Botswana Northern Highlights Mobile Safari

Having arrived independently to the town of Kasane in the northeastern corner of Botswana, this morning you will meet your guide at 9am at a central meeting point to begin your fantastic Botswana mobile safari. After introductions and a brief on what today will hold, you will be taken on a morning boat cruise along the Chobe River for your first introduction to this remarkable area. Your guide will then take you on a thrilling game drive through the Chobe National Park to begin your in-depth exploration. Driving through the park, cameras in hand, we will travel from the Chobe River through the wonderful Zambezi teak woodlands of the Chobe Forest Reserve, through lands where wildlife roams free and uninhibited to reach our first camp. As we drive there are various species you will be on the lookout for including buffalo, Burchell’s zebra, roan and sable antelope, elephant, greater kudu and maybe even the elusive leopards that are sometimes spotted here.

Arriving at camp in the late afternoon, your camp assistants will have set up your comfortable home for the next 3 nights. Your camp assistants and guides will take care of everything from making the beds to pouring a refreshing G&T to enjoy as the sun slips below the horizon. Your spacious tent will be equipped with beds, linens, towels and your own private bathroom facilities, and as we settle in for the evening you can enjoy a delicious meal cooked by the camp chef under the clear Botswana skies. Your unforgettable mobile safari has truly begun.

3 nights’ mobile tented camp accommodation in Chobe National Park. Accommodation includes all meals and drinks (filtered water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T), beds, linens and towels. Activities included: Game Drives and Bushman Painting Walks

We will spend the next two days exploring all around the Central Chobe National Park area where large outcrops of volcanic rock reaching up out of the Kalahari sands and towering over the endless savannah provide habitat for a diverse range of wildlife from tiny to enormous. Enjoying game drives and interesting walks we will visit the famous Savuti Marsh, the scene for countless wildlife documentaries, and the now dry Savuti Channel on a constant lookout for the huge wildlife populations. Undoubtedly one of the most interesting wildlife interactions we are likely to observe is the ongoing battles between the strong prides of lions and the massive elephants who find themselves at the mercy of these unforgiving creatures. We are also likely to see large numbers of cheetahs, hyaenas, buffalo, zebras and greater kudu to name just a few.

For the birders amongst us there will be prolific birdlife to look out for across a diverse range of habitats. In the woodlands you are likely to spot Grey Tit-Flycatcher, Ashy Flycatcher, Paradise Flycatcher, Pallid Flycatcher, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Amethyst Sunbird, Yellow-throated Petronia, Red-headed Weaver and Violet-backed Starling amongst many others, whilst the diminutive White-faced Owl can often be seen roosting in the road-side vegetation and Dickenson’s Kestrel, Red-necked Falcon, Peregrine Falcon and Lizard Buzzard are just some of the raptors to keep an eye out for. Other notable birds include Caspian Plover and Montague’s Harrier, as well as Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark, Grey-backed Sparrowlark, Northern Black Korhaan, Rufous-naped Lark, African Pipit and Desert Cisticola. A full birding list can be provided.

Lunch will be provided during the day and each evening we will return to camp for dinner around the camp fire.

Leaving the parched landscape of the Chobe National Park behind, today we will enjoy an extended game drive to the Khwai Community Area and our next stop. The journey is likely to take up most of the day and a picnic lunch will be enjoyed in a scenic spot along the way. During our drive we will see evidence of the Paleo-Lake Makgadikgadi that dried up some ten thousand years ago and, weather dependant, will cross the Magwikwe Sand-ridge that once formed the shoreline for this massive inland sea. This will be a wildlife hotspot and as we travel we are likely to see good numbers of lions and have some of the best cheetah observation opportunities of the whole itinerary. For the birders there will be likely sightings of the magnificently coloured Violet-eared Waxbill, Black-cheeked Waxbill, Village Indigobird, Shaft-tailed Whydah and Paradise Whydah amongst many others.

Arriving at our camp in the heart of the Khwai Community Area, again your camp will all be set up for you, and a well-deserved drink and dinner will be enjoyed around the fire after a long day of travelling and wildlife observations.

3 nights’ mobile tented camp accommodation in the Khwai Community Area. Accommodation includes all meals and drinks (filtered water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T), beds, linens and towels. Activities included: Game Drive, Walking Safaris (conditions permitting), Night Drive and mokoro excursion.

Over the next two days we will enjoy an in-depth exploration of the Khwai floodplains surrounding the Khwai River which forms a boundary between the reserve and the community area where we will be camping each night. We will explore both during the day and at night time on game drives and safari walks, and you will also have the change to take an enjoyable mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) excursion through the waters to get up-close to Botswana’s remarkable flora and fauna.

Wildlife we are likely to see includes excellent populations of elephants, large herds of buffalo and red lechwe. Lion, leopard, serval and African wildcat are often seen here, and we can also hope for sightings of tsesebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope and impala.

A birding mecca, this area will offer up chances to observe a wide variety of bird species including the uncommon Rosy-throated Longclaw, Bat-Hawk, the rare Cuckoo Hawk, Black Sparrowhawk and Long-crested Eagle. Various other types of eagle are often spotted depending on the season including the Tawny and Martial breeds, and the waterways play host to Africa Rail, African Crake, Greater Painted Snipe, Allen’s Gallinule, Lesser Jacana and Lesser Moorhen.

Today it will be time to move on to our next stop as we pack up and take a full-day game drive to our next camping spot deep in the heart of the Moremi Game Reserve. Today’s journey will follow the course of the Manuchira Channel, one of the most scenic areas of the Okavango, with a stop at the famous Dombo Hippo Pools along the way to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo.

A picnic lunch will be provided during the day and as we drive we can hope for sightings of large breeding herds of elephant, as well as hippo and crocodiles. Cheetah, serval, leopard and lion are often spotted along this route along with Burchell’s zebra, tessebe, southern giraffe and red lechwe. As always, there will also be fantastic birdwatching opportunities with various species such as Tawny Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Yellow-breasted Apalis and Stierling’s Wren-Warbler likely to make an appearance.

Moremi lies on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta and over the next few days you can enjoy thrilling game drives through a variety of habitats from wide-open floodplains to woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent. Half of our time will be spent within the reserve observing the majestic wildlife up-close, whilst the other half will be spent in areas designated for wildlife management where animals roam freely to and from the Game Reserve.

After days of unrivalled wildlife experiences, each night we will return to the campsite to enjoy relaxing sundowner drinks and hearty meals around the campfire. 3 nights’ mobile tented camp accommodation in the Moremi Game Reserve. Accommodation includes all meals and drinks (filtered water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T), beds, linens and towels. Activities included: Game Drives

This morning sadly marks the end of your thrilling mobile safari, and after breakfast and one final game drive it will be time to head to the airstrip for your departure. Your included charter flight to Maun, one of Botswana’s most popular airports, will be an enjoyable one as you fly over the Okavango Delta below. The 30-minute flight will see you arrive in Maun at approximately 12.30 and upon landing it will be time to bid farewell as you make your way homewards or onwards. There are various safari extensions available for this trip so please ask us for details if you wish to extend your adventures in Africa.