13 Day Sensible Botswana - Livingstone, Chobe, Okavango, Kalahari Desert

Day 1

Upon arrival at OR Tambo (Johannesburg) International Airport, you will be met by a Falcon-Safari.com representative who assists you with check-in for your scheduled flight to Livingstone.

The Zambezi Sun Hotel is situated on the banks of The Zambezi with views towards the Falls which are a short walk away. Part of the Sun International Group, renowned for their ‘themed’ resorts, The Zambian Sun has the feel of a walled city; centuries-old – despite the fact it was only opened in 2001. Rooms are low-slung and airy overlooking a cool landscaped pool area, while the restaurant and bar are focused around the central pool. The two-story en-suite rooms have private balconies that welcome the morning sun. Outside, the earth colors are soothing and soft. Inside, the airy rooms are alive with ethnic reds, blues, and oranges.

Amenities in the rooms include independent air-conditioning, satellite TV, fold-out couches, safe and telephone. The central reception area houses a family-friendly, high quality buffet restaurant, a pool bar and a lively alfresco grill and entertainment area.

The Zambezi Sun is a place where friends and family can relax and enjoy Africa’s greatest natural wonder in true African style. The Resort complex features restaurants, and tourist shops and Business Centre for the Conference Delegates for whom the Zambezi Sun and The Royal Livingstone Hotel are ideal destination.

2 x Overnights at the Zambezi Sun in a standard double room with private en-suite facilities on a bed and breakfast basis.

Day 2

Enjoy some of the many activities on offer. We can p-book this for you or you can book it upon arrival. Some activities like the Elephant Back Safaris and the Helicopter flights is very popular and I would advise that we p book this should these activities be of interest to you.

Day 3- 5

You will be collected from the Zambezi Sun by your driver and transferred to Muchenje Safari Lodge in Kasane. The transfer will take approximately two hours and will involve customs and immigration formalities out of Zambia and into Botswana.

Situated on the Western side of The Chobe National Park, Muchenje Safari lodge offers spectacular Game viewing away from the ‘crowds’ of kasane. Privately owned and managed, this intimate Lodge accommodates a maximum of 20 Guests in comfortable Chalets overlooking the Chobe floodplains. Each Chalet has its own en-suite facilities with a shower, and mains electricity.

The Chobe National Park is renowned for its concentration of buffalo and elephant and the late afternoon in particular, provides spectacular viewing. Safari activities at Muchenje Safari Lodge include 4×4 Game Drives, Boat cruises along the Chobe River enabling excellent Game and Bird viewing, Night Drives, and cultural visits to local villages.

Muchenje Safari Lodge provides the most tranquil and hospitable atmosphere of all the Chobe Lodges.

Facilities include a small swimming pool from which one can watch the wildlife grazing along the Chobe River. A pleasant lounge and dining area and bar and a Camp fire around which the tallest of stories are told over late evening drinks.

Muchenje Safari Lodge is our favourite Lodge in Chobe, and is in the medium price range.

3 x Overnights at Muchenje Safari Lodge in a standard double room with private en-suite facilities inclusive of all meals, all local brand drinks, teas, coffees, snacks, game-viewing and laundry

Day 6- 8

This morning you will be transferred to Kasane Airport by your guide in time for your scheduled light aircraft charter flight to Mapula.

Mapula Lodge is situated in the remote North Eastern area of the Okavango Delta, outside the National Park. All the activities and adventure safaris at this Botswana safari lodge, allow you to witness and experience the beauty of Africa.

Accommodation is in 10 well appointed luxury Chalets, each with en-suite facilities (bath and shower) and each overlooking the lagoon in front of the Lodge. The attention to detail and use of local craftsmanship in the construction of the Chalets is particularly impssive and attractive.

Facilities in the Lodge include a small swimming pool and sun deck and a well stocked bar.

Game viewing is particularly good in this area. Hippos live in the lagoon opposite the lodge, and the trees around the Lodge are home to a huge variety of birds.

Mapula Lodge is the first (and currently the only) Lodge in the Okavango owned by a Batswanan named Modumo who runs the Guiding. A South African couple manages the hospitality. This ‘hands on’ ownership and management makes Mapula Lodge one of the most welcoming Lodges in the Okavango!

Being in a permanent water area, Mapula Lodge can offer year round water activities, especially important during January – May when water levels in the Okavango can become too low to allow the use of the traditional mokoro.

3 x Overnights at Mapula in a standard twin chalet with private en-suite facilities inclusive of all meals, all local brand drinks, teas/coffees, snacks, game-viewing and laundry.

Day 9-10

A transfer today, to the airstrip in time for your scheduled light aircraft charter flight to Delta Airstrip where you will be met by your guide and transferred by mokoro to the camp for check-in.

This intimate and informal safari camp nestles on a small Falcon close to the south-western edge of Chief’s Falcon, heart of the Okavango Delta – the vast oasis of the Kgalagadi Desert, Botswana.

Accommodation is in spacious ‘lethaka’ (reed) chalets with en-suite facilities. The amazing design of the Chalets is such that you enjoy the luxuries of a ‘top rate’ hotel, but without affecting the environment; you will find you share your chalet with the trees around which the chalets have been built rather than having been cut down during their construction.

Delta Camp was voted the best Safari Lodge in Southern Africa by the pstigious South African Getaway Magazine in its 2004 anniversary edition.

The Okavango Delta is a shifting web of crystal-clear channels, lagoons,sweeping floodplains and palm-studded Falcons. Home to over 450 bird and 1,000 plant species, crocodile, hippo, elephant, buffalo – in fact the full spectrum of African big-game and several species of antelope that are amongst the world’s rarest – the Okavango has earned its reputation as one of the world’s pmier wilderness areas. Your chalet at Delta Camp directly overlooks the waterways.

Delta Camp is on the banks of the Boro, one of the primary watercourses of the Okavango. Excursions, by foot and mokoro – the tradional dug-out canoe – are conducted in the renowned Moremi Game Reserve, with your own professional game-guide, a man of the swamps, completely at one with his environment.

Dine in the elegant Dining Room overlooking the sweep of the Delta, or take a beautifully ppared picnic onto one of the many nearby Falcons for a secluded and intimate experience.

This unusual Camp engenders in its staff and guests alike, an acute awareness of the ecological sensitivity of this magnificent area.

Bio-degradable products have been sourced and are used, careful separation and treatment of refuse ensures that nothing that is not fully bio-degradable stays on the Falcon – light aircraft remove cans, bottles and the like from the Okavango altogether.

The accent is on peace and tranquility (stalking game on foot provides all the excitement one could wish for) and guests are actively encouraged to visit a local village, home to our guides, and to interact, should they wish to, with the people there.

2 x Overnights at Delta Camp in a standard double chalet with private en-suite facilities inclusive of all meals, all local brand drinks, teas/coffees, snacks, game-viewing and laundry.

Day 11-12

You will be transferred to the airstrip in time for your scheduled light aircraft charter flight to Deception Valley Lodge.

Discover an oasis in the Kalahari of Botswana not far from the famous Okavango Delta a luxury safari lodge called Deception Valley Lodge. The best African – Kalahari experience, with Bushman at hand, to share their knowledge, while you can relax in total luxury at this unique safari lodge. Combining your visit of the Kalahari with the well-known area of the Okavango Delta in the north and the famous Victoria Falls would ensure that your safari to Africa would remain a treasured memory.

Interact with the Bushmen of the Kalahari on one of the Cultural walks with Bushmen at Deception Valley Lodge. At Deception Valley Lodge you can experience the vastness of the Kalahari while enjoying some of the most prolific bird life or do some star gazing at night.

Comfort set in vibrant and rustic coloured interiors, Deception Valley Lodge accommodates up to ten people on a sharing basis. The lodge is private and restful. Attention has been given to every detail ensuring for a completely different experience, in an arid Kalahari bush land stretching for miles. Each unit stands separately, on stilts connected with the main lodge by wooden walkways.

6 of the 8 units consist of luxury twin bedded rooms with en-suite Victorian style bathroom, an outside shower and a private spacious lounge. There are also 2 inter-leading rooms. For your convenience a hairdryer, shaving plugs and bathrobe is standard. All units are fitted with ceiling fans and mosquito nets.A private mini-bar will to ensure your comfort during an afternoon siesta. After a night-cap, turn in for a peaceful sleep nestled among the comfortable and safe surroundings of the lodge.

The main complex boasts a dining room, lounge and bar area decorated in warm Kalahari colours making use of Bushmen and other African artifacts. From the deck you can view activities at the nearby water hole. A curio shop and small library forms part of the complex. The lodge has an ethnic African theme and was build to fit into the surrounding bush without altering, damaging or detracting from its ambience and colour.

An inviting swimming pool situated close to the main complex, to enhance the enjoyment of our guests, as well as a boma for night time meals, whilst gazing across a clear night sky with its abundance of stars and listen to the enthralling night calls of the wild completes the main complex area.

What makes Deception Valley Lodge unique is them rare opportunity to meet and explore this remarkable environment with bushman Guides of the San peoples, one of the oldest cultures in Africa. Experience a tour with real Bushmen. Exploring the bush on foot, learning of the hunting and survival skills, the culture and crafts of these “little yellow people” who over the centuries have adapted their lives to survive in the most inhospitable environment of them all.

Other activities at Deception Valley Lodge include afternoon and night drives in custom built game viewing vehicles with the chance to seethe rare Kalahari lion, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, kudu and if lucky, the elusive brown hyena. The night drives in particular will reveal a fascinating world of nocturnal species. Deception Valley is a bird lover’s paradise.

2 x Overnights at Deception Valley Lodge in a standard twin chalet with private en-suite facilities inclusive of all meals, all local brand drinks, teas/coffees, snacks, game-viewing and laundry.

Day 13

Your Safari finishes today with a scheduled light aircraft charter flight to Maun Airport in time to connect with your Air Botswana flight to Johannesburg, scheduled to depart at 15:00 and arriving at 16:40.