Grand Botswana Safari: Kalahari, Delta, Savuti & Chobe

Today you explore the Central Kalahari fully, combining big-game tracking with a rare cultural encounter. At dawn you set out by 4x4 across the golden grasslands and fossil valleys, tracking the celebrated black-maned Kalahari lions and looking for cheetah, leopard, brown hyena and herds of oryx, springbok and gemsbok, superbly adapted to this arid land. Later you join San Bushmen for a guided bush walk, learning how these master survivors find water, identify medicinal plants, set traps and make fire by hand, a humbling window into an ancient way of life in deep harmony with the desert. After a midday rest through the heat, an afternoon game drive follows the desert wildlife as it stirs, ending with sundowners over the immense plains. Dinner is under the stars, the Kalahari night alive with distant calls. Rest well, poised to journey to the great salt pans tomorrow.

After a final morning game drive in the Central Kalahari, you fly by light aircraft to the Makgadikgadi Pans, among the largest salt flats on earth and the ghostly bed of a vast prehistoric lake. Landing near the pans, you transfer to your atmospheric camp on the grasslands at the edge of the white expanse. After brunch and time to settle in, you set out this afternoon to explore this surreal landscape, perhaps a game drive across the grasslands where zebra, wildebeest and springbok graze, or a first walk out onto the shimmering edge of the pans as the light softens. In the dry season the pans stretch empty and white to a curved horizon; in the green season they draw great herds. You pause for sundowners in this vast, silent place, then return to camp for dinner beneath some of the darkest, starriest skies on earth. Rest well amid the surreal beauty of the Makgadikgadi.

Today you savour the unique wonders of the Makgadikgadi. In the golden early morning you visit a colony of habituated wild meerkats, sitting quietly among them at eye level as they emerge from their burrows to bask and stand sentinel, one of Africa's most charming and intimate wildlife encounters. Later you explore more of this surreal landscape, standing beneath ancient baobab trees, thousands of years old, that glow against the shimmering white, and, in the dry season, perhaps riding quad bikes far out across the pans to a remoteness few ever reach, or visiting ghostly Kubu Island. Your guide brings the region's geology, archaeology and wildlife vividly to life. As the sun sets over the pans you sip sundowners in the immense silence, then return to camp for dinner beneath a sky ablaze with stars. Rest well amid the surreal beauty of the salt pans. Tomorrow you fly to the Okavango Delta.

After a final morning on the Makgadikgadi, you fly by light aircraft into the heart of the Okavango Delta, the landscape transforming beneath you from salt pan to a shimmering maze of silver channels, lagoons and palm islands. Landing on a remote bush airstrip, you transfer by open 4x4 to your intimate tented camp on a palm-fringed island, often spotting elephant or giraffe on the way. After settling in over brunch and a briefing on camp life in the unfenced wild, you set out on an afternoon activity, a first mokoro glide through the reed-lined channels or a game drive, before sundowners as the sun sinks over the water. Dinner follows around the fire beneath a canopy of brilliant stars, framed by the calls of hippo and distant lion. Rest well amid the sounds of the wild Delta, poised for three days in one of the last great wildernesses on earth.

Today you experience the timeless magic of the Okavango by water. After an early breakfast, your expert poler eases you silently through the clear, reed-lined channels by mokoro, drifting past waterlilies, painted reed frogs and darting malachite kingfishers, while red lechwe splash across the floodplains and elephant graze the islands beyond. You may step ashore for a guided walk, learning to read tracks and birdsong with your guide, or explore deeper waterways by motorboat past hippo and crocodile. The silence and reflections are profound. Back in camp for brunch and a siesta through the heat, you head out again in the golden afternoon by mokoro or boat, ending with sundowners on a quiet lagoon as the sky flares orange. Dinner is served under the stars, the wild night sounds of the Delta all around. Rest well, deep in the shimmering Okavango.

Today is devoted to the extraordinary wildlife of the Okavango, exploring by open 4x4 and on foot. Setting out at dawn when the bush is cool and active, your guide tracks the Delta's big game across islands and floodplains, lion prides, elephant families crossing the channels, and, with luck, leopard and packs of endangered African wild dog, alongside giraffe, zebra, buffalo, hippo and elegant lechwe. You learn to read the drama written in tracks and alarm calls, and pause for coffee amid the wilderness. After brunch and rest through the midday heat, an afternoon drive follows the animals as they stir, ending with a sundowner as the sky turns to fire. Some camps offer a thrilling night drive in search of nocturnal hunters. Dinner and stories follow around the campfire, deep in the wild Okavango. Rest well beneath the star-filled sky. Tomorrow you fly to legendary Moremi.

After a final morning activity in the Delta, you fly by light aircraft to the legendary Moremi Game Reserve, the wildlife-rich heart of the eastern Okavango and one of the finest reserves in Africa, gazing down on the shifting mosaic of floodplains, lagoons and forests. Landing on a remote airstrip, you transfer by open 4x4 to your tented camp, game viewing as you go. After brunch and time to settle in, you set out on an afternoon game drive through Moremi's rich habitats, with excellent chances of the big cats and the reserve's celebrated wild dogs, amid great herds of elephant and buffalo, giraffe and antelope. You pause for sundowners as the light turns golden, then return to camp for dinner under a vast, star-filled sky. Rest well amid the sounds of Moremi, one of the great wildlife reserves of Africa, poised for a full day of superb game viewing tomorrow.

Today you immerse yourself in the superb wildlife of Moremi, exploring its floodplains, lagoons and woodlands by open 4x4. Setting out at first light, your guide tracks the reserve's celebrated predators, this is prime territory for lion, leopard and cheetah, and one of the best places on earth to encounter packs of endangered African wild dog on the hunt. Great herds of elephant and buffalo move through the reserve, alongside giraffe, zebra, red lechwe and countless antelope, while the waterways teem with hippo and world-class birdlife. You pause for coffee amid the wilderness and learn the intricate web of Delta ecology from your guide. After brunch and a midday rest, an afternoon and early-evening drive follows the animals as they grow active, ending with sundowners. Dinner is around the fire beneath the stars. Rest well in legendary Moremi. Tomorrow you venture into dramatic Savuti.

After a final morning game drive in Moremi, you fly by light aircraft to Savuti, in the wild heart of Chobe National Park, one of Africa's most famous and dramatic wildlife regions. Landing on a remote airstrip, you transfer by open 4x4 to your tented camp beneath the wide Savuti sky, game viewing along the way. Savuti is a landscape of open savannah, rocky outcrops and the mysterious Savuti Channel, renowned above all for its big predators. After brunch and a rest through the heat, you set out on an afternoon game drive in search of Savuti's famous lion prides (known to hunt elephant), spotted hyena, cheetah and leopard, amid great herds of elephant. The raw drama of this predator country is immediately apparent. You pause for sundowners as the sky flares over the plains, then return to camp for dinner by the fire, the night alive with the calls of hyena and lion. Rest well in legendary Savuti.

After an early morning game drive in the dramatic predator country of Savuti, tracking its famous lions and elephant herds one last time, you return to camp for breakfast and then fly by light aircraft north to the Chobe riverfront, the grand finale of your epic journey, in the park with the largest elephant population on earth. Landing near the river, you transfer to your lodge overlooking the water, where wildlife is visible the moment you arrive. This afternoon you take to the water on a boat cruise along the Chobe River, gliding close to elephant families bathing and crossing the channels, past hippo, crocodile and buffalo, beneath skies alive with birds, as the sun sets in a blaze over the water. You return to your lodge for dinner overlooking the river. Rest well to the distant trumpeting of elephants, savouring the abundance of the great Chobe after your journey across wild Botswana.

Today you savour a final full day along the Chobe by land and water, a fitting climax to your grand journey. A dawn game drive along the riverfront and into the woodlands brings enormous herds of elephant and buffalo, with lion, leopard, sable and roan all possible, amid giraffe, kudu and zebra. You return for brunch and rest through the heat, then head out again in the afternoon on another exhilarating boat cruise, the Chobe classic, gliding among hundreds of elephants coming down to drink and cross, hippos yawning, and one of Africa's great sunsets flaring over the water. You savour a final Chobe sundowner amid this abundance of life, reflecting on the extraordinary sweep of wild Botswana you have experienced, then return to your lodge for a farewell dinner. Rest well beside the great Chobe River, its banks alive with the sounds of the African night.

After a final leisurely breakfast overlooking the Chobe River, and perhaps a last look for elephants along the bank, you are transferred to Kasane Airport for your onward flight, or continue to Victoria Falls on an easy extension. You leave having experienced the whole of wild Botswana in one epic journey, tracking black-maned lions and walking with San Bushmen in the Kalahari, meeting meerkats and ancient baobabs on the salt pans, gliding by mokoro in the Okavango Delta, seeking big cats and wild dogs in legendary Moremi, tracking lions in dramatic Savuti, and cruising among the great elephant herds of the Chobe River. The images stay vivid long after you land, the black-maned lion on the golden plains, meerkats in the dawn, the silent mokoro among the lilies, wild dogs on the hunt, and a thousand elephants along the Chobe. Botswana offers the ultimate wildlife odyssey in abundance, and you depart already dreaming of a return to the wild heart of Africa.