Botswana From Desert to Delta

Led By Lex Hes

April 4-17, 2025

Overview:

Since the 1990s Botswana has been a leading pioneer of high-value, low-volume, low-impact tourism, offering travelers one of the most intimate safari experiences in Africa. This sweeping journey explores four distinct ecosystems and includes a variety of unique landscapes teeming with healthy populations of Africa’s most iconic species. Begin in the far eastern corner of Botswana, where the privately-owned Mashatu Game Reserve offers more than 90,000 acres of savannah, riverine forests, marshland, open plains, and sandstone cliffs. In stark contrast, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is defined by vast open grasslands, centered on a network of epic salt pans dotted with isolated islands of palm and baobab trees. Next, travel north to the Linyanti region, renowned for huge herds of elephants, intense predator action, and frequent sightings of African wild dogs. The grand finale is the Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland delta and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, the drama of life unfolds at every turn while on game drives and during water safaris by mokoro (dugout canoes) through flooded plain.

Interested in more information? To learn more about this tour operated by Miru Adventures, please contact Africa Easy by calling 1-800-617-2319 or e-mail the Africa Easy Team at info@africaeasy.com.

Botswana From Desert to Delta

Led By Lex Hes

April 4-17, 2025

Day-by-day Itinerary:

DAY 01 – APRIL 04, 2025 | Johannesburg, South Africa
Arrive in Johannesburg and transfer to the InterContinental Johannesburg O.R. Tambo Hotel and meet with fellow travelers and your expedition leader for a welcome dinner and overnight.

DAY 02 – APRIL 05, 2025 | Johannesburg / Limpopo Valley, Botswana / Mashatu Game Reserve
Check in to the Mashatu Tent Camp and settle in to your spacious tent, nestled under the branches of enormous trees. Relax on your private veranda, or head to the boma overlooking the busy waterhole adjacent to camp. Time permitting, embark on an evening game drive.

DAY 03 & 04 –APRIL 06-07, 2025 | Matshatu Game Reserve
The privately-owned Mashatu Game Reserve is situated in the eastern corner of Botswana where the great Limpopo and Shashe Rivers converge. This exceptionally diverse landscape includes wide open plains, grassland, riverine forests, rocky hills, marshland, and majestic sandstone ridges. Resident wildlife includes three members of the Big Five, leopards, lions and elephants, as well aardwolves, bat-eared foxes, African wildcats, honey badgers, spotted hyenas, and black-backed jackals. The reserve is also home to more than 350 bird species.

DAY 05 – APRIL 08, 2025 | Mashatu Game Reserve / Makgadikgadi Pans National Park
After a morning game drive and breakfast, return to the airport to board our flight to Camp Kalahari, located on the edge of an ancient super lake and adjacent to Makgadikgadi Pans National Park.

DAY 06 & 07 – APRIL 09-10, 2025 | Makgadikgadi Pans National Park
Search for the desert-adapted wildlife that survives in this harsh environment; oryx, meerkats, aardwolves, and springbok among them. There is also a good chance of spotting the rare brown hyena and large variety of birdlife. In addition to your guided game safaris in open 4×4 vehicles, we have the chance to accompany bushman trackers on foot to learn about their folklore and way of life. There will also be an opportunity to observe habituated meerkats at close range.

DAY 08 – APRIL 11, 2025 | Makgadikgadi Pans National Park / Kwando Reserve
Enjoy a morning game viewing activity and breakfast before boarding our charter flight to the privately-owned Kwando Reserve. Check in to Kwando Lebala, set on the floodplains of the Kwando River, adjacent to the headwaters of the Linyanti marshes. Each tent offers a spacious living area, en suite bathroom with indoor and outdoor showers, and a private deck. After settling in, set out for an evening safari before dinner and overnight at the camp.

DAY 09 & 10 – APRIL 12-13, 2025 | Kwando Reserve
This part of the Kwando Reserve includes an intricate labyrinth of waterways, reed beds, islands, floodplains, and scattered trees, and is known for big game and large herds of elephant and buffalo. April marks the beginning of the impala breeding season, and it is often possible to see males sparring for dominance. There will also be an opportunity to go on a night drive to spot nocturnal species such as small-spotted genets, springhares, honey badgers, bat-eared foxes, civets, and servals.

DAY 11 – APRIL 14, 2025 | Kwando Reserve / Okavango Delta
After a game drive and breakfast, board our flight to Kwara Camp, located on a secluded lagoon in the northern Okavango Delta. Each tent boasts a spacious deck overlooking the lagoon and views out to the floodplains. After a chance to freshen up, embark on a game-viewing excursion.

DAY 12 & 13 – APRIL 15-16, 2025 | Okavango Delta
Spend two days exploring the unique Okavango Delta, a combination of open floodplains, wooded islands, and lagoons harboring an outstanding assortment of African wildlife. Explore via mokoro (dugout canoe) guided by polers from the BaYei tribe, who have been using them as their traditional form of transport for hundreds of years. Boats take you into the larger and deeper areas of water while 4×4 vehicles allow you to get in proximity to animals in the savannah areas. Wildlife sightings may include lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, hippos, and various species of antelope. Birding is also excellent with such species as African hawk-eagle, ground hornbill, scarlet-chested sunbird, red-billed hornbill, gabar goshawk, and red-billed francolin.

DAY 14 – APRIL 17, 2025 | Okavango Delta / Maun / Depart
On our last day, embark on one final game drive. Board our charter flight to Maun to connect with our final included flight to Johannesburg. From there, proceed with your independent homeward flight.

Note: The above itinerary and arranged sightseeing is subject to change. Please contact us with your preferred travel dates and goals to confirm your trip.

SDMIRU2023

Botswana From Desert to Delta

Led By Lex Hes

April 4-17, 2025

Rates:

April 4-17, 2025

$22,990 per person
(add $4,990 for a single room)

Group size:
10 travelers

– Rates are per person and are based on shared accommodations
– Rates are approximate until the time of booking
– Rates are quoted in USD and subject to change without prior notice
– Rates are based on availability at the time of booking

International Airfare:
Africa Easy does not make international air reservations and international air is not included in your quote. However, please do let us know if you would like assistance with booking your international air. We would be happy to put you in touch with our airline partner, Exito Travel to assist you with your international air reservation.

Included:

  • 13 nights accommodations
  • All meals including beer, wine during dinner and sundowners
    on safari
  • All excursions, transportation and local guides
  • Park fees, taxes, gratuities and tips
  • Internal airfare: Johannesburg / Mashatu / Linyanti / Okavango Delt / Maun / Johannesburg
  • Arrival and departure transfers
  • Gratuities

Deposit & Payments

A completed & signed Africa Easy Reservation Form, along with your 25% safari package deposit.

Reservations

This itinerary is subject to the availability of all services at the time of making a reservation. No space is being held at this time. Please contact Africa Easy for the full terms and conditions that apply. We are happy to answer questions and discuss your trip.

Interested in more information?  To learn more about this tour operated by Miru Adventures, please contact Africa Easy by calling 1-800-617-2319 or click here to e-mail the Africa Easy Team.


Botswana From Desert to Delta

Led By Lex Hes

April 4-17, 2025

LEX HESS
 SAFARI LEADER | PHOTOGRAPHER

Lex has been a wildlife cameraman for documentaries, a renowned photographer of leopards, and a safari and tour leader in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. He’s published books on animals of southern Africa and became co-owner of a safari guide-training business that became the largest of its kind in the world. Lex’s long career in guiding hasn’t for one second dulled his love and enthusiasm for wildlife and wilderness.

“When I began this career, I was a shy kid with nothing but a pair of binoculars and an enthusiasm for birds, plants and animals. What a difference a lifetime makes.”

“We’re going to visit some of the greatest concentrations of iconic wildlife anywhere on the African continent. We’ll also see two great human/wildlife conservation models in the conservancies of Laikipia Mara North, demonstrating wildlife conservation and tourism can live hand-in-hand with local communities. Finally, we’ll get to see the massive wildebeest herds in a different setting from the traditional drama of river crossings, down in the southern extent of their range where a million wildebeest give birth every year and graze the lush grassy plains.”
– Lex Hess


April 4-17, 2025
Operated by Miru Adventures