After your arrival at Maun International Airport you will be met by Mack Air for your charter flight at approximately 14h00 to the Xakanaxa airstrip in Moremi Game Reserve where you will be met by your guide. If you are staying in Maun prior to the safari, please request an airport transfer, Mack Air will liaise with your accommodation the day before to confirm the flight departure time. Alternatively, if you are coming from one of the many safari lodges, you can organize to fly directly into Xakanaxa Airstrip with the lodges preferred charter company although we do request that these flights land only after 12h00 in order for our guide to be there to meet you. Spending our first three nights camping in the Xakanaxa region, we explore the surrounding wilderness on game drives during the day.

Habitat: Moremi lies on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta. Habitats here range from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, vast stands of Miscanthusand Phragmites, woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.

Wildlife: Moremi is amongst the best game reserves in Africa for viewing the endangered African wild dog. Xakanaxa is home to a resident herd of several hundred buffalo whose range covers the territories of at least 4 prides of lion which may often be seen flanking the ever moving herd. Breeding herds of elephant move between their browsing areas in the mopane forests and the fresh water of the Okavango. Red lechwe are one of the more unusual antelope species and commonly found here.

Birding: the swampy areas of Xakanaxa are home to African rail, coppery-tailed coucal, black coucal*, red-chested flufftail, African crake*, black crake, chirping cisticola, Luapula cisticola, purple swamphen, Allen’s gallinule to name but a few. The open waters attract African skimmer, saddle-billed stork, yellow-billed stork, intermediate egret, Goliath heron, African fish eagle as well as the globally threatened slaty egret and wattled crane.

Following and early morning breakfast you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai community area.

Habitat: the Manuchira Channel is known as the Khwai River at its eastern most extremity. The day’s journey follows this water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands that make Khwai one of the most scenic areas of the Okavango. We pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo.

The Khwai River forms a boundary between the reserve and the community area. We spend the following two nights camping at an exclusive campsite in the community area, exploring the Khwai floodplains on game drives both during the day and at night. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day. We will also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot as well as by mokoro and enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves. These activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Khwai community area.

Habitat: we spend our time between the dry-land habitats of the lead-wood and camel-thorn woodlands and savannahs and the riverside and marshy back-waters of the Khwai. Time permiting we may visit the lagoons and waterways of Xakanaxa where the largest heronry in southern Africa exists.

After breakfast we take a game-drive to the airstrip where you will be met by your charter flight back to Maun.