Botswana & Caprivi

Discover true African wilderness at these iconic destinations: Makgadikgadi Pans, Okavango Delta, Tsodilo Hills, Caprivi Strip, Bwabwata National Park, Mahango Game Reserve, Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park.

TOUR INFO When? 19 – 29 April 2017; 28 June – 8 July 2017; 6 – 16 August 2017; 15 – 25 September 2017 11 days/10 nights Nata, Botswana Kasane, Botswana Formal R22 450 per adult; single supplement additional 30 %.

How long? Departure point: End point: Accommodation: Rates:

THE RATE INCLUDES • A professional tour leader and an experienced field guide • Three meals a day • All park fees • All accommodation • Bedding and towels • Two-way radios

WHAT TO BRING • A vehicle – a 4x2 with high ground clearance will do (fuel and border fees are for your own account) • Drinks and snacks • Camping chairs • Your passport • Personal things

THE TOUR IN A NUTSHELL Day 1: We meet at Nata Lodge and enjoy sunset at the famous Makgadikgadi Pans. Call Day 2: We explore Maun and surrounds, with an optional flight over the Okavango Delta. Day 3: Near Sepupa, motorboats will take us to a houseboat on the Okavango River, where we’ll spend two nights. Day 4: Enjoy a mokoro cruise on the Delta, or do some tigerfishing. Day 5: We return to the vehicles and drive to the rock art at Tsodilo Hills. We then cross the border into Namibia, to Ngepi Camp on the Okavango River. Day 6: We visit Mahango Game Reserve, renowned for its 300 bird species and herds of roan and sable antelope. Day 7: Spend time relaxing at the camp, visiting Bwabwata National Park, doing a mokoro cruise, birdwatching or fishing… The day ends with a cruise on the Okavango. Day 8: We drive the length of the Caprivi Strip to Kasane, where we’ll spend the last three nights. Day 9: We visit Vic Falls, where you have the option of doing a bungee jump or a helicopter flight. Day 10: We go on a game drive and boat cruise on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park. Day 11: It’s time to say goodbye. Why did you participate in writing this book? There’s no recent book about the Limpopo available. It’s an important river, made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s description: “the great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees”. I first saw the river in 1957 while flying over it in a Dakota, heading for Vic Falls. In 1966 I finally stood on its banks at Pont Drift, and during the 1960s I worked as a ranger in the Tuli Block. Half a century later and I still feel connected to the Limpopo. I’m not the same man I was when I first saw it, but it’s still the same river. The challenge for myself and co-authors Peter Norton and Michael Gardner was to tell the story of the river and hopefully inspire people to take care of it.

Who is the book aimed at? It’s for everyone: historians, field guides, tourists who love wild country, teachers and academics. I spoke to my neighbour recently: He spent a week horse riding in the Tuli Block and the book brought the area to life for him. The Limpopo links the Highveld to the Indian Ocean; it connects two World Heritage Sites (the Cradle of Humankind and Mapungubwe) and it flows through five national parks and four countries. Despite this, most South Africans know very little about it.

Some interesting people have lived alongside the Limpopo over the years… One of my favourites is Gordon Cumming, a 19th-century hunter, who was one of the most audacious, crazy and fearless