Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta is one of Africa's most stunning wildlife areas. A true wilderness, the Okavango is home to some of the best safari camps in Africa. Game viewing activities in include game drives, bush walks and mokoro rides.
Okavango Delta Highlights
The Okavango Delta is a unique ecosystem of papyrus-lined waterways, knee-deep floodplains, water-lily lagoons, shady forest glades and rich savannah grasslands. All this fecundity lies in the middle of the largest continuous stretch of sand in the world - the Kalahari Desert Basin.
Seen from space as an emerald swirl surrounded by a parched landscape, the Okavango Delta is an incredible source of life in a country that is 80% arid.
The Okavango region contains the state-run Moremi Game Reserve surrounded by a number of strictly controlled, privately managed wildlife concessions.
The game viewing on an Okavango Delta safari in all of these areas is no less than outstanding and activities can either be undertaken on foot, in a game-viewing vehicle or in a mokoro (dug-out canoe) or motorised boat. Such varied opportunities in a beautiful and diverse range of habitats, makes the Okavango the best all-encompassing safari destination in the world.
When visiting the Okavango Delta on safari, in order to experience the classic "water & land" wildlife safari, it's important to ensure that camps are carefully selected. The time of year guests decide to visit plays a big part in camp selection.
We suggest that guests look to spend three nights minimum in the Okavango Delta and preferably two to three nights in two different camps, and then combine that with two to three nights in the Linyanti Savuti area, or the Chobe National Park .
The Okavango Delta is the location of a number of wildlife films and documentaries, as it is such a game-rich and unique environment. Lions and leopards here are accustomed to hunting in water, making for incredible sightings.
Mokoro and boating safaris are memorable alternatives to the more typical game drives and walks. Water dependent animals flock to the well-watered land and make for superb game viewing.
In the Okavango Delta, we choose the camps carefully based on which time of year our guests are visiting, as the rains in some areas can be quite destructive.
Xugana Island Lodge , Camp Okavango and Pom Pom are well priced comfortable camps. They are all located in private concessions so ensure a true wilderness safari experience.
Jacana Camp , Little Vumbura and Chitabe Camp are more luxurious, and each offers a unique perspective of the Okavango Delta. Duba Plains is one of the most remote camps in Botswana and guests stand a very good chance of witnessing the lion-buffalo interaction that the camp is famous for.
For the more discerning guests, look no further than Jao Camp , Vumbura Plains or Little Kwara . Each offers guests a very luxurious Okavango Delta safari.
How to Get There
Most Botswana safari tours begin with a flight to Maun, the safari capital of the country. Sun Safaris will arrange guests' flights from South Africa to Maun.
From Maun airport, Sun Safaris will arrange road transfers or light air transfers for their guests to their safari destinations. Some of the more remote areas, or the lodges located on islands will require fly-in transfers, while nearby camps can be accessed by car.
More often than not, the road transfers will take routes through reserves and wildlife areas, giving guests the opportunity to become accustomed to the beautiful surroundings and chance spotting some game enroute.
Okavango Delta Game Viewing and Activities
The lure of the Okavango Delta and its extraordinary range of habitats provide the perfect environment for African animals to thrive and people to watch them. Great herds of antelopes, zebra, buffalo and elephants roam the pastures, and lions, leopards, cheetahs and all the other carnivores prosper. A safari tour to Okavango Delta gives visitors some of the best game viewing in Africa
As the Moremi Game Reserve contains large areas of premanent water, game viewing during the dry season is particularly good as animals are drawn to the permanent water sources.
There are no fences between Moremi and the private reserves, so the entire Okavango merges into a unified animal kingdom of grand proportions.
Each area has its own particular habitats, resident herds and familiar predators. Night drives in the private reserves often reveal secretive animals like porcupine, pangolin, aardwolf and genet.
