Classic Journeys In Botswana & Zimbabwe Ivory Route

Duration: 15 Days | 14 Nights
Destination: Botswana & Zimbabwe
Departs: Victoria Falls on Sunday at 14:00pm
Ends: Victoria Falls on Sunday at +/-11:00am

This classic journey covers Botswana, Namibia & Zimbabwe & the core of the international Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area. This initiative is a multi-country effort to create a vast network of interlinking reserves and provide corridors for wildlife movement along natural migration routes, particularly for elephants. The lodges are beautiful, comfortable & make for a great adventure safari.

Highlights
• Victoria Falls – adventure activities
• Hwange – game drives in an open vehicle
• Matobos – game drive
• Moremi game reserve – game drives
• Okavango Delta – river cruise
• Chobe National Park – sunset river cruise

Day 1: Victoria Falls
The majestic sight of the mighty Zambezi River plunging over the Victoria Falls, welcomes you to your Zimbabwe and Botswana adventure. We check into our lodge before we explore the falls and tropical rain forest surrounds on foot in the afternoon before heading out to a local restaurant for dinner (own expense).

Day 2 - 3: Hwange National Park
Hwange National Park is a wildlife jewel, famous for its big game and large herds of elephant. Hwange is home to a wide variety of habitats, from its western regions on the edge of the Kalahari through large grass plains to the forested woodland in east Hwange. Our comfortable lodge for two nights is situated on the private concession on the eastern boundary of the park, our time is spent on a full day game drive, in open 4WD vehicles, in the park in search of big game.

Day 4 -5: Matobos National Park
The rounded granite boulders and undulating valleys of the Matobos National Park are home to some of the last of the rhino in Zimbabwe. We spend our day on an excursion into the park that includes a game walk to see the rhino, discovering the ancient Bushmen paintings that adorn the rocks, and admiring the landscapes from Worlds View, the site of Cecil John Rhodes’ grave.

Day 6: Nata
This morning we leave Matobos and head west towards the Botswana border, we cross at Plumtree and we make our way to the Nata area for our overnight stop. In the late afternoon we will head out onto the Makgadikgadi Pans, vast saltpans that seem to stretch on to infinity. We will explore the area and have some fun taking photographs before the sunsets golden over the horizon.

Day 7: Maun
Maun’s name is derived from a San word meaning “place of the short reeds” is nestled at the southern end of the Okavango Delta where our lodge overlooks the beautiful Thamalakane River. Here we prepare for our trip into Moremi Game Reserve and our afternoon is free to bird watch along the river, relax around the pool or take an optional scenic flight over the Okavango Delta (own expense).

Day 8 - 10: Moremi Game Reserve
Startling and unexpected contrasts are created as the waters of the Okavango flood into the drier Kalahari creating the magnificently rich wilderness area with amazing wildlife of the Moremi Game Reserve. Rivers, lagoons, savannah, woodland, Moremi offers some excellent game viewing. With over 400 species of birds, Moremi is also a great place to sight leopard, lion, wild dog, elephant, giraffe and a variety of antelope. We spend our time on game drives in Moremi GR and the surrounding concession along the Khwai River where the lagoons attract the thirsty animals to drink in the late afternoon. Our lodge is on a private concession north of Moremi, where we enjoy our meals while watching the animals drinking and enjoy the wilderness far from civilization. On the morning of day 10 we have a game drive on the concession before heading back to our lodge in Maun.

Day 11 - 12: Okavango Delta – Shakawe
We drive around the Okavango Delta, and north to our lodge on the banks of the Okavango Pan handle. From the lodge we’ll explore the Okavango by mokoro and motor boat. Tranquil reed lined rivers, crystal clear water and abundant bird life. Time to rest, relax and enjoy the views of the Okavango Delta.

Day 13: Caprivi
Crossing out of Botswana into Namibia and the Mahango Game Reserve. We game drive through the reserve to our lodge on the Kavango River. We spend our afternoon exploring on a river cruise.

Day 14 : Chobe National Park
The Caprivi Strip, Zambezi Region, is a thin wedge of Namibia, which separates Botswana in the south and Angola in the north. We cross the Caprivi, back into Botswana at Ngoma and head to our lodge in the town of Kasane. The Chobe River attracts large herds of elephant as it flows lazily along the northern boundary of the Chobe National Park. Our final afternoon is spent on arguably the best wildlife activity in Southern Africa, the game-viewing cruise. See herds of elephants, large crocodiles, pods of hippo and other wildlife as they quench their thirst at the end of the day. The magnificent river sunset is a photographer’s dream.

Day 15: Victoria Falls Zimbabwe – Tour Ends
Enjoy an optional early morning game drive (own expense) before our last breakfast together. We bid a sad farewell before we embark on a road shuttle transfer to either Kasane airport in Botswana, or Victoria Falls airport in Zimbabwe, in time for midday flight departures. Our tour ends at 11:00am.

Tour Price
• Price shown is for a person based on twin share accommodation, for the travel period indicated.
• All prices displayed are subject to availability and can be withdrawn or varied without notice.
• Prices are guaranteed once booking is confirmed by us and paid in full by the due date.
• Depending on your needs and group size (individual, couple, family, group, etc.) we will provide the final pricing for your tour.

Inclusions:
• 14 breakfasts, 7 lunches and 9 dinners are included. All of which are provided by the lodges at which we are staying. Due to travel arrangements or game viewing activities, 2 of the lunches will be packed picnic lunches. Where meals are not included there will be an opportunity to buy a meal en route, but these are mostly travel days so a quick stop is required
• Entrance fees to see the Victoria Falls
• Entrance fees, full day game drive in open 4WD game viewing vehicle
• Entrance to Matobo National Park and game walk
• Entrance fees to Nata Bird Sanctuary
• Entrance fees to Moremi Game Reserve, morning & afternoon game drives in an open 4WD vehicle
• Okavango mokoro and motorboat excursions
• Mahangu NP entrance fee & game drive in the tour vehicle
• Chobe N.P entrance fees & sunset cruise on Chobe River
• Transfer to either Kasane airport BBK (Botswana), or Victoria Falls airport VFA (Zimbabwe) or the town of Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

Exclusions:
• International and domestic airfare
• Travel Insurance
• Airport taxes and charges
• Any Private Expenses
• Meals not mentioned
• Personal Incidentals such as Telephone calls, Room Service, Laundry
• Tip to Guide/Driver, Porterage Fee and others which are personal in nature
• Other services not mentioned in the itinerary

Notes from the tour operator:

Small groups – by travelling with a maximum of 12 people, you can witness Africa and have first-hand contact with this amazing continent and its people without being a negative influence. This has been a key factor in our continued success. Our trips appeal to a wide demographic of traveller. Our client’s range in age from 25 to 65+ with the average being 45. The range of travellers gives a variety of perspectives which adds to the experience of each safari.

Tour guides – group leaders are the key to any safari. On a safari, you will travel with 2 qualified and registered field guides (Field Guides Association of SA). Two guides as crew, not a guide and a driver, means interesting trips with maximum knowledge and information. Our guides have a passion for Africa, her people and her wildlife, and they love nothing more than sharing their knowledge with you.

All-inclusive price – when we travel ourselves, we always feel that if we’re in a country we should find and see the best it has to offer. So, when planning the routes, we ensure that each trip provides the best inclusions and experiences. For example, if you go to Botswana – you have to visit the national parks in an open 4WD – it is the essence of the Botswana wilderness. If you tour Zambia, then you must visit South Luangwa NP and do a game walk with a local scout. When booking on a Safari there are no hidden costs. All of the entrance fees are included, and a wide range of activities, and most meals. We have included many highlights in our tours so that you will see and experience the highlights without having to pay extra when you get there. 

Safety – our fleet of vehicles are custom built to ensure comfortable and safe touring. Each is constructed, by an authorised passenger vehicle builder, to the latest safety requirements, with a safety shell, and every seat has a lap belt. This gives you peace of mind when travelling with on the often demanding African roads.

Good2Go - Our commitment to sustainable & responsible tourism is reflected in our low impact travel style where all we take is photographs and all we leave is our footprints. Being an African company, we have the grassroots contacts to make a real difference in the lives of the people whose lands we visit. On each itinerary in the brochure, you’ll find this symbol which highlights just one of the sustainable travel initiatives that we support.

Solo Travellers – going it alone won’t make your holiday more expensive; our reservations staff will match you up with another same-gender traveller to keep your holiday affordable. If however, you request a single room or tent these are available, with a price supplement

Experience - we have more than 27 years’ experience planning tours throughout Southern Africa. As such, our itineraries and routes have been perfected over many years ensuring that your tour will run smoothly. We visit the highlights of Southern Africa but ensure that you do not follow the well-trodden tourist track. All of us at have extensive travel experience in Africa and throughout the world. Being adventure travellers ourselves, we know how to plan trips that give you a broad experience of the countries that you will visit.

Based in Africa - probably the most important part of a safari is that we are an African company with offices in South Africa and Botswana. We live in Africa; we travel in Africa and it is our passion for this amazing continent that makes your best travel option.

Age Policy - On all scheduled tours, we accept children 12-17 with accompanying adult. We have no upper age limit. Clients older than 65 years of age at the time of travel require a medical certificate stating the client is fit and healthy to join an adventure travel group tour. We have many clients over 65 years of age, who are perfectly capable of enjoying every aspect of a tour, both accommodated and camping.

Please refer to our Standard Booking Conditions for booking terms and conditions.