Day 1. Arrive in Kasane and transfer to Mowana Safari Lodge. Your choice of two game viewing activities offered by the lodge. Overnight in luxury rooms or suites with en suite facilities at Mowana Safari Lodge. L/D

Day 2. Enjoy your choice of two game viewing activities offered by the lodge. Overnight in luxury rooms or suites with en suite facilities at Mowana Safari Lodge. B/L/D

Kasane is a small village near the entrance to the world renowned Chobe National Park and the meeting point of four countries: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. Mowana Safari Lodge, on the edge of Kasane, is set around a boabab tree on the Chobe River bank, a beautiful thatched building with unique interior decoration. Accommodation is in air conditioned luxury rooms and suites with en suite facilities, hand-woven rugs, painted porcelain washbasins and river views. It has a walking trail along the bank of the river, a swimming pool with coffee shop service and bar, gift shop and designer jewelry shop, restaurant and a cocktail lounge. Activity options are game viewing in Chobe National Park by open safari vehicle or game cruises on the Chobe river. The following activities are also available at an extra charge: breakfast cruise on a river barge, fishing, game viewing by helicopter, day trips to Victoria Falls, horse back trails and mountain bikes bush exploring.

The Chobe National Park covers nearly 6,600 square miles in northern Botswana with habitats ranging from swamp and floodplain to dead lake beds, sandridges and forest. The park can be divided roughly into three areas: the Chobe river area, the Mababe depression ( a dead lake bed) including the Savuti channel and marsh, and the Ngwezumba area with its mopani forests, riparian woodland and pans. The Chobe is best known for its huge herds of up to five hundred elephants, and its buffalo which sometimes congregate in herds of a thousand. An estimated 73,000 elephants make the Chobe National Park their home.

The Chobe River front offers you an excellent opportunity to observe lions, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras and hippos submerging at dawn and emerging at dusk. Also to be found here are most antelope species indigenous to Botswana, including the shy lechwes. Bird life is abundant and in great variety.

Day 3. Fly to Camp Okuti in the Okavango Delta. Enjoy your choice of activities offered by the camp. Overnight in thatched chalets with en suite facilities at Camp Okuti. B/L/D

Day 4. Enjoy your choice of activities offered by the camp. Overnight in thatched chalets with en suite facilities at Camp Okuti. B/L/D

Camp Okuti is situated in the remote northeastern reaches of the Okavango Delta on the edge of the Xakanaxa lagoon. It lies within close range of shallow flood plains, papyrus swamp and dense riverine forest. The camp is small (maximum of 20 guests) and has all the amenities to make your stay pleasant and comfortable. Each chalet is positioned to overlook one of the Delta's most famous lagoons. Guests frequently choose to remain in the camp by day to watch the profusion of birds in the area. The management's primary goal is to provide guests the opportunity to escape crowded areas and experience pristine wilderness as it has been for centuries, unaffected by humans. Activities include game viewing in Moremi Wildlife Reserve by open safari vehicles or motorboat with an experienced guide who will enrich your understanding of the unique wildlife in the region. During breeding season, flocks of herons may be seen at their nesting and breeding sites. Also common to the area are the fish-eagle, hippos, crocodile and other smaller water animals in abundance, which are easily visibly from the boat. The motorboat safaris pause for enchanting picnics in the shade of the riverine trees. At the camp drinks and light snacks are served before you sit down to a delicious African meal, including fresh bread baked daily. The evenings are spent around fragrant wooded campfires or in the sunken lounge, while you listen to the sounds of the night - the splash of hippo, the roar of lions and the cry of jackal.

The Okavango River rises in the Angolan Highlands, flowing 600 miles through the sandy plains of Angola. As the flood pushes through reed beds and down ancient channels, it floods the open plains and creates thousands of islands, some little more than tiny termite mounds. Its water never reaches the sea, but empties itself into the burning Kalahari sands of northern Botswana. This forms a 9,600 square mile maze of lagoons, channels and islands, known as the Okavango Delta. It is one of Africa's largest and most beautiful oasis, creating a natural refuge for the larger animals of the desert. The northern part is permanently flooded where vast papyrus beds grow and float above the sand, kept open by the passage of hippo, elephant and buffalo as they push their way from mainland to island and back. This is home to over 450 bird and plant species, and several of the world's rarest species of antelope. Reptiles of the delta include the Nile crocodile, leguaans (iguana family) and carnivorous water monitors. The croaks of bell frogs and bullfrogs provide lovely evening choruses. The delta is lush with flood plains, gleaming white sand banks under crystal clear water, secret waterways, palm-covered islands, delicate ferns and radiant lagoons where pale blue lilies rise above a floor of dark green pads. Here you can absorb the peace and tranquillity synonymous with this ecological wonder. The only sound you hear as your makoro (dug-out canoe) glides through the water, are the sounds of the wild, the swish of the papyrus and the haunting call of the fish-eagle, supreme sovereign of the swamps.

The 1,080 square mile Moremi Wildlife Reserve is perhaps the most beautiful and interesting of all the many natural areas of tropical Africa. It lies in the northeastern section of the Okavango Delta, occupying wide areas of permanent swamp. It offers a landscape of lagoons and winding waterways, Kalahari sand, reed beds, mopane and knob thorn forests. These many different habitats make possible the viewing of a wider variety of animals than almost anywhere else on earth. In addition to all the larger animals, you might be lucky enough to see the shy lechwe (a semi-aquatic deer listed as an endangered species, though abundant in the Okavango wetlands) or the rare sitatunga, a swamp antelope which when frightened, submerges like a hippo into the water. The reserve was created in 1962 by the Batawana tribe on whose land it is situated and was named after their chief, Moremi III.

Day 5. Fly to Maun. B only

B/L/D = Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

INCLUSIONS AND EXCLUSIONS Taste of Botswana BWL5

Day 1 & 2. Included: accommodation in luxury rooms with en suite facilities, all meals, 2 game viewing activities per day, park fees, Kasane Airport transfers

Excluded: All other activities

Day 3 & 4. Included: accommodation in chalets with en suite facilities, all game activities, all meals, air transfer to Camp Okuti, park entry fees

Day 5. Included: air transfer to Maun, breakfast only

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