On arrival into Victoria Falls Airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the afternoon may be spent at leisure enjoying one of the many activities available in Victoria Falls.

In the evening, you will meet your guide and the rest of your group at the lodge at 18:00 for your pre-departure meeting.

Shearwater Explorers Village or similar

After breakfast your guide will take you on a tour of the mighty Victoria Falls, known by the local Kololo tribe as Mosi oa Tunya – “The Smoke that Thunders”. You’ll then travel to Kasane in Botswana, the gateway to the Chobe National Park.

Chobe, which is the second largest National Park in Botswana and covers 10,566 square km, has one of the greatest concentrations of elephant found on the African continent. The afternoon is at leisure to relax by the pool, or partake in optional activities.

Cresta Mowana Safari Resort & Spa or similar

Breakfast

Start your morning with a game drive in Chobe National Park, on which you’ll have a great chance to spot elephant, hippo, giraffe, lion, and potentially leopard and hyena.

Returning to the lodge for a late breakfast, you can relax on your balcony or by pool until your wildlife cruise on the Chobe River, at around 15:00. Elephant, hippo and crocodile sightings can be expected – making for excellent up-close photo opportunities. The river also supports a wonderful variety of birdlife.

Cresta Mowana Safari Resort & Spa or similar

Breakfast

This morning, you’ll travel across the border into Zimbabwe, to your safari lodge in a private concession in the North West corner of Hwange National Park. Over the following two days, you will have plenty of time to explore this vast wilderness on game drives.

Hwange National Park is one of Africa’s finest havens for wildlife and is home to great herds of elephant, a large concentration of giraffe, and significant buffalo and zebra populations, attracting lion and other predators.

Nantwich Lodge or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today, it’s off to Lake Kariba, for a relaxing two night cruise on a luxury houseboat.

Lake Kariba is a man-made inland sea, with escarpment mountains either side. It was created by the construction of the Kariba Dam in 1959, flooding the Kariba Gorge.

Your voyage takes you between Milibizi and Msuna River with game viewing along the way, followed by drinks and dinner on board.

In the morning, you can go fishing or for a guided walk, before brunch is served whilst cruising along the lake. In the afternoon, the boat moors by an island with a sandy beach, where you can watch the sunset over the lake, relax around the camp fire and enjoy a beach barbecue under the starry sky.

Sovereign Houseboat or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Disembarking the houseboat, you’ll travel southwards to the dramatic rock landscapes of the Matobo Hills, an area steeped in tribal history. The National Park has been given UNESCO World Heritage status and is home to both white and black rhinoceros, sable antelope and the world’s densest population of leopard. Birdlife is prolific and includes the highest concentration of black eagles in the world. Once the home of the San (Bushman), the Matobo Hills contain the richest source of the rock art found anywhere in Zimbabwe.

You’ll spend the following day in the National Park, including an opportunity to track rhino spoor by vehicle and foot. In the afternoon you’ll further explore the scenery and wildlife of the park on game drives, ending with a visit to Cecil Rhodes’ grave.

Shashani Matobo Hills Lodge or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Leaving Matobo Hills, you’ll travel through the savannas of southern Matebeleland en-route to Botswana.

In the afternoon you’ll visit the Nata Bird Sanctuary, where you can enjoy a magnificent view over the Sowa Salt Pan, part of the Greater Makgadikgadi Pans.

You’ll arrive at your next lodge in the late afternoon.

Nata Lodge or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

It’s a very early morning departure today, for an expedition to Ntwetwe Pan, famous for its extraordinary lunar-like landscapes.

With you guide, you’ll go in search of the unique desert-adapted species that live there, such as bat eared foxes, springbuck, kori bustards, and some of the Kalahari’s most fascinating inhabitants, the meerkats.

After lunch, you have the opportunity to visit a nearby village to learn about the history and traditions of the Batswana people from a local guide, before a stroll through an impressive baobab grove, the wonderful weirdness of the world’s largest succulents never failing to amaze.

Planet Baobab or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today you’ll travel to Maun, a bustling town which serves as the gateway to the Okavango Delta.

You can spend the afternoon relaxing next to the pool at your safari lodge or, if you are keen for some excitement, book onto an optional scenic flight over the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO-listed wildlife-rich oasis.

Thamalakane River Lodge or similar

Breakfast

This morning, you’ll float in a mokoro (a dug-out canoe) through the thick vegetation of the Okavango Delta discovering a variety of birds and wildlife. Unlike other deltas, it flows into the Kalahari Desert without ever reaching the coast.

After lunch, you’ll continue to your camp in a private concession in the Greater Moremi area. Enjoy dinner and then embark on a night game drive – a fantastic opportunity to spot nocturnal animals that are more difficult to encounter during the day.

Mankwe Tented Retreat or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

The whole of today is spent exploring Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve, known as one of the most beautiful and varied reserves in Southern Africa, with an unprecedented concentration of wildlife.

You’ll no doubt see giraffe, elephant, wildebeest, zebra and buffalo, but likely also lion and, with a little luck, leopard or wild dog. Rhinos have also been reintroduced to the reserve, though sightings are a rarer.

Mankwe Tented Retreat or similar

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

You safari ends after breakfast. You will be transferred to Maun Airport for your flight home, on which you can plan your next African adventure…

Breakfast