Classic Botswana

Overview

Experience the remote wilderness of Botswana on this luxury flying safari. You will experience the vast Okango Delta on day and night game drives, on foot, and on the water. You also visit the Moremi game reserve, and the private Linyanti Reserve, famous for its elephants and cats. Your safari ends with a night at Victoria Falls at a small Botique Lodge, set close to the falls.

Okavango Delta | Moremi | Linyanti | Victoria Falls

Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland) (formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the endorheic basin of the Kalahari. All the water reaching the delta is ultimately evaporated and transpired and does not flow into any sea or ocean. Each year, about 11 cubic kilometres (2.6 cu mi) of water spreads over the 6,000–15,000 km2 (2,300–5,800 sq mi) area. Some flood waters drain into Lake Ngami.The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that had mostly dried up by the early Holocene. The Moremi Game Reserve, a National Park, is on the eastern side of the delta. The delta was named as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, which were officially declared on 11 February 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. On 22 June 2014, the Okavango Delta became the 1000th site to be officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Moremi

Moremi Game Reserve is a protected area in Botswana. It lies on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and was named after Chief Moremi of the BaTawana tribe. Moremi was designated as a game reserve, rather than a national park, when it was created. This designation meant that the BaSarwa or Bushmen that lived there were allowed to stay in the reserve.

Linyanti

Introduction

Linyanti is situated north of Savuti in a corner of the Chobe National Park. The Linyanti Swamp is one of the most attractive areas in the park. It boasts a great diversity of game and a restful atmosphere.The north-western corner of Chobe meets the Linyanti River - this is a fragment of almost 900 square kilometres of the secluded Linyanti Swamp. This area is further expanded by the Selinda Reserve in the west and Namibia's remote Mamili National Park on the northern bank of the Kwando River. The area's relative remoteness makes it a favoured safari destination.

The Linyanti And Kwando Rivers

The Kwando and Linyanti Rivers are located mid-way between the town of Kasane and the Okavango Delta in Northern Botswana. The river changes course dramatically because of 'river capture' caused by faulting. The Linyanti River follows a line representing the extreme south western extension of East Africa's Great Rift Valley.The Linyanti River is in a way similar to the Okavango Delta with its papyrus-lined waterways, extensive reed banks and towering riverine forest. The river forms a swamp area, reminiscent of the one found in the Okavango, although it is not more than 900 square kilometres in extent, as opposed to the much larger Okavango Delta.

Wildlife of Linyati

Wildlife viewing in the Linyati region is excellent. It boasts large concentrations of elephant, lion, sable, roan, hippos, and wild dog, building to a peak in the dry winter months. The area also offers spectacular birding year round and is best known for its enormous herds of Elephant which move down to the Linyanti River at the start of the winter months and only move back inland once the main rains arrive.

Sable and Roan Antelope occur, as well as Lion, Leopard and Wild Dog. The marshes are home to Red Lechwe, Sitatunga, Hippo, Crocodiles and wonderful bird life. And moving along the waterways, we can see Kudu, Zebra, Buffalo, Waterbuck and Impala.

Vegetation

Habitats of the Linyati region consist of riverine woodlands along the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers, rivers and surrounding lagoons and waterways, open grasslands bordering onto the rivers and the Savuti Channel, and the dryer woodlands inland from the waterways.The Linyanti region consists mainly of riparian forests close to the rivers while the rest of the region is characterized by wide-open flood plains, dotted with wild date and ilala palm islands.

Linyati Activities

Linyati offers a variety of activities. They include game drives in open 4x4 vehicles, night drives and game and bird walks, canoeing in stable 'Canadian' canoes on the large lagoons and boating on the smaller waterways.

Access

Access to this area is often restricted and is always difficult to get to by vehicle. Only 4x4 vehicles are able to negotiate the thick sand and rough roads. Most visitors travel into this area by light aircraft into the remote airfields.Drivers need to be aware that private 'concessions' or private reserves that have been leased out to private companies by the authorities dominate this area. Access to these private reserves is restricted to guests staying at the various lodges or camps. These camps and lodges must be pre-booked.

Location

North of Savuti, in the Chobe National Park, Botswana.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls (Lozi: Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: Shungu Namutitima, "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and animals. It is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is one of the world's largest waterfalls, with a width of 1,708 m (5,604 ft). Archeological sites and oral history describe a long record of African knowledge of the site. Though known to some European geographers before the 19th century, Scottish missionary David Livingstone identified the falls in 1855, providing the English colonial name of Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria. Since the mid 20th century, the site has been an increasingly important source of tourism. Zambia and Zimbabwe both have national parks and tourism infrastructure at the site. Research in the late 2010s found that climate change caused precipitation variability is likely to change the character of the fall.