8-Day Victoria Falls, Chobe & Okavango Delta Explorer

Today after breakfast you will first leave your lodge and go for a guided tour of the Victoria Falls.

Day 2: Guided tour of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The first highlight of your tour today is a guided tour of Victoria Falls locally known as “Mosi–oa– Thunya” and loosely translated “The Smoke that Thunders”.

Described in more modern terms as ‘the greatest known curtain of falling water’. Victoria Falls are a spectacular sight of awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur on the Zambezi River, bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Your tour of the Falls will be on the Zimbabwean side. On reaching the edge of the Victoria Falls, you will explore the gorge through various view/vantage points.

You will leave Zimbabwe after a guided tour of Victoria Falls and cross the border into Botswana where you your safari vacation continues for two (2) nights.

Day 2: Chobe River boat cruise

Another highlight today is a boat cruise in the Chobe River. This boat cruise gives you the chance to experience the animals of Chobe from another perspective. You might therefore, get up close and personal with hippos, crocodiles and a mind–boggling array of water birds.

Today you will wake up early in the morning for breakfast before heading out into Chobe National Park for your morning game drive.

Tucked up in Botswana’s far northeastern border with Namibia, Chobe National Park is one of the great wildlife destinations of Africa. At approximately 11 900sq km, Chobe is made up of rich ecosystems and pristine landscapes consisting of savanna plains, river, swamps and scrubs. It is the ultimate haven for vast herds of elephant. As many as 120,000 animals depend on the Chobe River’s life–sustaining waterways when the dry season kicks in.

Other resident game species are large herds of buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, the rare puku, roan and sable antelope. These are normally trailed by the notoriously fearless lions of the Chobe, leopard and cheetah.

You will return to your lodge around noon for your lunch. You will head out again into Chobe National Park in the afternoon for your game drive and return to your lodge just before sunset.

You will leave your camp after breakfast and head southwards to Savuti where you will spend two (2) nights.

First, you will take a leisurely wildlife drive through Chobe National Park. This drive is actually meant to be a game drive that provides farewell to the area’s magnificent landscapes and mammals.

Savuti is known for its predators, both big cats (lion, leopard and cheetah) and birds of prey–raptors, vultures and all manner of birds of prey that soar over Savuti’ landscape in search of food. Perhaps the strangest phenomenon of all about Savuti is the 100–kilometres Savuti Channel. At times it will stop flowing and remain dry for years at a stretch. When the Savuti Channel recommences its flow, it changes the entire ecosystem, transforming the Savuti Marsh and Mababe Depression into wetlands and thus creating an oasis that provides water for thirsty wildlife herds and acts as a magnet for a profusion of water birds.

You will spend your days searching for Savuti’s resident wildlife.

Every morning there will be a wake–up call, after which you will freshen up in preparation for a hearty breakfast consisting of some coffee, tea, sausages, eggs, rusks, cereals, bread, etc.

After your breakfast you will head out for your morning safari drive to explore Savuti and its marsh. The Savuti Marsh is a vast expanse of grasslands dotted with dead acacia trees creating an intriguing, almost ghost-like landscape. You will return to camp at around midday for lunch and some siesta time.

Another point of interest in Savuti is the Bushman rock paintings, thought to be well over a thousand years old. These are paintings of giraffes, elephants and elands. If time permits, we will pay these rock paintings a visit.

You will head out again on an afternoon game drive and return to camp just before sunset. Dinner will follow before you turn in for the night to rest or as you hold some discussions about events of the day around the campfire.

Today, after breakfast you will take a slow game drive through Savuti. Finally, you will head further southwards to Khwai Concession for a two (2) night stay

At about 1800–square kilometres large, the Khwai is situated in the northeastern Okavango next to Moremi. It is a wildlife–prolific and varied ecosystem dominated by a patchwork of lagoons, grasslands, permanent flood plains and large areas of Mopane woodland forests. Khwai has a marvelous selection of predators such as lion, leopard, wild dog, cheetah, serval, African wild cat, etc.

In the afternoon you will go for your game drive and possibly watch the sunset unfold over the Khwai River.

This morning you will go for your usual morning game drive after an early breakfast.

Your journey will follow the Khwai River’s watercourse weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mophane veld and woodlands that make Khwai one of the most scenic areas of the Okavango.

The Khwai area boasts an excellent population of African Elephant, both solitary bulls and breeding herds. The swampy areas are home to Red Lechwe. Other resident species includes the Southern Giraffe, bufallo, Burchell’s Zebra, Tsessebe, the Greater Kudu, Impalas and various other nocturnal species. Khwai is also one of Botswana’s birding Mecca’s. As such the raptors and water birds are particularly abundant and make for some great photography.

Mokoro Excursion

The highlight today is a mokoro excursion along the Khwai River-part of the Okavango Delta system. During this mokoro excursion you should have some great encounters with aquatic birds and several species of mammals.

Wake up very early on this day to greet the fresh African morning with coffee and some light breakfast. After breakfast you will head out on your last safari drive in the Khwai Concession area as the early mornings normally offer an improved opportunity to view the predators.

You will return to camp at the end of your safari drive to enjoy a light lunch. After this lunch, you will wrap up your safari. You will be given time to collect your belongings and pack them up in the vehicle(s) in preparation for your journey to Maun.

Our safari ends upon arrival in Maun today. You will be dropped off at Maun Airport for your onward travel or to your lodge where you will relax and rest. This will give you ample time to prepare for the next leg of your safari vacation or journey back home.