Botswana: The Northern Delta, Linyanti & Makgadikgadi at the Top Camps

The Northern Delta, Linyanti & Makgadikgadi at the Top Camps

Maun • Northern Okavango Delta • Linyanti • Makgadikgadi Pans
Duration: 13 Days

Overview

A longer trip through Botswana at the top of the market, with three nights in each of four camps and four very different landscapes. You start in the far north of the Okavango Delta at Vumbura Plains, where you can go out by vehicle or by boat from the same camp, then move a short flight west to Duba Plains for its lions and buffalo. From there you fly north-east to King's Pool on the Linyanti River for dry-season elephants, and finish with three nights at Jack's Camp on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, with meerkats, Zu/'hoasi guides and the open salt flats. You fly back to Maun for your flight home.

Every move between camps is by light aircraft, in small planes that hop between bush airstrips. Most legs take under an hour. The flight from the Linyanti down to the Makgadikgadi is the longest and can route through Maun, and Jack's is about 40 minutes from Maun. Luggage is limited to about 20 kg per person, including hand luggage and camera gear, in soft bags with no hard frame. The Delta's floodwater usually peaks around July, in the middle of the dry season, so from June to September there is water for boating at Vumbura and Duba, while the Linyanti is at its best for elephants from about July to October. On the pans, the dry months are when you can ride quad bikes onto the salt and sleep out under the stars.

Trip Highlights

Mokoro and boat trips and game drives from one camp in the Vumbura concession

Long sightings of lions and buffalo on the palm islands and floodplains at Duba

Elephants drinking at eye level from a sunken hide on the Linyanti

Sitting with habituated meerkats and walking with Zu/'hoasi guides at Jack's

Quad bikes across the white salt pans and a night sleeping out in the Makgadikgadi

Ideal For

Repeat safari travelers • Couples and honeymooners • Photographers • Families with children aged 12 and up

Preferred Properties

Northern Okavango Delta: Wilderness Vumbura Plains

Northern Okavango Delta: Duba Plains Camp

Linyanti: Wilderness King's Pool

Makgadikgadi Pans: Jack's Camp

Day-By-Day Itinerary

Days 1–3: Maun & Vumbura

Fly into Maun, usually via Johannesburg, where you are met and walked to your light aircraft for the flight north into the Okavango Delta. From the Vumbura airstrip, the last part is a drive and, when the water is up, a short boat ride. Vumbura sits in a private reserve on the northern edge of the Delta, bordering Moremi, and is one of the few places where you can choose land or water each day without changing camps. Spend your mornings and afternoons on game drives across the plains, where lion, wild dog, buffalo and sable are seen, or on mokoro and motorboat trips through the channels and papyrus. Guided walks are offered too.
Overnights: Wilderness Vumbura Plains

Days 4–6: Duba Plains

A short flight takes you west to the private Omdop airstrip, a few minutes' drive from Duba Plains, a five-suite camp among palm islands and floodplains. Duba is known for lions that hunt buffalo, and in recent years for prides that also take red lechwe. Game drives here are about time with the cats, and there are also boat and mokoro trips, bush walks and seasonal fishing. From about May to September, high water means a short boat ride to reach the vehicles. There are few zebra or impala here, which is one reason this trip pairs Duba with three very different camps. Children aged six to 12 need a private vehicle.
Overnights: Duba Plains Camp

Days 7–9: The Linyanti

Fly north-east to the Chobe airstrip and drive about 45 minutes to King's Pool, on an oxbow lagoon of the Linyanti River in the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve. In the dry season, large numbers of elephant and buffalo come down to the river. Game drives run by day and night, and a sunken hide about ten minutes from camp puts you at eye level with elephants coming to drink. When the water allows, usually from about April to August, the camp's barge goes out for sunset cruises. Lion and leopard are seen regularly, and wild dog less often.
Overnights: Wilderness King's Pool

Days 10–12: Makgadikgadi Pans

Fly south to the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans and Jack's Camp, set among fan palms and furnished in a 1940s style. This is a change of pace from the Delta. You sit with habituated meerkats, walk with Zu/'hoasi guides who show you how they find food and water, and go out on game and night drives for brown hyena, aardvark and other desert animals. In the dry season, ride quad bikes onto the salt flats and spend a night sleeping out under the stars. Lion and elephant are occasional here, and that is not the point of coming.
Overnights: Jack's Camp

Day 13: Depart

Fly about 40 minutes back to Maun and connect to your flight home, usually through Johannesburg. If you would like a last stop, Victoria Falls is a short flight from Maun or Kasane.