You will arrive from Johannesburg by 13h30 into Maun Airport where you will be met by your Letaka Safaris guide for the drive to Meno a Kwena tented camp where you will be spending your first night.

Upon arrival at Meno a Kwena, once you have been shown to your tent, the afternoon will be at your leisure. You can choose to spend your first afternoon on the Boteti River on the unique floating hide where you will be able to game view from the comfort of the hide with your guide or relax in the pool overlooking the river with a sundowner, or just relax on the veranda of your tent. Sit back and relax as the wildlife comes to you.

After an early breakfast, you will depart Meno a Kwena for the drive to central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Passarge Valley region where you will be spending the next 3 nights in a private site miles from anyone or anything else other than the local wildlife. The length of the drive will depend on which of the valley sites we are staying in for that particular safari.

The next two days will be spent exploring this fascinating area. With 52,800 km² of protected area (the second largest in Africa) set aside, there is plenty of ground to cover and we will be focusing on the areas surround Passarge Valley including the south west region to Tau Pan and other remote regions.

Habitat: the Passarge Valley is actually a fossil river bed and the clay floor provides highly nutritious grazing and browsing for Kalahari game and can support much higher numbers of large animals than the sandy dune-veld. The wide open spaces are punctuated by tree islands of umbrella thorn (Acacia tortillis). These quintessential African trees offer precious shade in an otherwise harsh landscape.

Wildlife: oryx, springbok, blue wildebeest and red hartebeest make up the common herbivores. Herds in excess of 30 giraffe are not uncommon here in the north and the largest of all the antelope, the eland, are also seen quite regularly here. The wide open plains are the domain of the cheetah but lion are also frequently seen here. African wildcat as well as caracal are the more common small predators.

Birding: Montague’s harrier*, pale chanting goshawk, Steppe buzzard*, Steppe Eagle* and tawny eagle are the most common raptors. The globally threatened lapped-faced vulture nest here in the valley. Other scavengers include white-headed vulture, white-backed vulture, Cape crow and pied crow.

Today will be move away from the Passarge valley to the Deception valley region made famous by Mark and Delia Owen who spent 7 years in the area studying the wilderness and its inhabitants chronicled in their book, the “Cry of the Kalahari’. Although our accommodation will be a more comfortable than the conditions the Owen’s endured during their time there, we will endeavour to learn more about the inhabitants of the area including the impressive black-maned lions of the Kalahari.

Habitat: comprised of a combination of vegetated dune-veld, valleys of ancient rivers and pans, the Deception Valley region is the most famous of all the areas of Botswana’s Kalahari. Some of the highlights of the area are Tau Pan, Sunday Pan, Leopard Pan, Deception and Passarge valleys, Deception Pan and Passarge Waterhole. The northern regions of the Kalahari boast a higher rainfall than the drier south and as a result mature woodlands of purple-pod terminalia (Terminalia prunoides) grow.

Today will be an early start in order to return to Maun in time for your departure flight. We will leave camp directly after an early breakfast and take a slow drive back to Maun which will see us in Maun at approximately 12h00.