Botswana Culture & Wildlife Safari

Upon arriving at the O.R. Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and clearing customs formalities, you will be met by our representative and transferred to The Safari Club for the night. Depending on your flight arrival, there may be time this afternoon for an optional tour around Johannesburg (extra cost).

Highlights of Jo'burg Tour: Johannesburg, also known as Jozi, Jo’burg or Egoli is, by population, the largest city in South Africa. The city is the source of a large-scale gold trade, owing to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills, where gold was discovered in 1886. One option is to visit the historical buildings in the old city center, get a bird's eye view of Jo'burg from the 50th floor of the Carlton Center (Africa's tallest building) and visit the financial and shopping hub of Sandton.

Soweto Tour: Soweto is the sprawling township south west of Jo'burg and was prominent in the long struggle against apartheid. On this tour you will catch a glimpse of the lives of its estimated 3 million residents. The tour visits Mandela House Museum, Hector Pietersen Museum and Memorial Site, Vilakazi Street and ends at a local restaurant for refreshments.

Cradle of Humankind: The Cradle of Humankind – declared a World Heritage site in 1999 – is a 187 sq mile area in the western part of Gauteng Province with around 40 different early human fossil sites. The Cradle is where several of the world’s most famous and important fossils have been discovered and has dramatically changed our understanding of human evolution. You can visit the Sterkfontein Caves, the Wonder Caves (where many fossils have been discovered), and the Maropeng Visitors Center.

This morning you will be transferred back to the O.R. Tambo Airport for your flight to Maun. Upon arrival and clearing customs, you'll be met by your private guide, Steve Stockhall. There will be time for to buy any last minute supplies before taking the Land Cruiser from Maun to the Khwai River region on the border of Moremi Game Reserve. During your 4 hour drive, you'll gradually leave behind the bustling town of Maun and pass through rural villages, giving a glimpse of everyday Botswana life. You’ll spend the next three days exploring one of Africa's best wildlife destinations from your private, remote, and unfenced mobile safari camp.

You’ll spend three nights camping in the Khwai River Community Area with full days of photography, game drives and an afternoon mokoro (a traditional dug-out canoe) excursion into the Okavango Delta.

Khwai River Community Area

Khwai Community Area is on a concession adjacent to the north-eastern boundary of Moremi along the banks of the Khwai River. This community run reserve is managed by the Khwai Development Trust and is an excellent example of community conservation. The villages benefit from the campsites and lodges on their concession, creating an incentive for the local people to conserve the land and wildlife. The reserve protects 700 square miles of wilderness and with the river being the only source of water for miles, it is a magnet for wildlife.

About Your Mobile Safari Camp

A mobile camping safari is an all-encompassing experience. Throughout your safari, you are surrounded by an incredibly unspoiled wilderness area, so even the transfers to the campsites are part of the adventure! We believe a camping safari brings you closer to the wilderness and provides an immersive experience of the African bush. A mobile camping safari is flexible, and we maximize each day by being out in the field most of the time. Your safari is all about discovery and exploration as you travel across the landscape learning about the wildlife, conservation, and cultures of this special country. A mobile safari is an operation to behold. The truck and staff travel ahead to set up a beautiful, remote, and wild (and unfenced) private camp exclusive for our use.

The tented accommodation is spacious and has a washbasin with running water. This is achieved by having a bucket on the rear of the tent that is constantly filled by staff. Inside the tent is a shower and toilet. Showers are filled on request – you may take a hot shower at anytime of day with the exception of the early mornings. Most travelers like to either shower just before afternoon tea or on arrival back in camp after the afternoon game drive. Toilets are long drop and are extremely environmentally friendly! The toilet consists of a wooden box with a proper toilet seat and is situated in a closed off cubicle at the rear of the guest tent.

The main dining area is spacious with a bar and bar fridge. Dining is with glassware, linen tablecloths and napkins. Food is prepared fresh daily from the camp kitchen including freshly baked breads. All meals are prepared over a fire.

Vehicles have charging points for USB and USA plug points for camera gear and laptops. The vehicles carry morning tea/ coffee for a short break on the morning drive and a sunset bar for the afternoon game drive and sundowners.

Your camping safari is fully supported, and our guests do not participate in any of the camp chores. Our camp crew will take care of all cooking, setting up camp, and will make sure that you are comfortable on your journey. We do this by providing healthy meals with plenty of tea, coffee, and water (as well as a selection of local beers and wines). Vegetarian meals can be requested along with just about any dietary requirement you can think of!

Our guides and staff are, above all else, passionate about the wilderness we work in, the animals we spend time with and the people who travel with us. The most important part of our job is to send everyone home with an amazing experience, epic photos, and inspiration to help us spread the word to conserve!

Khwai is famous for its high density of wildlife and you'll take full advantage with early morning and afternoon game drives. Khwai also allows night drives and your guide will take you out with a spotlight to search for animals not seen during the day, including civets, genets, and springhares.

On one afternoon you'll enjoy a mokoro excursion along the lagoons of the Khwai River. These are traditional dug-out canoes navigated by a local "poler" who slowly propells the mokoro with a long pole. This is a peaceful and relaxing way to experience the Okavango Delta.

Khwai River Private Concession

The Khwai River is the eastern most extremity of the Okavango Delta. The Okavango itself is a large alluvial fan spreading out over the Kalahari sands. It is the single largest intact ecosystem in southern Africa and recently was awarded the World’s one-thousandth World Heritage site. Since there are no fences separating the Moremi Game Reserve, the Khwai River Community Reserve, and the Okavango game is free to wander throughout this vast territory. Taken together these areas are essentially one contiguous area designated for wildlife conservation.

The Khwai River Concession sits on the northern border of the Moremi Game Reserve. These two areas protect a wide diversity of habitat and boast some of the best game viewing in Africa. You’ll search for game on the dry land rising between vast wetlands and crystal-clear water channels on the edges of endless mopane and Kalahari Apple-leaf woodlands. Game viewing takes place alongside waterways and flood plains, but you’ll also explore the clear channels, lagoons and rivers of the Okavango Delta by mokoro, going upstream through a myriad of crystal-clear waterways lined with African mangosteen, waterberry trees, and swaying seas of papyrus.

Khwai River is noted as an extremely game rich destination with plenty of predator action. Leopards are frequently sighted and there is an excellent opportunity to see African wild dog packs denning and hunting here. There are many bull elephants in the area, large pods of hippopotamus, aquatic antelope like red lechwe and water buck and good populations of giraffe and zebra. As the area is on the edge of the Okavango Delta, bird life is prolific with raptors, kingfishers, fish eagles, ducks and beautiful pygmy geese regularly seen.

This morning you'll depart the Khwai River area and head south into the Moremi Game Reserve. The drive to your next campsite in Moremi will take about 4 hours, depending on the amount of wildlife you see on the way. Steve will choose a spot for your picnic lunch, either next to one of the many lagoons or a shady spot under the cathedral mopane trees. You should arrive at your campsite in Xakanaxa in the afternoon.

You'll spend three days exploring this vast and varied game reserve known for abundant elephants, birds, lions, and the endangered African wild dog.

Moremi Game Reserve

Moremi is on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta and protects vast areas of swamps, lagoons, floodplains, woodlands, and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent. This is superb lion and elephant territory and one of the best places in Africa of seeing the rare African painted dog. Other wildlife includes leopard, giraffe, buffalo, cheetah, warthog, and a wide variety of antelopes. Bring your binoculars as Moremi is home to nearly 400 species of birds, from the ostrich to the colorful Lilac-breasted Roller.

This region’s diversity of animals is truly astounding. Moremi was proclaimed a conservation area in 1964, created from the traditional hunting grounds of the local BaTwana people and named after Chief Moremi III. Moremi was the first reserve in Africa created by the local people, unlike the early African parks that were set aside by the colonial governments. The result of this foresight is Moremi is quite rightly rated as one of the best game-viewing areas in the world.

The Moremi Game Reserve extends from Chobe's southwest corner into the Okavango Delta. At some 1200 square miles, the reserve protects a great variety of habitats in the Okavango and surrounding areas. Since there are no fences separating Moremi, Chobe, and the Okavango game is free to wander throughout this vast territory. Taken together these areas are essentially one contiguous area designated for wildlife conservation.

The next two days you'll spend exploring this special region of northern Botswana. Moremi's vast mopane forests and numerous rivers, swamps, and floodplains consists of a range of habitat that supports a large diversity of wildlife. This area is particularly good for wild dog sightings as well as breeding herds of elephants and a diversity of bird life in the grasslands and marshy areas.

On one afternoon you'll embark on a three hour motorboat excursion. Unlike your mokoro trip, the motorboat will be able to take you much deeper into the Okavango Delta allowing you an in-depth experience of this massive wetland. Along the way you'll see many aquatic animals including hippos, crocodiles, and the rare sititunga antelope. Bird life is abundant and this area has a number of heron rookeries where hundreds of herons and storks gather in the trees to nest.

This morning you’ll say final farewells to the camp staff and then transferred to the Xakanaxa airstrip for your short flight to the Grassland Bushman Lodge, on the edge of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The Kalahari regions offers a stark contrast to the lush landscapes of the Khwai River area. For the next three days you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the ancient San Bushman culture and search for Kalahari wildlife.

The Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert stretches nearly 360,000 square miles across Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. The Kalahari is not a true desert in the strictest sense of the word as it receives too much rainfall (between 5 and 10 inches annually). Derived from the Tswana word Kgala, meaning "the great thirst", or Kgalagadi, meaning "a waterless place", the Kalahari is a vast area of red sands, dry river valleys, and open grasslands. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the largest, most remotely situated reserve in southern Africa, and the second largest wildlife reserve in the world. The Reserve was originally established (in 1961) with the intention of serving as a place of sanctuary for the San, in the heart of the Kalahari (and Botswana), where they could live their traditional hunter/ gatherer way of life without intrusion or influence from the outside world.

Once the traditional home of the San people, the Kalahari supports a surprisingly diverse population of wildlife that have adapted to the extremely dry conditions. Antelope that are regularly seen are gemsbok, eland, kudu, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest, springbok, and giraffe. It is also possible to see the endangered black rhino. Predators in the area are – cheetah, leopard, hyena, caracal, serval and the black-maned Kalahari lion. Many of these animals are not usually found in the game parks to the north. Birdlife in the Kalahari is just as exciting as the animals – with many grassland specialists and larger birds including the bateleur, martial eagle, korhaan, tawny eagles, secretary birds, kori bastards, ostrich.

In the rainy season from December through March, the Kalahari is transformed into a lush, green oasis and the early evening air is dominated by the never ending calls of the Kalahari barking geckos. Zebras arrive from the north and thousands of animals give birth during this season of plenty. All this activity attracts lions and other predators to take advantage of the vulnerable young animals.

Today and tomorrow will be an immersion into the Kalahari ecosystem and a unique opportunity to experience first hand the culture of the San Bushmen. The lodge is located near the boundary of the immense Central Kalahari Game Reserve and wildlife here is excellent. You'll also spend time on morning and afternoon game drives searching for game that is not found in the reserves further north, including gemsbok and springbok. Grassland also offers horseback safaris to get close to wildlife (experienced riders only and must book in advance).

Another highlight at Grassland Bushman Lodge is the Predator Project. Predators move from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to cattle areas on a very regular basis as it offers easy prey and a reliable source of water. Sadly, farmers in Botswana are allowed to shoot predators at random in order to protect their valuable livestock. Grassland works hand-in-hand with the Botswana Department of Wildlife to protect these predators. Problem predators are captured and kept in semi-captivity at Grassland Bushman Lodge until they can be released. Lions are kept in four camps of 30 acres each, while the wild dogs are kept in a 55-acre area.

The World of the San Bushmen

The Bushmen (also known as the San) are descendants of ancient Stone Age cultures and were the first people living in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. The name ‘San’ refers to many groups of hunter-gathers who have existed in this region long before the Bantu migrations and thousands of years before the Europeans. With the arrival of colonists and Bantu peoples, and their cattle and weapons, the San were pushed deeper into the arid lands of the Kalahari.

Traditional San society consisted of loose networks of clans and family groups. They recognized no chief or authority figure and governed themselves through group consensus. San speak the complex click language where various pops and clicks are used as consonants. They created beautiful rock art, found throughout southern Africa. The San are exceptional hunters and trackers and have detailed knowledge of the bush. Hunting is done with bows and poison arrows, the poison made from boiling plants and beetle larvae.

Today the San face many challenges including alcoholism and the loss of their traditional territories. Their culture and traditions are disappearing and many San live in poverty in remote areas.

It is widely recognized that the San are the oldest “living” culture still surviving and provides modern people a unique insight and mirror to our own past. You’re experience meeting the San Bushmen will be a truly memorable encounter. Likewise, this gives the San people a feeling of appreciation as their culture is on the verge of extinction. During your visit, the San women will take you on a food gathering and medicinal plant experience. They dig roots, collect seeds and nuts, pick berries, search for fungus they use in their flint stones. They make a fire and cook some of the food found on the walk. The men follow animals tracks and explain their every move, they explain animal dung, collect plants to make rope, make traps, and explain hunting skills in a very exciting way. The men and women have a few different games which they demonstrate, and guests are actively encouraged to join in the fun. Sticks, wild melons, dung and ropes are used. A highlight is to witness the San perform one of their many story-telling or ceremonial dances around a fire, which usually occurs at sunset.

Today you’ll depart Grassland Lodge for your short flight back to the Maun for an overnight at the Rivernest Cottages. We will arrange for a covid test today will results in time for your flight home tomorrow. Steve will host your final dinner in Africa at the new Okavango Craft Brewery in Maun.

The Brewery aims to provide an attractive market for small-scale farmers who work hard to coexist with elephants. All their beers contain millet from farmers using innovative techniques to protect themselves and their fields from elephants, avoiding cultivating on elephant migration corridors and so allowing elephants safe passage along major movement routes into the Okavango.

There will be time this afternoon to enjoy a scenic helicopter flight over the Okavango Delta for a unique view of this enormous wetland (extra expense and pre-booking required). Alternatively, take a late afternoon boat ride on the river as you search hippos, crocodiles, and colorful African birds. Or simply relax in the bar as the sun sets over the Thamalakane River.

Today you'll be transfered to the Maun Airport to connect with your onward flights.

If you’re interested in extending your safari to Chobe, River, Victoria Falls, or Cape Town, please let us know!