Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Nothing prepares you for the immensity of this reserve, nor its wild, mysterious beauty. There is the immediate impression of unending space, and having the entire reserve to yourself. The Central Kalahari game Reserve (CKGR) is the largest, most remotely situated reserve in Southern Africa, and the second largest wildlife reserve in the world, encompassing 52 800 sq kms.

Waist-high golden grasses seem to stretch interminably, punctuated by dwarfed trees and scrub bushes. Wide and empty pans appear as vast white stretches of saucer-flat earth, meeting a soft, blue-white sky. At night the stars utterly dominate the land; their brilliance and immediacy are totally arresting.

During and shortly after good summer rains, the flat grasslands of the reserve’s northern reaches teem with wildlife, which gather at the best grazing areas. These include large herds of springbok and gemsbok, as well as wildebeest, hartebeest, eland and giraffe. At other times of the year, when the animals are more sparsely distributed, the experience of travelling through truly untouched wilderness, of seemingly unending dimensions, is the draw.

CKGR is unique in that it 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.

The northern deception valley is one of the highlights, principally because of the dense concentrations of herbivores its sweet grasses attract during and after the rainy season (and of course the accompanying predators).

Chobe National Park

The Chobe National Park is located in the Northern part of Botswana and lies along the Chobe River, which borders Botswana and Namibia. The Park is the second largest in Botswana and is known for its superb game viewing all year round, as it has one of the largest populations of game on the African continent.

Chobe is probably best known for its impressive Elephant herds. The Chobe River supports the largest concentration of Elephant found anywhere in Africa and it is not uncommon to encounter herds in excess of a hundred animals.

Chobe National Park encompasses four distinct ecosystems:

Serondela area (or Chobe riverfront) in the north-east has lush plains and dense forests which attract huge numbers of Elephants and Buffalo. The Serondela area is the most visited part of the Park.

Savuti Marsh is situated in the west of the park. The Savuti Channel bisects the Chobe National Park and empties into the Savuti Marsh. The Savuti Marsh area has become well known through its coverage in a number of popular wildlife documentaries. Savuti has rich grasslands, savannah woodland and a large variety of trees and other vegetation.

Linyanti Swamps are situated in the western section of Chobe. The Linyanti River and marshes are complemented by the contrasting dry woodlands. The Linyanti Wildlife Reserve area is renowned for predators and large concentrations of game, particularly Elephant and Buffalo, which move down to the Linyanti River at the start of the winter months.

The Nogatsaa and Tchinga, a hot and dry hinterland – this area is for the adventurous traveler. It holds water well into the dry season and attracts a profusion of game between August and October.
Habitats found in the Park range from floodplains, mopane woodland, baobab trees and acacia woodlands, to verdant flood grasslands and thickets bordering the Chobe River.

The most remarkable feature of the Chobe National Park is its huge concentration of Elephants. This Park supports the largest surviving Elephant populations in the world, currently estimated to exceed 120,000. This population is dispersed throughout much of northern Botswana, as well as parts of north-western Zimbabwe. The Chobe Elephants are migratory, making seasonal movements of up to 200 kilometres in a circuit from the Chobe and Linyanti rivers, where they concentrate in the dry season, to the pans in the south-eastern region of the park, where they gather during the rainy season.

Chobe National Park is home to huge herds of Elephant, Buffalo, and Zebra. There are high densities of predators such as Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena and Cheetah. The park also hosts more unusual antelope species such as Roan and Sable, Puku, Tsessebe, Eland, Red Lechwe, Waterbuck, and the rare Chobe Bushbuck. The better-known species such as Giraffe, Kudu, Warthog, Wildebeest and Impala also abound in the park.

Linyanti Region

The Linyanti River forms the Northern border of Botswana with Namibia. The entire frontage comprises Wildlife Management Areas, and includes a small portion of the Chobe National Park. The Chobe Park and the Linyanti WMAs are renowned wildlife areas and are home to what is probably the highest density of elephants in Africa. Chobe Park alone is estimated to host over 50,000 of these great pachyderms.

Situated on the eastern reaches of the Linyanti river, the secluded Linyanti reserve comprises a 20 km section of river frontage reminiscent of the Okavango Delta’s permanent swamp with reed fringed lagoons, small islands and a fringe of towering riverine trees. This is backed by Mopane and Acacia sandveld that hosts elephant, kudu, impala and bushbuck as well as occasional roan and sable antelope.

Lion, leopard, wild dogs, hyena and all the smaller predators also occur. Herds of buffalo, zebra and sometimes eland migrate into the Reserve in the late winter to spring dry season from the far south of the Chobe National Park, seeking the cool permanent water and lush marsh vegetation of the river.

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park stretches away from the banks of the Boteti River, through its hinterland of scrub and grassland. The river and the nutrient-rich western grasslands supply the essential water and sustenance for the herds that inhabit the park.

Leroo La Tau is situated on the western bank of the Boteti River, north-west of Khumaga village, about 140 kilometers south-east of Maun. The river’s eastern bank forms the boundary of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. The Boteti River is the main outflow of the Okavango Delta, collecting the water that flows past Maun, then continuing about 250 km south-eastwards, finally ending at Lake Xau on the extreme south-western edge of the great Makgadikgadi salt pans.

There was permanent water in the river long before Livingstone first explored the area in the late 1840s and brought the existence of Lake Ngami to the attention of the outside world. The river provided water for the great herds of wildlife that seasonally utilized the short-grass plains on the north-western side of the Makgadikgadi, and latterly provided water for the Setswana cattle herders who moved onto the western bank. The river was thus a natural barrier between the wildlife and the cattle – and subsequently a natural boundary for the National Park.

In the mid-1980s the flood waters of the Okavango started diminish as the region entered a cycle of low rainfall in the catchment area – and the Boteti River, receiving far less water, began to recede progressively. It finally started drying up completely in the mid-1990s. The water no longer reached Leroo La Tau by about 1987/88 – leaving a few waterholes in the riverbed fed by underground seeps, and trapping a small pod of Hippo, which stayed in a deep pool near Leroo La Tau, together with Crocodiles that became completely terrestrial and denned in caves in the eastern river bank. 2009 saw the highest floods in the Okavango in the past 25 years, and the Boteti River flowed strongly again, with the water reaching and flowing past Leroo La Tau.

The Zebra and Wildebeest herds migrate in their thousands to the river at the end of winter to access the water. The Makgadikgadi is a harsh, dry environment, suited to Oryx and Kudu, but the river provides a life-giving source of water for the Zebra and Wildebeest utilizing the eastern grass plains.

After the start of the rainy season, this desert area teems with wildlife as herds of Zebra and Wildebeest graze to their hearts’ content on the wide-open green grassland plains of the Makgadikgadi. During the wet season there is an influx of migratory bird species, while resident desert species welcome their visitors by showing off their breeding plumage.

Moremi Game Reserve

The Moremi Game Reserve is situated in the eastern part of the Okavango Delta, on the south-western border of the Chobe National Park, and covers almost one-third of the Delta. With such a wide variety of vegetation comes a diverse spectrum of wildlife. Huge herds of Impala and Tsessebe are found in the area, while in the dry season large herds of Buffalo, Wildebeest, Elephant and Zebra flock into the reserve from the Kalahari in search of food and water. The rare Sitatunga and Lechwe antelope live in the papyrus banks of the waterways. Lions, Cheetahs and packs of Wild Dogs hunt in the open grassland. The reserve is home to over 400 species of birds, including the African Fish Eagle, the Crested Crane and the Sacred Ibis. This vast variety of mammal, bird, insect, plant, fish and reptile species have successfully adapted to the swamp conditions. Moremi Game Reserve is a wilderness paradise, with great game viewing throughout the year.

On the north-eastern tip of Moremi, the Khwai River is an area where tall evergreen trees fringe a wide floodplain. In the heart of Moremi, at the tip of the Mopane Tongue, lies Xakanaxa Lagoon. Mopane forests and a patchwork of deep waterways and shallow flooded areas create a beautiful area packed with game. Leopard and Cheetah are regularly seen and the density of antelope is amazing. The area's birdlife is exceptional.
Its wealth of bird and animal life makes Moremi a prime game-viewing area. Bird life is exceptional and diverse in all areas of the Moremi Game Reserve. During the dry season the congregation of all species along permanent rivers and waterholes makes Moremi Game Reserve one of the most unforgettable wildlife experiences in Africa.

Okavango Delta

Described as 'the jewel of the Kalahari’, the Okavango Delta - a tranquil and isolated oasis set in the harsh and arid surroundings of Botswana’s bush and desert - is widely regarded as one of Africa's best safari destinations, with its rich diversity of fauna and flora. The delta is one of the largest and most important inland wetlands of the world, with 2500 species of plants, 65 fish species, 20 large herbivores and their attendant predators, and more than 450 species of birds.

The Okavango Delta is one of the world’s largest inland water systems. It rises in Angola’s western highlands, then flows through northern Namibia and finally enters Botswana, where it is called the Okavango. Seen from space as an emerald swirl surrounded by a parched landscape, the delta is a miraculous source of life in a country that is 80% arid.

The delta’s floods are fed by the Angolan rains, which start in October. The floods cross the border between Namibia and Botswana at Mohembo in December and reach Maun only in July. The Okavango River never reaches the sea, but flows south-eastwards into the Kalahari. Here it spreads out into a delta formation - a lush water-wilderness of papyrus swamps, shallow reed-beds and floodplains, dotted with islands and laced with a network of channels and lagoons.

The annual seasonal flooding of the delta occurs during July and August, which is a few months after the peak levels at Mohembo. It takes approximately four months to filter through the Delta from Mohembo to Maun. The reasons for this slow meandering pace of the flood are the very gradual drop in elevation - little more than 60 meters over a distance of 450 kilometers - and the dense vegetation, which slows down the movement of the water. A lot of the water is lost to groundwater re-charge as well as evaporation. During the peak of the flooding the delta’s area can expand to over 16 000 km², shrinking to less than 9000 km² in the low period. As the water travels through the delta, the wildlife starts to move back into the region.

The Okavango Delta is home to more than 140,000 people, 50% of whom live in villages with fewer than 500 inhabitants, living off the goods and services the delta provides. Their livelihoods are closely interwoven with the diversity of natural resources.

As the Okavango Delta always has a certain amount of water, water-based activities are on offer at many of the safari camps situated there. A mokoro safari is a definite ‘must do’ for all guests visiting the Okavango Delta - a dugout canoe poled along by your guide is a favorite method of exploring the waterways. Motor-boats operate on the main waterways and lagoons. Traditional 4x4 game-viewing vehicles are used on the main island. Walking safaris are very popular in the Delta - the feeling of being on foot in Africa's wilderness, exploring the flora and fauna, is a remarkable experience - perhaps the most exciting way of viewing game - stalking and tracking wildlife with an expert guide.

Savute Region

The Savuti Channel has a fascinating history of flooding and drying up independently of good rainy seasons and flood levels elsewhere – a mystery that has intrigued geologists and other researchers for many years. It is generally believed that tectonic activity deep below the Kalahari's sand bed is responsible. Others argue that its flow is primarily dependent upon the rainfall in the Angolan highlands which feeds the Okavango and Chobe River basins and the channel.

In 2008, the Savuti Channel, having been dry for many years, once more became a deep, clear waterway harboring Hippo and other aquatic life with a large variety of water birds. Wildlife, from plains game to predators, has had to adapt to a new source of water and all the opportunities and menaces it has brought with it. How long will it be before the water dries up again? Judging from historical records it could be more than a hundred years or less than ten. Nature has the final say in such matters.

The dead Camelthorn trees on the Savuti Marsh have become one of the most prominent features of the landscape – skeletons of trees drowned in the flood-waters at least 40 years ago. The shallow basin of the Mababe Depression is now the waterless bed of an ancient lake and the marsh itself is grassland that is home to large numbers of animals. The western edge of Savuti is formed by the Magwikhwe sand ridge, which is approximately 100 km long and 20 m high. This is the ancient shoreline of a super-lake that once covered most of Northern Botswana.

It is hard to imagine that this harsh, dry landscape was once submerged under an enormous inland sea. Another part of the Savuti is characterized by the Gubatsa Hills, which were formed millions of years ago during volcanic movement. These hills rise to a height of about 90 meters out of an otherwise completely flat landscape.
The Savuti area offers great game viewing at certain times of the year. The annual Zebra migration is closely followed by many Lion prides. Good sightings of Cheetah and Leopard are possible and the endangered Wild Dog also occurs here. Savuti is famous for its large concentrations of Elephants that congregate around the waterholes, making game-viewing exceptional.

Birdlife is also amazing, with Secretary Birds and Kori Bustards often seen around the Savuti Marsh. Summer migrants and water birds include Abdim’s Storks, Carmine Bee-eaters, Fish Eagles. Red-billed Queleas, which gather in their thousands, are a spectacular sight as they wheel and turn in unison.