Botswana's Great Herds

Itinerary

Day 1: Depart Home City

Depart on your international flight bound for South Africa.

Day 2: Johannesburg

You touch down and transfer to the Westcliff Hotel, situated in the city’s most exclusive residential suburb. The Westcliff’s hillside setting with cascading, sculpted gardens and elegant accommodation evoke a bygone era of refinement in this renewed and vibrant city. Dinner will be served in the private home of your Micato hosts—the first taste of the personal attention you’ll enjoy over the next two weeks.

Day 3: Okavango Delta

Today you fly to Eagle Island Camp, your home for the next few nights and the only camp in Botswana to offer helicopter game viewing! Nestled on a tranquil island, it’s a luxurious escape in a beguiling wilderness. Under a cooling canopy of Illala palms, you take in the winding waterways and expansive floodplains of this remote paradise under wide African skies. With your expert guides, you set off into the bush for a glimpse of the area’s ample wildlife.

Days 4-5: Okavango Delta

In these postcard-perfect surroundings, you continue your exploration of Okavango’s flora and fauna—by foot, dugout canoe (mokoro), motorboat—or via an included game-viewing flight by private helicopter! Breathtaking moments are plentiful: watching crocodiles sunning themselves by the water or a pride of lions lounging in the shade of a baobab. The delta is teeming with over 1100 species including giraffes, leopard, hippos and elephants among so many others. Later, a refreshing drink beckons at the Fish Eagle Bar, which the New York Times calls one of the world’s most romantic bars.

Day 6: Chobe National Park

From Okavango, take a quick flight to the semi-arid Savute region of Chobe National Park. Famous for elephants, Chobe also boasts a swath of other fascinating wildlife including buffalo, lion and a spate of exotic bird species. This is a chance to see the Kalahari Desert at its best: unique and abiding, a remarkable corner of the planet that is still governed by nature. Stay at Savute Elephant Camp, a lavish escape ideally located for exploration of these alluring wilds. With a waterhole only a few feet away, an impressive view of wildlife is available without even leaving camp.

Days 7-8: Chobe National Park

You are now at the center of a classic big-game country and there is thrilling evidence all around you. Set unobtrusively on the banks of the now-dry Savute Channel, Savute Elephant Camp offers a fantastic base to explore this famed wilderness. Whether it’s the hulking mass of a bull elephant herd or the exciting sight of a large pride of lion, you’ll see what makes this region a wildlife-viewing Eden. You’ll also come within close viewing range of impala, giraffe, wildebeest and zebra. One animal is master of the Savute, however—the elephant. The region is ideal for spotting Earth’s largest land creatures in all of their imposing glory.

Day 9: Moremi Wildlife Reserve

You'll catch another short flight to one of Botswana’s oldest safari lodges—Khwai River Lodge. This legendary camp, opened by the first president of independent Botswana, will make you feel pampered amidst the wild surroundings. The location is ideal for elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and cheetah sightings—and the camp blends so well with the surrounding bushveld, it’s not uncommon to see some of them from our private deck.

Days 10-11: Moremi Wildlife Reserve

Game viewing opportunities abound in the area around Khwai and no experience is more diverse and jaw-dropping than at nearby Moremi Wildlife Reserve. Here you are close to the core of timeless Africa; in the center of a world that is immortally wild. Whether driving along a roaming zebra herd or watching baboons play along the riverbank, nearly every turn of the head seems to offer a spectacular menagerie of exotic animals. Returning to camp, lounge by the heated pool and perhaps glimpse a pod of hippo playing in the river. At night you lie under a star-speckled sky, basking in the calming cacophony of the African night.

Day 12: Victoria Falls

You'll be whisked away by flight to Livingstone, Zambia, where you’ll enjoy a leisurely cruise along the legendary Zambezi River. Retiring to the five-star Royal Livingstone Hotel, your thoughts turn to the wonder that awaits you in the morning.

Day 13: Victoria Falls

This morning you visit the venerable Victoria Falls. Nothing will prepare you for the pure, humbling power of this regal sight. Continuing to the heli-pad for your "Flight of Angels," you’ll get a bird’s eye view of this colossal cascade in full perspective; an elephant-back trek is another option. The experience will inspire breathless awe and the stunning images will linger in your imagination for years to come.

Days 14-15: Johannesburg / Return Home

After breakfast, you fly to Johannesburg for international connecting flights home. Arrive home on Day 15.

Trip Details

Tour Type	Land-based Adventures
Highlights	Expert naturalist guides & drivers, luxury accommodations, superb service & transportation, Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Moremi Wildlife Reserve, Victoria Falls
Trip Notes	Included: All meals; bottled water and soft drinks at every meal and in safari vehicles, and local beers and wines in most Southern African bush lodges; all gratuities; Karibuni Africa Welcome Kit (pre-stamped postcards included); special lectures and presentations; safari hat; full-time concierge service based in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nairobi and available twenty-four hours a day via mobile phone (for shopping, private car, dining reservations, etc.); transfers to/from airports in Africa; high calibre field staff of safari directors, tour leaders and drivers; state-of-the-art safari vehicles with stocked ice chests, binoculars for each traveler, library of field guides, and guaranteed window seat for every travelers; complete pre-tour documentation. Not Included: International airfare; Internal airfare, Johannesburg / Maun / Camp to Camp / Kasane / Victoria Falls / Johannesburg ($1010 per person); cost of obtaining passports, visa, travel insurance; excess baggage charges; items of a personal nature such as drinks, laundry, communication (calls, faxes, emails, etc.); international airport departure tax (to be paid in US dollars or acceptable foreign currencies); deviations from the tour; gratuities to safari directors; tour leaders, drivers, rangers and trackers. Sample Airfare from New York: Economy Class from $1,450 Business Class from $5,380
Departure Notes	Departs Saturdays
Payment Policy	A deposit of 20% is requested at the time of booking. The balance or final payment is due 90 days prior to departure.

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