Namibia, Botswana & Zambia safari

Join this simple camping adventure and cross the great Kalahari Desert, navigate the papyrus channels of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, travel north through the forested Caprivi Strip to Chobe National Park and end by the mighty Victoria Falls. Sleep on comfortable mattresses in dome tents using established campsites. You’ll be asked to erect your own tent (it’s easy!) but all other camp chores are attended to by the camp assistant. The camping adventure is led by a professional guide who helps you understand each of the vastly different environments, ecosystems, animals and birds seen on this safari.

Explore these and more with your knowledgeable safari guide who also acts as your driver and helps around the camp. The other vital person on these trips is the camp assistant. It’s their job to do most of the camp chores, so you need not worry about cooking or washing up. This leaves you and your guide more time to relax and chat about the country and your experiences. Camping equipment, including sleeping bags, is supplied, and three meals are provided on most days.

By camping for much of the time, camping safaris offer the best of Namibia and Botswana at a very reasonable cost. In a country where it’s usually much warmer and drier than in the UK, this is a great way to maximise your time outdoors.

Day 1:	Fly to Namibia. Begin your journey on an overnight flight between UK and Namibia, via Johannesburg. (D)
Day 2:	Windhoek. Stay in one of Windhoek’s comfortable guesthouses. Your afternoon is free to relax by the pool or to explore the city. (B)
Day 3:	Ghanzi. After breakfast at the guesthouse your guide collects you ready to begin your journey by heading east along the Trans Kalahari Highway. Break for refreshments in the small outpost of Gobabis, situated in Namibia’s cattle country. Travel further and across into Botswana where you pass through open countryside before reaching your campsite near Ghanzi. (B,L,D)
Day 4:	Okavango Delta. After a short stop in Ghanzi to stop up on provisions, you travel on to meet the Okavango Delta and set up camp on the banks of the picturesque Guma Lagoon. (B,L,D)
Day 5:	Okavango Delta. Relish a day spend out of the vehicle as you head deep into the Okavango Delta. Navigating the papyrus channels in a motorboat, you may see hippos, basking crocodiles or herons fishing amongst the reeds. Then enjoy a more tranquil trip in a mokoro (dug-out canoe), drifting gently through this pristine area rich in birdlife such as white-faced ducks, malachite kingfishers and African jacanas. A possible sighting of red lechwe, sitatunga or elephant would be an added bonus as you explore this unique environment. Return to camp in time to watch a spectacular sunset over the lagoon. (BLD)
Day 6:	Mahango Reserve. Leave Botswana behind and travel north along the Okavango Delta’s panhandle into Namibia and Mahango, one of the country’s smallest game reserves. You’ll find a tremendous diversity of environments in this productive little park which gives rise to Namibia’s most interesting game. Sizeable herds of elephant and buffalo are common and it’s a great park for relatively rare antelope species like roan and sable. From here it’s a short drive to your camp overlooking the Kavango River. (B,L,D)
Day 7:	Caprivi Strip & Chobe National Park. After breakfast you head east into the Caprivi Strip, a landscape of broadleaf forest with small villages dotted along the route. Stop in Caprivi’s main town, Katima Mulilo, before crossing from Namibia into Botswana and Chobe National Park. Your camp site is situated on the banks for the Chobe River, just outside the park boundaries. (B,L,D)
Day 8:	Chobe National Park. After an early breakfast you take a game drive into Chobe National Park. This area is renowned for its large herds of elephant and buffalo and the lions that stalk them, but don’t forget to keep an eye out for leopard up a tree. Later, you’ll hop on a boat for a stunning river cruise. (B,L,D)
Day 9:	Victoria Falls. Take a ferry across the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers into Zambia. It’s then a relatively short drive to Livingstone, beside the might Victoria Falls. Your guide will take you for an afternoon walk along the top of the Batoka Gorge where there are many great vantage points from which to photograph the spectacular cascades. (B,L)
Day 10:	Livingstone, Zambia. Livingstone is the current epicenter of adrenaline activities in Africa. If there’s something fun that can be done, they’re doing it here! Thus there are options (all payable locally and undertaken at your own risk) to white-water raft, bungee-jump, boogie-board, swing across gorges and much more. (B)
Day 11:	Fly to London. After breakfast overlooking the Zambezi River you are transferred to the airport for your flight home. (B,D)
Day 12:	Arrive London. (B)