Photographic Tour of Botswana

Arrive at Maun International Airport on time for the scheduled charter flight to Xakanaxa airstrip. Meet your photographic guide and the rest of the team at the airstrip and experience the first game drive on the way to camp. The first three nights are spent in the Xakanaxa region where we explore the surrounding wilderness on morning and afternoon game drive excursions. On the open plains large herds of buffalo and lechwe can be seen and in the waterways, pods of hippopotamus are a common sight. It is a great area to try your hand at bird photography. Look out for the raptors with African Hawk-Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Shikra, Little Sparrowhawk, and other birds such as the hornbills.

Enjoy wonderful game drives in the area. Moremi is amongst the best game reserves in Africa for viewing the endangered African wild dog. Xakanaxa is home to a resident herd of several hundred buffalo whose range covers the territories of at least 4 prides of lion which may often be seen flanking the ever moving herd. Breeding herds of elephant move between their browsing areas in the mopane forests and the fresh water of the Okavango. Habitats here range from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, vast stands of Miscanthus and Phragmites, woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.

Following an early morning breakfast you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai and Mababe Areas. On this moving day we shall do a mokoro excursion in the calmer back-waters of the Khwai and Mbudi channels. The Manuchira Channel is known as the Khwai River at its eastern most extremity. The day’s journey follows this water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands that to the Mababe Private Reserve where we camp on the banks of the Khwai River before it flows out and into the Mababe Depression. We pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo and shall game drive through Khwai until we reach Mababe.

You will spend time game viewing between the dry-land habitats of the lead-wood and camel-thorn woodlands and savannahs and the riverside banks of the Khwai River, as well as in the western parts of the concession. The Mababe region boasts excellent populations of both bull elephant as well as breeding herds. Lion, leopard, serval and African wildcat are common predators of the region with wild dog and cheetah being less common. Buffalo use this area seasonally with large herds moving in during the summer rains. Other ungulates include tsessebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope and impala, and even eland and oryx in the western parts. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves. These activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Mababe Private Reserve.

Today we change camp and head further north en-route to Chobe National Park, were we spend the following three nights camping in an exclusive wilderness campsite in the Central Chobe region, exploring the desert-like landscape on game drives. A fascinating days drive looking at some of the evidence of the Paleo-Lake Makgadikgadi that dried up some ten thousand years ago. The most challenging part of the trip is crossing the Magwikwe Sand-ridge that formed the shoreline for this massive inland sea. We pass through excellent lion country and some of the best cheetah country that our safari will cover. Elephant occur throughout the drive but are more common at the start and end of the drive where permanent surface water can be found.

The last days should be filled with game viewing opportunities. Undoubtedly it is the interaction between lion and elephant that is the most interesting aspect of Savuti. The area is inhabited by a huge pride of lions with numbers fluctuating from 20-30 members. These remarkable lion have learned over the years how to hunt these massive pachyderms that are supposedly above predation. Launching their attack under darkness and using their numbers, they manage to kill adolescent and even young adult elephant. The marsh is prime cheetah country and in the wet season it is not unusual to have the wild dog hunting here in Central Chobe.

On our final day on safari we will leave Central Chobe early to travel along the Chobe River arriving in Kasane where we will stop for a picnic lunch before taking an afternoon boat cruise to end the safari. The tour ends at about 15h00 and you will be dropped off at Kasane airport for your onward journey.