Parks and Places

Botswana is often rated as one of the top safari destinations in Africa because of its tremendous variety and density of wild life, it has an enviable dedication to wild life conservation plus the ease of entry into the country and getting between the various safari destinations make it all a quality destination.

Victoria Falls

Zimbabwe’s key tourist destination and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. There are many accommodation and activity options here that would suit just about any taste in holiday needs – whether it’s slow and relaxing or fast paced adrenalin fuelled ,there is something for you in Victoria Falls. It’s a great place to start a safari especially if you have a big time zone difference from your home or to end a safari and relax before going home and is very easily connected with a safari to Botswana as the border is very close and can be done by air or road.

Chobe National Park - Chobe River Front

The Chobe River Front – This area is along the Northern Boundary and has the Chobe River and the Namibian border as its Northern boundary. It is a hugely popular safari destination, the bulk of the safari camps and lodges are based on the towns of Kasane or Kazungula located on Chobes Eastern Boundary, there are also a number of visitors the come for a day of safari from Victoria Falls and Livingstone. This area is famous for its big herds of elephants that come to drink and swim in the Chobe River and one of the few places in Africa outside of Zambia that you would see Puku antelope along with a good range of other African Mammals.

Chobe National Park - Savute Channel and Marsh

The Savute Marsh and Savute Channel – The Savute Channel is a narrow ancient waterway that flows from the Linyanti River South East into the dry centre of Chobe National Park – effectively creating a mini Okavango Delta. It is however unpredictable as to when there will be water flowing through it or not, some are of the opinion is that it relies on excessive rain further North or perhaps seismic shifts that allow the water to flow along it, or maybe a combination of both. The last time it effectively flowed was in 2009 and today the channel is dry, apart from a small area at its source where there is water, but this could change at any time.The actual Savute Marsh is today basically a wide open grassland area which links into the Mababe Depression further South which is a similar ecosystem that perhaps pre-dates Savute.

Chobe National Park - Linyanti Marsh

This is an area on the North Western boundary of Chobe with most of the actual marsh actually outside of the Chobe National Park and straddles the Botswana and Namibian border. The Linyanti Marsh is formed by the Kwando River that flows from the North and then hits the Western extension of the Rift Valley on the Botswana border and then floods out to form the Linyanti Marsh . The Linyanti Marsh then overflows to form the Linyanti River which then becomes the Chobe River further on and eventually flows into the Zambezi River. I have had some of my most memorable game viewing experiences here but it is the time in between these sightings that I feel makes Linyanti wildlife area a place that can be excellent but slow at times. It’s big strength is that it is remote, has few safari camps which gives it a good Wilderness quality. You will always expect to see here elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, impala, hippos and red lechwe and it’s predators include lion, African wild dog, leopard spotted and brown hyenas.

Khwai Community Area

This safari area links the Moremi National Park to the Chobe National Park and is administered by the Khwai community in conjunction with Botswana’s National Parks. As a safari area the sightings are excellent and the main game viewing area which is relatively small is primarily along the edge of the Khwai River, in places it forms small lagoons and open grasslands and in other places it is a narrow flowing river. Because it is effectively a concession area there is greater flexibility in game viewing activities allowing the guides to drive off road, conduct walks and do mekoro rides and do night drives so you can have a very varied safari time here. The negative is that there is a lot of safari vehicle pressure here that comes from self drive safari travellers and from the organised safari camps both mobile and lodges. So great sightings but don’t expect a remote and private safari experience here.

The Okavango Delta and Moremi National Park

The Moremi National Park covers the bulk of the Northern parts of the famous Okavango Delta and the dry mopane woodlands to the East of this, so within its boundary there is a tremendous diversity of habitats and makes it one of the finest wildlife areas in Africa with a great diversity of species and beautiful scenery. This is big 5 country and home to an important population of African Wild Dogs, Black and White Rhino. The Southern areas of the Okavango Delta and its surrounds are made up of many private concession areas and this is where you find many of the high end safari camps operating exclusively in these private concessions.The camps here both in Moremi and the Private Concessions are mixed in terms of being what you would call a wet camp, dry camps and some have an element of both. Wet Camps offer only water based activities that could be by mekoro or power boats and these are mixed with bush walks on the Islands in the area. This is a wonderful and genuine back to nature experience and can be excellent for game viewing but you are generally limited to being relatively close to the camp and don’t venture too far away. Dry Camps offer all land based activities which are either game drives or bush walks. In the concession areas some allow driving off road and also night drives but this is not an option inside Moremi National Park, you have to stay on road and no night driving. Wet and Dry Camps offer a combination of all these activities however you may find that when the water is very high as a result of a big flood season that the land based activities are limited in how far they can go and the same applies of course to the water activities during the peak of the dry season. The High and Low Water – The flood waters into the Okavango Delta comes from the Kavango River which rises in the Highlands of Angola. The Deltas water level generally starts stabilizing when the local rains arrive in November through to March and then begin rising meaningfully from the end of March through May and sometimes into June. It will then stabilize and begin dropping again through to when the rains start.

The Central Kalahari and Khutse Game Reserves

This is one of the largest demarcated Wilderness areas in Africa and well worth a visit at the right time of year. This National Park to us is best visited during the rain months from December through to April as this is when animals such as Oryx can be seen in great quantity along with Springbok. You will also see Giraffe, Red Hartebeest, Bat Eared Fox, Ground Squirrels and even elephant is possible, it is a great place to look for Lion, Cheetah and Leopard. There are very few facilities here in this park so it is a real untouched wilderness.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary

The ex president of Botswana is a great conservationist and this area was established to rescue the last few remaining Rhino in Botswana to have a safe haven and then rebuild their numbers to hopefully repopulate the areas they used to inhabit. It has been a great success and helped with protecting this important species that are one of the major targets for poaching cartels that feed the demand for wildlife products across the world.

Kgalagdi Transfontier National Park

This huge National Park is a collaborative effort between South Africa and Botswana and straddles their borders. It is an area of wild Kalahari bush much like the Central Kalahari, that holds a surprising amount of wildlife that is always something to marvel at, as to how it all manages to survive here in these waterless environments. This park is mostly visited on the South African side as that is where most of the tourist facilities are but it is possible to self drive through to the Botswana side and there are some campsites that you can use but you need to be self contained.

Phone

+263 (0) 778 219 208 +263 (0) 772 669 528

Email

adventures@dougmacsafaris.com

Skype

doug.macdonald17