Kalahari Treasure

You will arrive at Maun Airport where you will be met by your guide for the start of your first safari, arriving at your lodge for your first night in the late afternoon.

You will leave your lodge in the morning and start your journey into Central Kalahari Game Reserve proper where you'll enjoy unforgettable game drives.

Comprising of a combination of vegetated duneveld and valleys of ancient rivers and pans, the Deception Valley region is the most famous of all the areas of Botswana’s Kalahari. Some of the highlights of the area are Tau Pan, Sunday Pan, Leopard Pan, Deception and Passarge valleys, Deception Pan and Passarge Waterhole. The northern regions of the Kalahari boast a higher rainfall than the drier south and as a result mature woodlands of purple-pod terminalia (Terminalia prunoides) grow.

Large herds of oryx and springbok make up much of the wildlife here. The predators are comprised of lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog (rare) and hyaena. Tonight you will sleep in a mobile camp. 

The landscape remains arid as we pass over fields of dunes that have been arrested by the Kalahari’s vegetation and eventually descend back into the typical vegetated pans of the Central Kalahari into the ancient river beds.

Leopard is common in the dunes and we will almost certainly find signs of its presence, but the chances of seeing one are fairly remote. In the valleys lions and cheetahs are not uncommon. In the northern areas elands are more common here than anywhere else in the CKGR. Southern giraffe and greater kudu are common in the vegetated dunes as is the common duiker.

After enjoying unforgettable game drives, you will overnight in a mobile tented camp.

The Passarge Valley is actually a fossil river bed and the clay floor provides highly nutritious grazing and browsing for Kalahari game and can support much higher numbers of large animals than the sandy dune-veld. The wide open spaces are punctuated by tree islands of Umbrella Thorn (Acacia tortillis). These quintessential African trees offer precious shade in an otherwise harsh landscape.

Wildlife includes oryx, springbok, blue wildebeest and red hartebeest. The largest of all the antelopes, the eland, are also seen quite regularly here. The wide open plains are the domain of the cheetah but lions are also frequently seen here. African wildcat as well as caracal are the more common small predators.

Aftre some incredible game driving, you will sleep in a mobile tented camp. 
 

Travel from Passarge Valley to D'Kar: the journey will take approximately 5 hours. Tonight you will sleep in a mobile tented camp.

Today will be spent with the Bushmen of D’Kar participating in and learning more about what makes this tribe so interesting; listen to stories around the fire, learn their hunting and gathering techniques to gather a greater understanding of this nomadic race.

You'll overnight in a Bushmen hut or similar.

You will leave D’Kar, directly after breakfast, in the closed vehicle for the 3 hrs drive to Maun. From here, you will transfer back into the open game cruiser for the continuing journey into Moremi Game Reserve.

Every type of mopane habitat is well represented in this drive from the towering cathedral woodlandsto the classic mopane woodland and in the drier and harsher habitats, extensive stretches of scrub mopane. The San-ta-Wani region has scattered water pans with large floodplains and camel-thorn woodlands. 

Expect to see good numbers of elephants, giraffes, impala and zebras along this route. With some luck, you'll possibly view good predators, particularly lion and wild dog. Large herds of Cape buffalo may be found in the San-ta-Wani region particularly in the summer months.You will overnight in a mobile tented camp.

Moremi lies on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta. Habitats here range from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, vast reed-beds of Miscanthus and Phragmites, woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.

Moremi is in fact one of the best game reserves in Africa for viewing the endangered African wild dog. Xakanaxa even hosts a resident herd of several hundred buffalos. Herds of elephant move between their browsing areas in the mopane forests and the fresh water of the Okavango. Red lechwe are one of the more unusual antelope species and commonly found here, while the rare sitatunga antelope may be spotted from motor boat along the water-ways.

Overnight in a mobile tented camp after excellent game driving. 

After a hearty breakfast we travel back to Maun where we arrive in time for your departing flight or onward arrangements.