Six-night Botswana Escape

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Day 1: Arrive in Maun

Arrive at Maun International Airport and transfer by small plane to Camp Kalahari. This underrated camp is based in the heart of the great Kalahari, surrounded by waving palms and acacia trees on Brown Hyena Island, close to the vast Makgadikgadi Pans.

This surreal yet sublime landscape offers a host of adventures, from walks with the local San bushmen to encounters with a habituated meerkat family. You'll fall in love with both the place and its people.

About Camp Kalahari

Laidback and understated, nothing is overly elaborate at Camp Kalahari. Instead, you’ll find 12, Meru-style canvas tents filled with fresh textiles, Moroccan kilims and four-posters. 

Shower alfresco in the open-air, ensuite bathrooms (there’s definitely no one around to disturb your privacy here!), and there’s plenty of hot and cold water available throughout the day. If you’re travelling with your brood, choose one of the interconnecting family tents; with a bathroom linking the space for children and adults, it’s ideal for families and groups.

The common areas include a central library and a living and dining area, festooned with an eclectic mix of original African furniture and colonial antiques. Meals are refreshingly simple and wonderfully tasty, and served, family-style, at the long table. 

There’s also a thatched swimming pool, providing the perfect place for a refreshing dip on a hot afternoon – just watch out for the ellies who might pop in for a quick drink too. 

The use of electricity is kept to a minimum: there are electrical lights in the bedrooms, but when night falls, the majority of camp is lit by twinkling paraffin lanterns (but camera batteries and other appliances can be charged in the safari vehicles when required).

Overnight: Camp Kalahari

Day 2: Camp Kalahari

Brown Hyena Island, the palm dotted island that Camp Kalahari calls home is named after the bashful brown hyena - a champion at foraging and scavenging, 

The third rarest large carnivore in Africa, and an animal that’s virtually impossible to see elsewhere on the continent, the brown hyena is just one oddity to look out for in the Makgadikgadi. Watch out for bat-eared foxes, aardvark and aardwolves scampering across the salt, elephant plodding through on their nomadic journey (the camp swimming pool is a welcome refreshment stop), and dazzling numbers of zebra and wildebeest. 

And where there’s a zebra, a predator will never be far away, so keep an eye out for cheetah and lion, close on the hooves of the herds. Not to be forgotten are our cheeky, habituated meerkats, a constant source of amusement and a regular feature of a safari at Camp Kalahari.

There's a lot of activities to choose from at Camp Kalahari...

Year Round: Up-close encounters with our habituated meerkats; join the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen on bush walks through the desert; take game drives and night drives in custom built 4x4s to see the unique desert wildlife.

Embark on an adventurous two-hour horseback safari (for all levels of riders; additional charge). Multi-day riding safaris are also available for experienced riders – please contact us for more information.

Dry Season (01 April – 31 October): Take an exhilarating quad bike across the salt-crusted pans (all pan activity is weather permitting). Lie out on the pans as the sun sets, and watch the planetarium of stars unfold.

Green Season (01 November – 31 March): Witness the second largest migration of zebra and wildebeest in Africa (and it’s also the last remaining one in Southern Africa).

Whatever time of year you choose to travel, you are going to have the adventure of a lifetime. 

Overnight: Camp Kalahari

Day 3: To Hyena Pan

After breakfast you'll be off to the airstrip for your flight in a small plane to Hyena Pan in the Khwai Private Concession.

It's all about the wildlife at Hyena Pan. First up is its phenomenal location in Khwai Private Reserve. Positioned between Moremi Game Reserve, Chobe National Park and the Khwai River. It's a meeting point for an abundance of wild animals with nomadic herds of elephant and buffalo, lion, leopard and painted wolves (African wild dogs) fiercely defending their territories, as well as kudu, red lechwe and herds of antelope dotted across the plains

About Hyena Pan

From its lofty position amongst a grove of cathedral mopane trees, the eight tents at Hyena Pan look over a watery lagoon of the same name. In the morning, you’ll open your tent flaps straight on to the trumpeting elephant in the lily-filled waters below, spend your siesta watching herds splash and snort, and fall asleep to antelope grazing just outside your canvas walls. 

This isn’t a place for those looking for opulence and extravagance; it’s a private piece of big-game Africa, where the wildlife encounters are authentic, intimate and always wild.

Hyena Pan has eight tents, and inside the theme is stylish simplicity, and a whole lot of character. You’ll find everything you need. Each tent has twin beds, which can easily be made into doubles. Mesh nets keep the mozzies out, and there’s an electronic safe to store valuables, along with a luggage rack and wardrobe. Each tent is solar powered, with international plug points. 

A gas geyser pumps constant hot water to the ensuite bathroom and shower.

Amble down to the heart of the camp, and you’ll find the dining deck and lounge areas. 

Keep an eye on the comings and goings at the waterhole from a slouchy sofa, or float in the mini-splash pool and watch the wildlife doing the same below. Meals are wholesome and tasty, and after you’ve finished munching, the night is best spent in the open-air boma with a nightcap (or two or three). 

When darkness falls, the waterhole is illuminated so you can see what comes down under cover of night.

Overnight: Hyena Pan

Day 4: At Hyena Pan

What will you do today?

Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives through the 200,000 hectare concession and along the Khwai River.

Get a great view (and some pretty good photos) of the wildlife from our ground level hide alongside the waterhole.

Swap a hippo’s-eye view for a bird’s-eye one, and spend the morning or afternoon atop a five-metre high elevated platform, close to camp.

Take a game walk with one of our informative guides.

Overnight: Hyena Pan

Day 5: To Mapula Lodge

This morning, after breakfast, you'll be off to the airstrip for a short flight to the enormous Mapula and Sekwana private concession that’s a matrix of floodplains, woodlands and channels. Waterways snake across the landscape, spilling into glassy lagoons and encircling islands of stately palms and trumpeting elephant. 

It’s an iconic Okavango Delta landscape, and a magical environment in which to enjoy the abundance of wildlife.

In the middle of it all, on a large tree island surrounded by seasonal floodplains, is the laid back Mapula Lodge. Even better, it’s one of only a handful of camps in the concession making for exhilarating game viewing in a blissfully uncrowded area. 

About Mapula Lodge

A little bit quirky and jam-packed with character, Mapula has nine thatched cottages with king-size metal four-posters and feather-filled pillows. 

Ensuite bathrooms have both indoor and outdoor showers, and there’s two natty Malawi chairs in the mini lounge area, ideal for siesta snoozes. Safari-chic finishing touches include rich Kilims on the floors, polished butler trays and brass lanterns.

At the main area, an aquamarine swimming pool is the perfect antidote to hot Delta afternoons – and if the cool waters don’t tempt you in, the views over the hippo-filled lagoon below might. 

If you’d rather stay dry, pick a perch in the lounge to keep watch over the wildlife action; there’s a variety of comfy sofas and slouchy armchairs to choose from. Then there’s the "chill pit", a sunken lounge area overlooking the lagoon.

Overnight: Mapula Lodge

Day 6: At Mapula Lodge

Game drive through vast tracts of pristine wilderness in search of lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, hippo and the rare sitatunga antelope. View the wildlife at eye level on a boat or traditional mokoro safari through the lily-filled channels (NB water activities are subject to water levels in the Delta and may be limited in low water season from October to January).

Tick off some of the Okavango specials from your bird-list – the slaty egret, Pel’s fishing owl and the African skimmer to name a few.

Pour a G&T, pick your spot, and watch in awe as the sun sinks below the watery plains – the perfect sundowner. Cruise over the vast landscapes on a soaring helicopter flight (at an additional cost).

Whatever you choose, it's going to be an amazing day!

Overnight: Mapula Lodge

Day 7: Time to leave

It's time to say goodbye to Botswana. After your final game activity and breakfast/brunch, you'll have a road transfer back to Maun International Airport for your onward flight. 

Included:

Two night’s accommodation at Camp Kalahari on a full-board basis (breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Two night's accommodation at Hyena Pan on a full-board basis (breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Two nights' accommodation at Mapula Lodge on a full-board basis (breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Teas and coffees in all accommodation

Local beers and wines

Game viewing activities

Excluded:

Premium drinks, items of a personal nature.

* Contact us for fly-in options and for Ts and Cs

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