14 days extraordinary safari in botswana

This 14 day extraordinary safari is perfectly tailored for those who have all the time to experience the best safari tour. It begins in Gaborone, the nations capital city and covers Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Maun, Okavango Delta, Moremi Game Reserve, Savuti and Chobe National Park. It runs from Gaborone to Kasane and gives you an opportunity to see both the Kalahari and wetlands, as well as highlights of Botswana's best wildlife. DAY 1:

Arrive at Gaborone Sir Seretse Khama International Airport from Johannesburg. You will be met at the Airport by a Marvelous Mobile Safari guide who will take you to your hotel. Look out for a sign board that reads “MARVELOUS MOBILE SAFARI”. You will stay for a night on bed and breakfast basis. Lunch and dinner will be served at your own expense. Freshen up in your rooms by reading magazines, books or take a walk in the unique hotel surroundings and catch beautiful bird life and enjoy the ambience of the hotel. Client has the opportunity to a set of activities within the hotel. You can choose any of the activities provided but please don't tire yourself up for the next day trip. Dinner is served at 7:30pm. DAY 2:

You will check out from the hotel departing Gaborone at 06.30am and head north. The safari will be a very relaxing one with a stopover in Palapye where you will stretch your legs before continuing your journey to Khama Rhino. We pass through Serowe, one of the largest traditional villages in Botswana and it is where the first president of Botswana, the late Sir Seretse Khama was born. On our journey to Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Paje and Mabeleapodi are one of the small villages within fifteen kilometers of the sanctuary.Clients will have the opportunity to take good pictures as they drive through. This 4300 hectares reserve is located on the Kalahari sandveld and has several natural waterholes. Arrive at Khama Rhino Sanctuary around lunch and have lunch at our designated camping site. Marvelous Mobile Safari staff will show you your camping tents upon arrival. Go for a siesta. Before going for your afternoon activity which is Rhino tracking game drive you will be served high tea. Game drive will be conducted in an open 4x4 game viewing vehicle. We recommend you do Rhino tracking; it's an amazing experience. On the game drive you will spot a variety of animals. The sanctuary is home to other wildlife which have settled naturally or have been translocated. It is also prime habitat for white rhino, zebras, blue wildebeest, giraffe, eland, springbok, impala, gemsbok, kudu, steenbok, duiker, red hartebeest, waterbuck, warthog, leopard, ostrich, African wild cat, caracal, small spotted genet, black-backed jackal, bat eared fox, andbrown hyena. We take our first game drive safari around the open grassland of Malema and Serowe pans. Return to the camp after sunset, relax and begin to appreciate a cold drink before dinner which will be served at 7:30pm. We stay a night here. Bedtime will be determined by the last guest. DAY 3:

After breakfast we depart to Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which covers an area of 52 000 square kilometers. The region of vast open plains, salt pans and ancient riverbeds is home to large herds of springbok, gemsbok. Blue wildebeest, red hartebeest and the largest of all antelopes, the eland. Made famous by Mark and Delia Owen in the book Cry of the Kalahari, we will camp here for two nights. During our stay here we will track the black maned lion of the Kalahari. African wild dogs, cheetahs, brown hyenas can also be found following their prey in this unmated wilderness. The black maned lion of the Kalahari has a dominant colour, its adaptation is very high and therefore it can survive in harsh conditions. DAY 4:

Wake up at around 06:00 for a light breakfast and then head out in search of honey badgers and jackal whilst keeping a look out for lion, cheetah and wild dog. Return to camp for lunch, and a siesta. In the afternoon, a trip to the famous Deception Valley, campsite of the unorthodox Owens during their research and where their book, The Cry of the Kalahari, was written. The valleys are a unique ecosystem within the Kalahari and one can expect to find large concentrations of springbok and gemsbok on the verdant beds of sweet desert grasses. Meerkat abound and there is always a good chance of brown hyena and some unexpectedly good birding. Deception Valley hosts huge herds of gemsbok, springbok, wildebeest and hartebeest, as well as giraffe, brown hyena, warthog, wild dog, cheetah, leopard, lion, eland and meerkat. Game viewing is best between December and April, when the animals tend to congregate in the pans and valleys, attracted to the area by the flush of sweet grasses that flourish in the ancient valley following the rains. Time will be spent exploring Deception Valley, visiting the Deception Pan and an excursion to the Piper Pan area searching for other intriguing desert species.

Back to camp for dinner and an early night to prepare for tomorrow’s day out. DAY 5: Wake up to have breakfast before heading to Maun. Maun is the gate way to one of the best wildlife experiences you will ever have, a safari in the unforgettable Okavango Delta. Maun has grown rapidly from its early days as a small rural frontier. A town with good shopping centers has now spread along the wide Thamalakane River. It now boasts hotels and lodges as well as car and 4x4 wheel drive vehice hire outlets. However, it retains a rural atmosphere and, as befitting its role as a hub of the Delta's safari industry, travelers pass through here on their way to the Okavango Delta. It is the southernmost part of the Delta and boasts a river tributary of the Okavango called the Thamalakane River. We will be staying in a lodge for a night on bed and breakfast basis. Lunch and dinner will be at your own expense. After checking into the lodge that afternoon you can take a scenic flight over the Okavango delta from Maun Airport over the Okavango Delta at your own expense. Keep a look out for hippos and crocodiles in the water ways. Observe how the water channels maender their way through the delta in ever changing paths as this dynamic water system evolves. The vastness of this pristine wilderness is breathtaking! DAY 6: Wake up to prepare your small luggage for the Mokoro Overnight Trip in the Delta. After breakfast we depart to the Okavango delta, here you will meet your local mokoro (dug-out canoe) poler who will serve as a your guide. This activity is conducted by local mokoro community guides but our chef and camp assistant come along as well. When we arrive the camp assistant will set up camp under a canopy of trees, have lunch, after that it is time for a siesta. You can also take a swim in the clear waters of the delta. Tea and coffee will be served before you take a walk on the island. Traveling by mokoro is undeniably the best way to experience the Okavango Delta as you explore the water ways, and take nature walks where you have the opportunity to track game and get a closer-up feel of this unique environment, here bird life is spectacular, on foot you are able to have a much more intense experience of the bush, particularly the flora and fauna that might go unnoticed. Guides are experienced in tracking animals and are able to point out interesting sightings of various types of wildlife. We camp in a remote campsite for one night. You can relax and unwind in the camp, refresh and take dinner under the milky way starlit skies after which the guides and polers will narrate cultural stories and entertain you with traditional dances which display animal tracking techniques and gathering methods for traditional medicinal purposes. Guests interested in astronomy will be treated to one of the most expansive displays of stars on earth, before retiring in cozy tents for the night and drifting off to the sounds of the wild. DAY 7: An early morning game walk will be available for interested persons, returning to the camp when ready to enjoy breakfast. After breakfast, the mekoros can be taken again to enjoy the channels, the intricate veins of waterways which interconnect the lagoons, or take a guided bush walk before having lunch or snacks. In the afternoon, the guides will take you in the mekoros to a safe location where swimming is possible in the waters of the Okavango Delta, followed by a chance to learn how to pole a mokoro using the gnashi. Time can be taken to relax and have a drink. After the bush walk, you can relax and unwind in the camp, refresh and take dinner under the milky way starlit skies after which the guides and polers will narrate cultural stories and entertain you with traditional dances which display animal tracking techniques and gathering methods for traditional medicinal purposes. Guests interested in astronomy will be treated to one of the most expansive displays of stars on earth, before retiring in cozy tents for the night and drifting off to the sounds of the wild. DAY 8: Have breakfast and depart to Moremi Game Reserve. Moremi game reserve is widely considered as one of the finest wildlife reserves in Africa. It has a diversity of habitats combining acacia forests and mophane woodlands with floodplains and lagoons. Here we will be camping at an exclusive campsite. Our drives will take us to the park’s most beautiful areas such as Third Bridge, Bodumatau and Dead Tree Island. Game is plentiful in these areas. Sightings include elephant, buffalo, giraffe ,lion, hyena, jackal and many different antelopes including red lechwe and the shy sitatunga, a web-footed antelope perfectly adapted to life in the swamps. Wild dog, whose numbers are so rapidly dwindling elsewhere, are regularly sighted in the Moremi Game Reserve. We will camp for two nights. DAY 9: Wake up at around 06:00 for a light breakfast and then off to a game drive. After lunch game viewing continues and before sunset guests will be taken back to the campsite where they will have time to refresh, have dinner and spend a night under canvas tents. DAY 10: Have breakfast and depart to Savuti which is part of Chobe National Park. It is called Savuti because a certain chief called Sauté used to live there with his tribe. Tawny eagles can be seen soaring in the sky as we go. The drive is a bit longer from Moremi to Savuti, however, the drive is much enjoyable as you will see lots of birds and animals on the way. The scenery is amazing and very African looking, with lots of umbrella thorn, acacia tortilis with giraffe feeding and many more including the most photographed bird, lilac breasted roller, a national bird of Botswana. You will not resist from taking a picture of it, it’s the most beautiful bird in Africa. We arrive in time for lunch; our exclusive camp will be set up and we will camp for 2 nights. Depart for a game drive at 3:30pm to the beautiful Savuti marsh where we will see vast herds of zebras and wildebeest and also have an opportunity to see pairs of kori bastards which are the heaviest flying birds. We get back to camp after sunset for a lovely dinner around the camp fire. Again the last guest determines bedtime. DAY 11: We will have early morning tea, coffee and rusks then depart for a game drive along the Savuti channel. The area looks very unique as there are lots of tall trees along the river where animals like to hang around in the shade. We will also drive to the Savuti marsh where we may have an opportunity to track the cheetah because of the vast open grassland, their mostly preferred habitat. Get back for brunch after a long drive, have a shower, launder your clothes and have a siesta. Depending on individuals, sometimes some people update their diaries. At 3:30pm you will have tea and coffee then depart for a game drive, which will be our last game drive in Savuti. We will be back from the game drive after sunset which will have been enjoyed under the baobab tree (adonsonia digitata), an indigenous tree found in Africa. It is nicknamed the upside down tree because the branches look like roots when it is dry or doesn’t have leaves. Get back to the camp after a lovely game drive in time for dinner. DAY 12: Wake up early to take a beautiful trip to the famous Chobe National Park. You will notice when we drive the vegetation changes from time to time. Along the way you get mophane woodland and acacia tortilis. Chobe National Park is mostly dominated by the Zimbabwe teak, which is very good for making furniture. On the way we will see lots of animals until we get to Chobe enclave which incorporates five villages. We arrive at Chobe National Park around lunch. You will be camping for two nights. After a siesta you will go for an afternoon game drive along the Chobe River where we will see big herds of buffalos, elephants, pods of hippos, and prides of lions. Chobe is a unique park because during dry season big herds of animals congregate along the river. You will see elephants swimming from one bank to the other, buffalos crossing to Sedudu Island. Get back from a beautiful game drive, freshen up and have dinner. DAY 13: Wake up the next day. Have quick breakfast before departing for a morning game drive which is longer. You will also have an opportunity to observe the animals from close up. Chobe also boasts two antelopes rarely encountered elsewhere in Botswana - the puku and the Chobe bushbuck. The puku, with their shaggy orange-brown coats and V-shaped horns, can be spotted grazing the floodplains. Always be on the lookout for predators, a repetitive whistle is used to warn fellow herd members. In contrast, the Chobe bushbuck is nocturnal and rarely forms groups of more than one pair. Rarely seen, this shy antelope, with its short, spiral horns relies on a sharp bark as an alarm call when threatened. Both the puku and the bushbuck have a number of predators to contend with; from lion, hyena and leopard, to African wild dog. Go back to the camping site after a beautiful drive, have lunch and then go for a siesta. At 3:00pm you depart for a beautiful sunset boat cruise along the Chobe river at your own expense. You will come very close to crocodiles and pods of hippos from the boat. We may see lions from the boat, and big herds of buffalos and elephants. We get back to the camping area after sunset and dinner will be served at 8:00pm. Time for bed will be determined by the last guest. DAY 14: Wake up to a light breakfast. After breakfast you will be transferred to Kasane International airport for your flight to Johannesburg. Shake hands at the Airport and goodbye.