botswana-calling | ecoTravelAfrica

Botswana Calling

10 Days - Maun - Central Kalahari Game Reserve - Savuti, Chobe National Park - Linyanti, Chobe National Park - Maun

This 10 day tour provides an authentic view into the day to day life of the San bushmen as well as providing the opportunity to explore the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The tour also takes in the flora and fauna of both the Savuti & Linyanti marshes of Chobe National Park.

Upon arrival in Maun you will be met by Delta Air who will assist you to the light aircraft that is going to take you onwards to Grasslands Bushman Lodge.

Grasslands Bushman Lodge is situated to the west of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve on a private wildlife reserve of some 15,000 hectares.

The Central Kalahari has been the home of the De Graaf family for seven generations – since Cecil John Rhodes, eager to create a buffer between his interests in central Africa and German settlers encroaching from the west, granted vast swathes of the Kalahari to Boer ranchers. The Germans duly arrived and faced with the task of stopping their westward migration, the Boers brought out their daughters. Mission accomplished! With the courtliness and hospitality peculiar to people living in deep solitude, they love to share their passion and first-hand knowledge of the Kalahari with their guests.

At Grasslands Bushman Lodge, the focus is on four main activities:

•An authentic, comprehensive San (Bushmen) experience including foraging with an entire clan and learning how they used to live

in the desert.

•Day and afternoon drives

•The unique predator rehabilitation centre.

•Horse-riding – for those who fancy a wild ride in a wild country.

Day 1 – Maun – Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Accommodation:

Grasslands Bushman Lodge

Days 2 & 3 – Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The lodge is family owned and some of the staff are from a clan of San Bushmen that has lived and worked alongside the family for many generations.

The lodge accommodates up to 16 guests and includes two family rooms. The lodge is traditionally decorated and has a swimming pool for the hot desert days. The guest areas overlook a floodlit waterhole which attracts a large variety of wildlife during the day and night. Accommodation is in comfortable, en-suite thatched chalets.

You have two full days to enjoy the activities on offer at the lodge. By the end of your stay you should be proficient at surviving in the arid hostile climate of the Kalahari!

Accommodation:

Grasslands Bushman Lodge (as Day 1)

Day 4 – Central Kalahari Game Reserve – Savuti, Chobe National Park

Accommodation:

Camp Savuti

After breakfast at Grasslands Bushman Lodge, you will depart by light aircraft to Camp Savuti.

The Savuti Marsh, fed by the Savuti Channel, has developed a reputation over the years as one of the world’s premier predator viewing areas, boasting one of the highest concentrations of wildlife on the African continent. A number of award-winning documentary films shot in Savuti have cemented its reputation.

The Channel, dry since 1982, started flowing again in 2010 and is now once again flooding the Marsh, an area of sweet grasses that attracts herbivores of every description and, this being Africa, their attendant predators.

The activities on offer are morning and afternoon game drives through the park and along the fringes of the Channel and Marsh. The game-viewing vehicles are open to facilitate game-watching and photography, and your guide will delight in showing you the beauty and diversity of Savuti’s natural wonders. This area offers superb game and birding-viewing in the open areas of Savuti within Chobe National Park.

Days 5 & 6 – Savuti, Chobe National Park

Day 7 – Savuti – Linyanti, Chobe National Park

Accommodation:

Camp Savuti (as Day 4)

Camp Savuti is a small, intimate camp of just five Meru tents accommodating a maximum of 10 guests in comfort and style. The tents have been positioned to ensure privacy and a modest level of exclusivity throughout the camp. Each tent sits on a platform, with views over the Savuti Channel. The tents are large and spacious with en-suite facilities and views from your deck.

In the guest areas, there is a comfortable and intimate lounge, bar and dining area, all overlooking the Savuti Channel.

Two full days to further explore Savuti and the Chobe National Park.

After breakfast at Camp Savuti, you will depart via road transfer to Camp Linyanti.

Camp Linyanti is a 90 minute game drive from Saile airstrip located in the Chobe National park. Fed by the flooded Chobe and Kwando rivers, the vast floodplains of Linyanti stretch out to Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, and create a wetland oasis in an otherwise parched landscape.

Remote, inaccessible except by air or arduous tracks of heavy sand, Linyanti is the cognoscenti’s hide-away. Great trees stud the open riverine forest as it approaches the water’s edge, and the interface, especially in the dry season, is a game-and bird-viewer’s delight.

Twice daily game drives through the forest and along the waterways yield a marvelous array and variety of wildlife, with traditionally dry-land and wet-land species vying with one another. Hippos snort in the lagoon, while Brown Hyena prowl the forest and with excellent opportunities to see Sable and Roan antelope.

The game-viewing vehicles are open to facilitate game-watching and photography, and your guide will delight in showing you the beauty and diversity of Linyanti.

Accommodation:

Camp Linyanti

Days 8 & 9 – Linyanti, Chobe National Park

Camp Linyanti is small and intimate – five elevated, en-suite rondavel tents with outdoor showers accommodate just ten guests in this simple and charming camp overlooking a vast lagoon.

Linyanti Camp (as Day 7)

Accommodation:

Day 10 – Linyanti – Maun

Two full days to explore the Linyanti area of the park.

You will have the opportunity for an early morning game drive and a sumptuous breakfast, before making your way to the airstrip for your light aircraft flight back to Maun.

Click here to go back to the main Botswana page

Terms & Conditions

Contact