Our first lodge, Camp Kalahari, rests on the remote shores of a private concession in the Makgadikgadi Pans. This surreal, vast, and shimmering expanse features horizon-bending landscapes, where the magic lies in the minimalist yet magical salt flats stretching as far as the eye can see. 

After lunch and settling in, we’ll do our first game drive of our safari and end the day with sundowners- a tradition of enjoying a drink of your choice in the field- before heading back to our lodge. We’ll see an abundance of meerkats, zebras, and wildebeest, while aiming for black-maned lion sightings as well as cheetahs. This area is also home to many birds, like flamingos. 

The next morning, we’ll visit a habituated meerkat family as they start their day (and don’t be surprised if they get up close and personal, as they are very curious and are used to humans!).

We’ll then join the Bushmen on a rare bush walk, discovering the secrets of the pans through the eyes of this ancient tribe. These skilled hunter-gatherers reveal how to survive in the desert, using extraordinary tracking skills to uncover everything from edible bulbs and berries to wildlife. 

After lunch and a brief rest, we’ll embark on another game drive to a lovely outdoor dinner, followed by the option of a night game drive where we’ll be treated to stargazing that’s nothing short of extraordinary. 

Our next adventure awaits after a short flight to Khwai Private Reserve where we’ll enjoy lunch beneath the ancient baobab trees.

We’ll stay at the Elephant Pan Safari Camp, a small tented camp in a remote part of the greater Khwai Private Reserve. Our stay is in a private concession, without the restrictions of a national park, and offers the freedom to follow the game as it roams, plus the bonus of exploring on foot if you wish. Our lodge overlooks a permanent watering hole, which serves as a magnet for a diverse array of species. 

After lunch, you’ll experience the real highlight of this stop on our journey: the underground elephant hide. Located only a few minutes away from camp, allowing you to come nose-to-tusk (safely!) with enormous elephants as you watch them from ankle-level. Additionally, giraffe, buffalo, lion, hippo, leopards, and zebra abound as they take advantage of the watering hole where you’ll have a front-row seat. We’ll also keep an eye out for wild dogs.

After breakfast, we’ll drive to our next camp, Sable Alley Camp, eager to experience the sightings near the Khwai River that really steal the show in this part of the Delta. The lifeblood of the reserve, the river flows along the southern boundary, drawing hooves and paws from far and wide, and displaying some serious David Attenborough-worthy action on its banks. And by that we mean, African painted dog chasing impala, lions and leopards hidden in plain sight in the shade, and buffalo, zebra, elephant, sable, and roan antelope.

We’ll spend our days on world-class sightings. Beyond excellent game viewing, which can be enjoyed right from your tent, there are also opportunities for boat safaris, either from a mokoro (traditional canoe) or a motor-powered boat, as well as night drives and bush walks.

We’ll leave the camp after our morning game drive for a very short flight to our final leg of the trip, where we’ll stay at Duke’s Camp, offering a safari experience you probably thought only existed in travel documentaries.

Here, we’ll enter a network of vast, private concessions peppered with papyrus-fringed waterways, vast floodplains, waterholes, and beautiful forests, where vehicle numbers are incredibly low and animal numbers are extremely high. 

Here in the Delta, it’s safe to say that wildlife sightings are frequent and fantastic, whether you’re seeking out big cats, looking to tick off a lifer from your bird list, or simply having fun counting the elephants that lumber across the floodplains. 

To truly make the most of the terrain and its inhabitants, our lodge offers a combination of land and water excursions, including game drives, walks, mokoro safaris, and boating trips. With no restrictions on timing, we can participate in night drives, all in the heart of the Delta.

An abundance of lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, hippo, zebra, wild dogs, and buffalo, as vibrant birds await us. Whether by boat, foot, or vehicle, this part of the Delta will have you mesmerized and enchanted, in awe of Mother Nature’s beauty.

We’ll have one final game drive before taking a flight back to Maun, and then to Johannesburg, before each of us embarks on our individual journeys home. We’ll leave with profound, indelible memories that will forever change us.