8 Day Okavango/Linyanti Experience

Day 1
Today you will meet your flight from Johannesburg to Maun. On arrival in Maun you will board your light aircraft transfer to Xigera Camp for (2) nights on a fully inclusive basis.

Xigera Camp
Xigera Camp (pronounced Keejera) dwells on an island in the heart of the Delta in Moremi Game Reserve. Xigera is set in what is truly a wetland paradise, surrounded as it is by deep channels and lush riverine vegetation.

The camp consists of ten luxuriously furnished tented rooms each with en-suite facilities and an outdoor shower. Raised on wooden platforms and walkways, each tent offers superb views of the seasonal floodplain and lagoon and a feel of living in the midst of a riverine forest. Meals and evening drinks are enjoyed in the lounge, pub and dining area overlooking a permanently flowing channel or under the stars in a traditional African boma. For those hot days there is a small plunge pool in which to cool off.

Guests are sometimes treated to close-up views of lion or leopard using the footbridge connecting Xigera's island to the next! The camp "newspaper" (a sand pit built into the bridge to capture paw prints) is "read" each morning and provides information on unseen nightly visitors to camp.

Permanent water year-round allows an unparalleled variety of activities such as mokoro trips, game drives and motorboat outings; being the only camp in the area ensures total privacy.

A mokoro ride is mandatory at this camp. On this traditional dug-out canoe, the only sounds are the rustling of the wind through the reeds, the lapping of the water against the boat, and the call of the African Fish-Eagle. The blue of the sky is mirrored in the water, broken only by large round water lily leaves and their stunning purple and white flowers.

When water levels permit, game drives are an attraction. During drier years, drives are available throughout the year, but if there has been a very high flood, drives take place only from late September to April.

Xigera is a delight for birdwatchers, with Pel's Fishing-Owl, African Skimmer, Slaty Egret, Wattled Crane and a host of raptors, other waterbirds and colourful kingfishers to be seen. An abundance of wildlife includes red lechwe, lion, spotted hyaena, and leopard and the highest density of the rare sitatunga antelope in the Delta.

Day 2
On safari at Xigera.

Day 3
Today you will meet your light aircraft transfer to Duba Plains Camp for (2) nights on a fully inclusive basis.

Duba Plains
One of the Delta's most remote camps, Duba Plains is a small, intimate camp on a tree-filled island in a private 30 000-hectare concession known as the Kwedi Reserve.

Accommodation is made up of six roomy tents with an en-suite bathroom, an outside shower, and a veranda overlooking the floodplain. The thatch-roofed lounge, dining room and bar areas are raised on platforms along with a swimming pool, all providing a beautiful view.

Apart from good numbers of lion and buffalo, herds of elephant feed on the islands and hippo concentrate in deeper channels. Tsessebe and blue wildebeest dot the plains, while red lechwe are found on the wetter floodplain fringe.

Duba is known for the titanic clashes between buffalo and lion, and so a classic game drive is one that tracks down the truly enormous buffalo herd to see if any lion are also headed in that direction. Aside from this interaction the age-old conflict between lion and spotted hyaena is also a point of interest. Bird life is abundant and impressive, with many Okavango specials such as Rosy-throated Longclaw, Slaty Egret and Wattled Crane being found in the area.

A variety of activities include day and night game drives, often tracking the buffalo herd around the concession, and leisurely nature walks. Mokoro trips are also possible in times of good floods - usually only between May and September.

Day 4
Today you will return to Oddball’s Main Camp where you will spend the night.

Day 5
Today you will board your light aircraft transfer to Kings Pool Camp for (3) nights on a fully inclusive basis.

Kings Pool Camp
Kings Pool Camp is located in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, a vast private concession in the northern part of Botswana, on the western boundary of Chobe National Park. The accommodation here is luxurious, the wildlife spectacular.

Nine well-appointed tents of canvas and thatch each have a large bedroom area, lounge, private plunge pool and 'sala'. The spacious en-suite bathrooms are tiled with double showers and hand-basins as well as an outdoor shower for those who wish to shower close to nature! Raised walkways allow animals to wander freely through the camp to and from the water. The lounge, dining room and pub are under thatch; there is a pool and an open-air 'kgotla' for dining under the stars.

Kings Pool Camp overlooks the Linyanti River and the oxbow-shaped Kings Pool Lagoon, apparently named after a Scandinavian monarch who spent a number of nights camping out on the banks of the lagoon, long before any camp was built here.

The Linyanti area has a large wildlife resource with a wide variety of species, but it is most noted for its very large elephant population, which can reach enormous densities during the dry winter months. Other game is abundant, such as impala, lechwe, kudu, zebra, giraffe, buffalo and bushbuck, and their predators: lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and spotted hyaena. Rarer species such as sable and roan antelope emerge from the woodlands during the dry season.

Activities include day and night game drives and walks, while boat cruises along the Linyanti River (water levels allowing) offer spectacular viewing. The reed and papyrus swamps are ideal for numerous and diverse species of birds and are a magnet for game in the dry winter months.

Kings Pool is famed not just for the sights but also the sounds of wildlife all around, to say nothing of its two hides: one located at the western end of the camp where one can spend one's entire siesta time watching game come down to drink. The other is an original underground hide, with the water at eye-level - seeing elephant feet and trunks almost within touching distance while safely inside is an extraordinary experience.

Day 6
On safari at Kings Pool.

Day7
On safari at Kings Pool.

Day8
Today you will meet your light aircraft transfer back to Maun Airport. Here you will board your flight back to Johannesburg.

Includes:
accommodation, all meals, drinks (except premium imported brands), scheduled lodge actvities, light aircraft transfers and entrances

Excludes:
Flight from JNB to Maun return, airport taxes, travel insurance, tips and anything of a personal nature