Okavango Delta

Savuti

Found at the heart of the park, Savuti boasts most of the Chobe region species, except for water-loving antelope. It is best known for its large resident populations of predators, particularly lion, cheetah and hyena.

The Savuti channel flows from the Linyanti River for about 100 km, carrying water away from the river, releasing it into a vast swampland called the Savuti Marsh, and further south on to the Mababe Depression, also fed by the Ngwezumba River from the northeast. The Mababe – immense and flat and fringed by thickets of trees – was once part of the Makgadikgadi super-lake. When filled with water, it attracts thousands of migratory birds and animals, vast herds of zebra.

Geographically, Savuti is an area of many curiosities. One of its greatest mysteries is the Savuti channel itself, which has over the past 100 years inexplicably dried up and recommenced its flow several times. Attributed by some to plate tectonics, this irregular water flow results in numerous dead trees lining the channel. These trees germinate and grow when the channel is dry, but they drown when the channel flows again.

At the extreme northern reaches of Botswana, between the Chobe National Park to the east and the Okavango to the south, are the extensive Kwando, Selinda and Linyanti concessions. These properties offer superb wildlife viewing – and terrain to rival the physical beauty of the Okavango.

Khwai Concession

Khwai Concession is a region in the north-eastern Okavango Delta boasting an impressive fauna.  It is a superb alternative to the Moremi Game Reserve, which can be visited all year around.

The 1800 km² large Khwai Concession is situated right next to the Moremi Game Reserve. Formerly a hunting concession it is today administered by the local community as recreational area. It retrieves its name from the Khwai River, the northern “finger” of the mighty Okavango Delta, which forms the most important source of life in the region. The Khwai Concession is a good example for eco-tourism. All income generated are received by the local community (Khwai Community Trust).

Moremi Game Reserve

In 2008, Moremi Game Reserve was voted 'best game reserve in Africa' by the prestigious African Travel and Tourism Association at South Africa's premier tourism fair, Indaba.

It is the first reserve in Africa to be established by local residents. Concerned about the rapid depletion of wildlife in their ancestral lands – due to uncontrolled hunting and cattle encroachment – the Batawana people of Ngamiland, under the leadership of the deceased Chief Moremi III's wife, Mrs Moremi, took the bold initiative to proclaim Moremi a game reserve in 1963. It is the only officially protected area of the Okavango Delta. As such, it holds tremendous scientific, environmental and conservation importance. To this day, Moremi ranks as one of the most beautiful reserves in Africa, possibly in the world.

Moremi Game Reserve is situated in the central and eastern areas of the Okavango. It includes the Moremi Tongue and Chief's Island, boasting one of the continent's wealthiest and most diverse ecosystems.

This makes for spectacular game viewing and bird watching, including all significant, naturally occurring herbivore and carnivore species in the region and over 400 species of birds, many migratory and some endangered. Both Black and White Rhino have recently been re-introduced, making the reserve a 'Big Five' destination. 

Covering approximately 3,900 sq. km, where land and Delta meet, Moremi Game Reserve is a profoundly picturesque preserve of seasonal and perennial floodplains. The landscape includes waterways, lagoons, pools, pans, grasslands, and forests. This terrain makes driving Moremi's many tracks and trails delightful and exceptionally inspiring.

Nxai Pan National Park

Tsodilo Hills

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

CKGR is within the Ghanzi District, and together with Khutse Game Reserve they form the largest Game Reserve complex in Botswana and the third largest Game Reserve in the world. Forming part of the Kalahari eco system, it supports a wide variety of animals such as Wildebeest ,Hartebeest, Eland, Springbok ,Kudu ,Giraffe ,Brown Hyena, Warthog, Cheetah, Wild Dog, Leopard ,Lion ,Blue Wildebeest and Gemsbok.

The word “Kalahari” is derived from the Tswana word “Kgala” meaning “great thirst “–and it has vast areas without any permanent water. The term “desert” is however not quite accurate when referring to the Kalahari, the region receives an annual rainfall of 60 mm – 175 mm,too high to be classified as a true desert.

The Kalahari’s vegetation consists mainly of grasses and acacia’s as well as stunted thorn and scrub bush. There are over 400 identified plant species present. Annual rain season is between December and March when summer temperatures can get quite high. After the summer rains – the CKGR completely transforms as the blue sky fills with huge clouds, and the plains and pans burst with sweet grasses.

This is one of the best game viewing areas in Botswana at this time of the year and not many people seem to be aware of this – so the visitors are few. The dry season between May – September is also a wonderful time to visit the CKGR s the animals congregate close to any surface water and pans.CKGR activities are considered as “Dry Safari” ,while the Okavango is referred to as “Wet Safari” – terms synonymous with the conditions found in the two areas subsequently.

Makgadikgadi National Park

Imagine – if you will – an area the size of Portugal, largely uninhabited by humans. Its stark, flat, featureless terrain stretches – it would seem – to eternity, meeting and fusing with a milky-blue horizon. This is the Makgadikgadi – an area of 12 000 sq kms, part of the Kalahari Basin, yet unique to it – one of the largest salt pans in the world.

For much of the year, most of this desolate area remains waterless and extremely arid; and large mammals are thus absent. But during and following years of good rain, the two largest pans – Sowa to the east and Ntwetwe to the west – flood, attracting wildlife – zebra and wildebeest on the grassy plains – and most spectacularly
flamingos at Sowa and Nata Sanctuary. Flamingo numbers can run into the tens – and sometimes – hundreds of thousands, and the spectacle can be completely overwhelming.

The rainwater that pours down on the pans is supplemented by seasonal river flows – the Nata, Tutume, Semowane and Mosetse Rivers in the east, and in years of exceptional rains, the Okavango via the Boteti River in the west.