwe and has been built up steadily from a few thousand since the early 1900s when massive poaching at the height of the illegal ivory trade decimated other populations in the 1970s and 1980s. The Chobe elephants in this area have the distinction of being the largest in body size of all living elephants, but the ivory is brittle and there are no more of the huge tuskers from a by gone era. Our lodge here is home for the next three nights and is a magical introduction into the heart of Africa.

The northern Chobe area of Serondela is the heart of elephant country. We'll take the opportunity to spend many hours hopefully watching huge trumpeting herds in and around the river. In the river are hippo and crocodile and the waters teem with bream, barbel and tiger fish. During our stay we will spend our time on morning and afternoon game drives, for those interested, to enjoy an optional late afternoon boat safari on the Chobe River. You may also try your hand at some fishing or even take a guided nature walk.

Today we will continue with our morning and afternoon game drives in the National Park

This morning, we leave Botswana and cross the border into Zambia to arrive at Livingstone. Often referred to as the adventure capital of Zambia, Livingstone is a pleasant town with a variety of land, air and water-based activities on offer in the surrounding area. Close to our lodge is one of the natural wonders of the world - Victoria Falls. We will view the falls from the Zambian side of the river. Here, the Zambezi River plummets over a sheer cliff wall spanning more than 1676m, and drops approximately 100m into
the abyss below. Like David Livingstone before us, we become aware of the awesome cataract long before seeing it. Plumes of water vapour rise like smoke into the sky accompanied by a deafening roar: a fact which inspired the natives to call the waterfall, Mosi-oa-Tunya, The Smoke that Thunders. This afternoon you could take an optional afternoon game drive into Mosi-oa- Tunya National Park to search for white rhino.

Today is left free for you to follow your own interests. You may choose to take advantage of some of the many optional activities on offer such as whitewater rafting on the Zambezi; a scenic helicopter flight or perhaps a cultural village tour

The trip ends after breakfast at our hotel in Livingstone.

There are no activities planned today, so you are free to depart from Livingstone at any time. If your flight is departing later in the day, luggage storage facilities are available at our hotel. If you would like to receive a complimentary airport transfer today, you need to depart from Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport (LVI), which is about 20 minutes' drive from the hotel.