Botswana Moremi Magic Mobile Safari

Dumela / Hello! Welcome to Botswana!” We will be there to give you a warm Botswana welcome when you land at Maun Airport around noon. You will meet your pilot for your stunning light aircraft scenic flight over the Okavango Delta and Chief’s Island. This flight gives you a fish eagle’s eye view of this extraordinary ecosystem. When you land at your remote bush airstrip within the Moremi Game Reserve, your guide will be waiting to transfer you to your mobile camp with a game drive en-route. Once you arrive at the camp, the friendly, attentive staff will help you feel immediately at home and brief you on what to look forward to on the rest of your safari. The magic of a mobile camp becomes particularly apparent at sunset. Enjoy drinks around the fire, a starlit dinner and a great night’s rest after falling asleep to the sounds of the African bush. Spending our first two nights camping in the Xakanaxa / Third Bridge area, we explore the surrounding wilderness on game drives during the day. The Moremi Game Reserve protects around a third of the entire Okavango Delta ecosystem – some 5 000km2 (1 930 square miles).

The safari day starts as the sun rises. Your wake-up call will be between 5am, and 6am - a gentle “koko”(knock-knock in Setswana) at the entrance to your tent. A camp assistant will be on hand to fill your wash basin with steaming hot water, and freshly made tea and coffee will be served around the campfire. Before the early morning game drive, a light breakfast will be offered. This will include tea, plunger coffee, juice, rusks, fruit, cereal, toast and jams – just enough to boost your energy without using up too much of the golden hours of early morning, which is one of the best times to see animals. Later on, as the temperature rises, many of them will retreat to the shade before becoming active again in the late afternoon. Return to camp for lunch under a shady tree (if the elephants have not pushed them all over!). Lunch typically consists of salads, bread (freshly baked over the campfire), cold meats and pickles. Just as the animals retreat to escape the heat of midday, we recommend that you do too. This is your chance to catch up on some reading, write about your adventures in your journal or take a siesta – or all three! Later in the afternoon, you will head out into the wilderness once more as the animals begin to feed and drink again. Then, as the sun dips below the horizon, marvel at the sheer splendour of an African sunset and toast the beauty of Nature. This is best done with the traditional sundowner choice: a G&T.

Following an early breakfast, we pack up the camp and continue our journey to Khwai, stopping for a bush picnic lunch en-route. The Khwai River forms the boundary between the reserve and the local Khwai Community Area. We spend the next three nights camping at a campsite in the Khwai area, exploring the Khwai floodplains on game drives. You will also experience a 2 1⁄2-hour mokoro trip, discovering channels and lagoons at a relaxed pace in a traditional dug-out canoe.

On days when we move to a new campsite, the safari team will strike the camp, travel to the next campsite and prepare everything for us. When travelling between campsites, we choose routes through wildlife areas wherever possible, which means that each transfer is really an extended game drive. A picnic lunch will be served at a suitably scenic spot en-route.

Another action-packed day exploring the Botswana wilderness with your guide. The Khwai Community Area lies on the outskirts of the Moremi Game Reserve. The area is a varied and wildlife prolific ecosystem of patchwork lagoons, shallow flooded pans, open grass plains and woodland forests. The Khwai community has just 400 people who are either of BaBukakhwe or River Bushmen descent. They are an inspiring example of a local community that live in peaceful harmony with the wildlife in their area.

Another action packed day exploring the Botswana wilderness with your guide. Or relax and enjoy the peace and magic of the African bush.

Following breakfast, we head back to Maun. A picnic lunch will be served en-route. You will be dropped in Maun around noon – 1pm for your onwards arrangements. (Speak to us about adding a couple of nights to visit the wonderful Makgadikgadi Pan and its famous habituated meerkat colony).