Delta and Falls in Style

Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive Windhoek

Arrive in Windhoek and attend a pre-departure group meeting with your tour leader scheduled for the evening.Windhoek was originally the centre of a Nama chief who defeated the Herero inhabitants of the region in the mid 19th century. Germany then occupied the region in 1885, where they renamed the original site Windhoek. They built a fort here that eventually spanned a town that grew under its protection.Windhoek became the seat of colonial rule in 1892, as the capital of the colony of South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika). During World War I, Windhoek was captured by South African troops and became a British dominion. Until the independence of Namibia was inaugurated in 1990, Windhoek was recognized as the capital of South West Africa as administered by the South African government. The city of Windhoek is traditionally known by two names: Ai-Gams, from the Nama people, which literally refers to the hot springs that were once part of Windhoek, while the second name, Otjomuise, meaning a place of steam, was given by the Herero people. Both traditional names reference the hot springs.

Day 2 Greater Kalahari (Gobabis) (B,D)

Approximate Distance: 230 kmEstimate Travel Time: 3 HoursAfter a morning tour of Windhoek, continue your journey, travelling to the edge of the Kalahari desert. Visit a San Bushmen village to learn about the local desert peoples, take a nature walk to explore the fascinating landscape, or even embark on a short included game drive to search out some of the region's wildlife.Gobabis is situated south east from Windhoek, towards the Buitepos border post with Botswana, and serves as an important link to South Africa on the paved Trans-Kalahari Highway. Gobabis is in the heart of the cattle farming area, and is considered to be the capital of the east and also known as the "Little Texas" of Namibia. In fact Gobabis is so proud of its cattle farming that a statue of a large bull with the inscription "Welcome to Cattle Country" greets visitors to the town. This area is on the western edge of the Kalahari Desert, and is traditionally in the land of the Herero people. Like many other towns in Namibia, Gobabis developed around a mission station (Gobabis means "place of discussion" in the Nama language), in this case established in 1856 by Friederich Eggert of the Rhenish Missionary Society.

Day 3 Maun (B)

Approximate Distance: 605 kmEstimate Travel Time: 9 Hours (depending on border crossing). Today we cross the border into Botswana, travelling along the northern portions of the Kalahari Desert throughout the day - this is a severly arid, baren, though awesome landscape. After arrival in Maun, the biggest town in the Okavango Delta area, you can pick up any supplies and prepare for your 2 night/3 day journey deep into into the "Delta".Maun is the gateway to the Okavango Delta and has for a long time enjoying the reputation of being Botswana’s own frontier town. Today it is one of the fastest growing towns in Africa. It was originally established in 1915 by the Batawana, a splinter group of the Bangwato. The name Maun means “place of reeds”. Maun, although officially still a village, is the fifth largest town in Botswana. It is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts. Maun is the "tourism capital" of Botswana and the administrative centre of Ngamiland district. Maun has developed rapidly from a rural frontier town and has spread along the Thamalakane River. It now boasts good shopping centres, hotels and lodges as well as car and 4-wheel drive vehicle hire. It still retains a rural atmosphere and local tribesmen continue to bring their cattle to Maun to sell. This community is now distributed along the wide banks of the Thamalakane River where red lechwe can still be seen grazing next to local donkeys, goats and cattle.

Day 4-5 Okavango Delta (2B,2L,2D)

Estimate Travel Time: 1.5 hoursAfter leaving some of our luggage in Maun, we begin our fantastic 3 day/2 night excursion into the delta with a morning flight to our tented camp. For 2 full days, enjoy game walks, mokoros (dug-out canoes, occasionally unavailable due to seasonality), birdlife and game viewing in the pristine wilderness area of the Okavango Delta, the world's largest inland delta."Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897The area of the delta was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea. Instead, it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km_ of the desert. Each year some 11 cubic kilometers of water reach the delta. Some of this water reaches further south to create Lake Ngami. The water entering the delta is unusually pure, due to the lack of agriculture and industry along the Okavango River. It passes through the sand aquifers of the numerous delta islands and evaporates/transpirates by leaving enormous quantities of salt behind. This precipitation processes are so strong that the vegetation disappears in the center of the islands and thick salt crusts are formed. The waters of the Okavango Delta are subject to seasonal flooding, which begins about mid-summer in the north and six months later in the south (May/June). The water from the delta is evaporated relatively rapidly by the high temperatures, resulting in a cycle of cresting and dropping water in the south. Islands can disappear completely during the peak flood, then reappear at the end of the season.

Day 6 Gweta (B,D)

Approximate Distance: 300 kmEstimate Travel Time: 4 HoursWake up to the African sun rising over the beauty of the Delta. Today we fly back to Maun, and continue to the village of Gweta, where if time allows, take a late afternoon to explore the fascinating flat landscape of the salt pans of Makgadikgadi.The town is situated between the larger towns of Nata and Maun and is on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, an immense area devoid of anything but salt and shimmering horizon. As the largest expanse of 'nothingness' on earth, the pans have area the size of Switzerland, and are clearly visible from outer-space. What is known today as the Makgadikgadi Pans is only a relic of what used to be one of the biggest inland lakes Africa has ever seen-Lake Makgadikgadi. The Makgadikgadi pan consists of two main pans, Namely Ntwetwe and Sowa pan, both of which are surrounded by myriad smaller pans. Although it is totally devoid of any water, people used to live there before it was declared state land. Villagers where allowed to graze their livestock inside the boundaries during dry season.

Day 7 Kasane/Chobe National Park (B)

Approximate Distance: 410 kmEstimate Travel Time: 6.5 HoursToday we journey to Kasane, your base for a visit to Chobe National Park, home to one of the largest elephant populations in Southern Africa. The best way to appreciate Botswana's largest national park and its thousands of resident elephants, crocodiles, and hippos, is on our included afternoon sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River. You may also choose to embark on a game drive in search of lions, antelope, and of course elephants.Kasane is situated on the banks of the Chobe River, near its mouth. This is where the Chobe and Zambezi rivers meet, creating a border area of four countries – Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.Chobe National Park is Botswana’s first national park, and is situated along the Chobe River. It has one of the largest concentration of wildlife in all the Africa continent and one of the world's last remaining sizeable wilderness area. By size, this is the third largest park (11,000 sq km) of the country, though it is definitely the most diverse and spectacular. The park is probably best known for its spectacular elephant population: with over 120,000 it has the highest elephant concentration of Africa. Moreover, most of them are probably part of the largest continuous surviving elephant population on Earth. The elephant population seems to have solidly built up since 1990, from the few initial thousands. By chance, they have not been affected by the massive illicit exploitation of the 1970's and 1980's. Elephants living here are Kalahari elephants, the largest in size of all known elephant species. Yet they are characterized by rather brittle ivory and short tusks. Damage caused by the high numbers of elephants is rife in some areas. In fact, concentration is so high throughout Chobe that culls have been considered, but are too controversial and have thus far been rejected. During the dry season, these elephants sojourn in Chobe River and the Linyanti River areas. During the rain season, they make a 200 km migration to the south-east region of the park. Their distribution zone however outreaches the park and spreads to north-western Zimbabwe.Chobe National Park is also known for its lion population, who on occasion do hunt the elephants. The original inhabitants of this area were the San bushmen (also known as the Basarwa people). They were nomadic hunter-gatherers who were constantly moving from place to place to find food sources, namely fruits, water and wild animals. Nowadays one can find San paintings inside rocky hills of the park.

Day 8-9 Livingstone, Zambia (2B)

Approximate Distance: 80 kmEstimate Travel Time: 3 Hours (depending on border crossing).Take an optional early morning game drive in Chobe National Park in search its diverse wildlife before crossing the mighty Zambezi River by ferry to Zambia. Spend the next day exploring the breathtaking Victoria Falls, or try some adventure activities - go white-water rafting or canoeing on Zambezi, take an elephant-back safari, or even fly over the falls for some fantastic views in a "micro-light", a motorized han-glider.David Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813 in the village of Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. He first studied Greek, medicine, and theology at the University of Glasgow and while working in London, joined the London Missionary Society became a minister. He originally planned to gain access to China through his medical knowledge. The Opium Wars, which were raging at this stage with no signs of peace on the horizon, forced Livingstone to consider other options. From 1840 he worked in Bechuanaland (present-day Botswana), and in the period 1852–56, he explored the African interior, and was the first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya waterfall (which he renamed Victoria Falls after his monarch, Queen Victoria). Livingstone was one of the first Westerners to make a transcontinental journey across Africa. The purpose of his journey was to open the routes, while accumulating useful information about the African continent. In particular, Livingstone was a proponent of trade and Christian missions to be established in central Africa. His motto, inscribed in the base of the statue to him at Victoria Falls, was “Christianity, Commerce and Civilization.”The town of Livingstone is a regional transport center, being located near the borders of Botswana and Zimbabwe, and serves as a base for the many visitors to see this part of Africa, and the impressive Victoria Falls, a mere 12km from Livingstone.The Victoria Falls waterfalls occur in a country that is perfectly flat. From its source on the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Zambezi River meanders for 1300 km across the wooded plateau of Zambia, eroding for itself a shallow valley on its mild descent to the site of the falls. The river eventually found a weak spot on the lower lip of the surface over which it passed, and forced a passage which was steadily deepened into an exit gorge. During the last half million years the river has scoured out eight of these cracks across its bed. The Victoria falls occurs where the river is 1688 m wide, presents the spectacle of an average maximum of 550 million liters of water a minute tumbling over the lip of the trench in five main falls, the Devil’s Cataract, Main falls, Horseshoe Falls, Rainbow falls and the Eastern Cataract. The highest of these is Rainbow falls, on an average 108 m high. A peak flood sees 750 million liters of water in one minute hurtling over the falls.The name Zambezi comes from the Tonka tribe, also meaning Great River, but the Sotho-speaking Kololo people of the upper reaches of the river gave it the well-known name of Mosi o a Thunya (smoke that rises). The Lozi people call it by the same name but translated it into smoke that sounds. The Ndebele call it aManza Thunqayo (the water that rises like smoke). The Namibian people call it Chinotimba (a noise-making place like the distant sound of digging).

Day 10 Depart Livingstone (B)

Tour ends at approximately 08:00 am.

Trip Details

Accommodation	Comfortable hotel (2 nts), Chalet/lodge (5 nts), Tented camp (2 nts).
Departure	Departs monthly
DepEnd	Sat-Mon
Group Size	Max 18, Avg. 10
Included Highlights	- Greater Kalahari Area entrance with game drive- Okavango Delta entrance with flight in/out of Delta and mokoro excursion and game walk- Makgadikgadi Pans guided tour with entrance- Chobe National Park entrance with boat cruise- Victoria Falls (Zambia side) entrance.- Breakfast daily- Arrival transfer
Local Payment	USD300
Meals Included	9 Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 4 Dinners.
Recommendation	Combine this tour with our Cape and Dunes in Style, for a 3-week Cape Town to Livingstone adventure. See code DACV.
Reverse Itinerary	This trip also runs in reverse, see trip code DAVW.
StartFinish	Windhoek to Victoria Falls
Transport	Air-conditioned touring vehicle, Walking, Mokoros, Local flights.
Brochure Intro	Botswana is a mecca for nature enthusiasts. From the flooded plains of the Delta to the elephant rich Chobe, Botswana is sure not to disappoint. A glimpse into Zambia offers the spectacle of Victoria Falls, one of the most amazing natural wonders of the world.

When can I go?

Start Date	Finish Date	Places Available
2008-10-30	2008-11-08	7+
2008-12-25	2009-01-03	7+
2009-02-19	2009-02-28	7+
2009-04-16	2009-04-25	7+
2009-06-11	2009-06-20	7+
2009-08-06	2009-08-15	7+

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