http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/7460_other-botswana.htm Check out some of the recently updated travel & vacation listings on RealAdventures. Be inspired, go explore! en-us Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:10:54 GMT Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:10:54 GMT http://RealAdventures.com http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/7460_other-botswana.htm 100 100 http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023937_Botswana-s-Safari-Spots http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023937_Botswana-s-Safari-Spots Articles Botswana Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:11:00 Arguably southern Africa's most popular safari destination a hugely unpopulated territory that enjoys political and economic stability and is blessed with impressive wildlife and wilderness areas. -
Arguably southern Africa's most popular safari destination a hugely unpopulated territory that enjoys political and economic stability and is blessed with impressive wildlife and wilderness areas.


Popular Safari Destinations
Safari Seasons
Getting Around

Overview
Arguably southern Africa's most popular safari destination a hugely unpopulated territory that enjoys political and economic stability and is blessed with impressive wildlife and wilderness areas.

Botswana is well suited for both first time African visitors and safari specialists seeking remote and secluded safari getaways. Botswana's prized safari destinations include the Okavango Delta and Moremi Chobe National Park and Savuti the remote Linyanti/Chobe river system the Kalahari and Makgadikgadi Pans.


Popular Safari Destinations

The Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta is unquestionably Africa's finest wetland and is one of the great natural wonders of the world. Although the Delta's wildlife diversity and concentrations are modest by comparison with some other safari destinations in the region the Okavango offers a truly rejuvenating experience.

Moremi Game Reserve
Moremi, located in the north eastern Delta including Chief's Island and the private concessions on its fringe is a prime attraction its game, birdlife and scenery is spectacular. The area contains some of Botswana's finest small and seasonal safari lodges and is favoured by us on our safaris. Moremi is subject to significant seasonal variation and this needs to be considered quite carefully when planning a safari.

Chobe National Park
Chobe is arguably Botswana's finest destination for game viewing particularly on the Chobe riverfront and in the Savuti area. Unfortunately it tends to be a bit crowded and the solution is often sought in some of the remoter and more exclusive concessions to the west. Chobe is a prime destination for first time visitors to Africa and provides some excellent opportunities for specialists.

The Kalahari
The Kalahari, broadly encompassing the Makgadikgadi and Nxai pans is not a conventional safari destination. It is however an absolutely fascinating ecological habitat heavily influenced by larger geological factors and seasonal water. A safari in the Kalahari is a truly rewarding experience.
Details & Reservations: Botswana's Safari Spots
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023949_The-Okavango-Delta http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023949_The-Okavango-Delta Articles Botswana Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:11:00 Described as "the jewel" of the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta is a tranquil and isolated oasis set in Botswana's harsh and arid desert. -
Described as "the jewel" of the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta is a tranquil and isolated oasis set in Botswana's harsh and arid desert.


Described as "the jewel" of the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta is a tranquil and isolated oasis set in Botswana's harsh and arid desert widely considered as being one of Africa's best safari destinations with its special diversity of fauna and flora.

The Source Of The Okavango Delta
Spurred by huge subtropical storms, the Cubango River rises in central Angola, flows through Namibia as the Kuvango River and finally enters Botswana as the Okavango River at Mohembo in the north. With it comes some 11 billion cubic metres of water each year which drains away through a maze of lagoons, channels and islands before disappearing into the Kalahari wastes of the south.

This is the Okavango Delta, some 15000 square kilometres of wetland with a special diversity of fauna and flora.

The Okavango River is funnelled through parallel faults of the Panhandle as a deep and fastflowing river before being confronted by another perpendicular fault with a sudden increase in gradient. This slows the flow of water considerably as it spreads into relatively shallow sediment with a fall of only 62 metres over approximately 250 kilometres.

The Okavango's Seasonal Floods
An important feature of the Okavango is the seasonal flooding which commences in midsummer in the north and ends about six months later in the south. This results in a cyclical motion of water rising in the north as it recedes in the south during summer, and a rising in the south as it drops in the north during winter. The nature of the annual floods is gentle with floodplains and islands disappearing under water and then reappearing in an everchanging landscape at the end of each season this is particularly pronounced in the central Okavango.

The Flood Zones
The Delta can be reasonably well divided between a permanently flooded zone in the north and a seasonally flooded zone in the south.

The northern zone includes the panhandle with its riverine forest fringes immediately adjacent to arid Kalahari woodlands and depending upon the inflow from Angola a vast wetland of up to 12000 square kilometres of islands, reed beds, channels, forest banks and permanent water ways.
The seasonally flooded zone has large Kalahari sandveld islands with dry and deciduous woodlands fringed by wide grassy floodplains that are heavily influenced by the seasonal floods.

Moremi
The Moremi Game Reserve and its surrounds is the focal point for safaris in the Okavango and includes habitats from both the permanently and seasonally flooded zones. With the exception of the eastern "tongue" of Moremi, access into the Okavango Delta is by aircraft.

Provided By The Zambezi Safari And Travel Co. Ltd.



Details & Reservations: The Okavango Delta
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023952_The-Moremi-Game-Reserve http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023952_The-Moremi-Game-Reserve Articles Botswana Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:11:00 The Moremi Game Reserve and its surrounds is the focal point for safaris in the Okavango and includes habitats from both the permanently and seasonally flooded zones. -
The Moremi Game Reserve and its surrounds is the focal point for safaris in the Okavango and includes habitats from both the permanently and seasonally flooded zones.


The Moremi Game Reserve and its surrounds is the focal point for safaris in the Okavango and includes habitats from both the permanently and seasonally flooded zones. With the exception of the eastern "tongue" of Moremi, access into the Okavango Delta is by aircraft.

Moremi has in the past suffered the ravages of a rinderpest epidemic in the last century, overgrazing by indigenous pastoral farmers up until the 1940's and saw uncontrolled hunting until the early 1960's.
Two and a half decades after proclamation as a reserve by Chief Moremi's family, the reserve is now one of the most scenic and varied game parks in Africa with prolific populations of wildlife and birds.

Today, Moremi covers almost a third of the entire Okavango Delta a diverse habitat where the desert and delta meet, comprising forests, lagoons, floodplains, pans and woodlands.

Moremi contains the full spectrum of game and birdlife found in the Okavango and is the premier safari attraction in the Delta. The Delta is renowned for its mokoro trails.

Provided By The Zambezi Safari And Travel Co. Ltd.


Details & Reservations: The Moremi Game Reserve
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023953_Chobe-National-Park http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023953_Chobe-National-Park Articles Botswana Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:11:00 Chobe National Park, named after the Chobe River on its northern boundary is home to an exciting variety of large mammals and over 450 bird species. -
Chobe National Park, named after the Chobe River on its northern boundary is home to an exciting variety of large mammals and over 450 bird species.


Chobe National Park, named after the Chobe River on its northern boundary is home to an exciting variety of large mammals and over 450 bird species. Chobe is renowned for having the highest concentration of elephants in Africa with truly impressive herds gathering during both the wet and dry season. The Savuti area with its particularly strong populations of predators and annual zebra migration has set the scene for many wellknown documentaries and is a prime safari destination in southern Africa.

Chobe comprises four main areas the Chobe river frontage, the central pans around Nogatsaa, the Linyanti wetlands and the famous Savuti region that includes the Mababe Depression.

The Chobe River Front
The stretch of river from Ngoma in the west, including Serondela and extending towards Kasane is a rich riverine forest with a marginal floodplain. This northern section is considered to be one of southern Africa's finest short game viewing drives an area renowned for its elephant and buffalo during the dry season and a birder's paradise year round. The Kasane/Chobe area is unfortunately prone to overcrowding during regional school holidays.

Nogatsaa and Tchinga
The pan speckled grass woodland approximately 3 hours drive south of Serondela is a hardly known area that holds water well into the dry season and attracts a profusion of game between August and October. This area is particularly good for viewing eland.

The Linyanti
The northwestern corner of Chobe meets the Linyanti River affording a very short stretch of river frontage. This is a fragment of almost 900 square kilometres of the secluded Linyanti Swamp an area that is further expanded by the Selinda Reserve in the west and Namibia's remote Mamili National Park on the northern bank of the Kwando River. The area's relative inaccessibility and remoteness makes it one of our favoured safari destinations.

Savuti
This famous western corner of Chobe is one of Botswana's bestknown wildlife areas. Savuti covers almost 5000 square kilometres and includes the socalled Savuti Marsh and Channel, the Mababe Depression and Magwikhwe Sand Ridge each feature fashioned by the tectonic instability of the region. The lions and hyeanas and zebra migrations are synonymous with Savuti but the area also hosts an excellent diversity of other predators and plains game species. Its pans and waterholes in the dry season sustain a large population of bull elephants.

Provided By The Zambezi Safari And Travel Co. Ltd.


Details & Reservations: Chobe National Park
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023954_The-Kalahari http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1023954_The-Kalahari Articles Botswana Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:11:00 Derived from the Tswana word "Kgalagadi", Meaning "the great thirst", the Kalahari is one of the world's most extensive mantles of sand that extends south into South Africa, west into Namibia and north into Angola and Zambia. -
Derived from the Tswana word "Kgalagadi", Meaning "the great thirst", the Kalahari is one of the world's most extensive mantles of sand that extends south into South Africa, west into Namibia and north into Angola and Zambia.


Derived from the Tswana word "Kgalagadi", meaning "the great thirst", the Kalahari is one of the world's most extensive mantles of sand that extends south into South Africa, west into Namibia and north into Angola and Zambia. This Kalahari sand covers the hollow basin of Botswana and forms a flat plain that covers nearly 70% of the country.

The Kalahari Desert is not a true desert in the sense that it is well vegetated and receives copious but very unpredictable rainfall. It does however hold no permanent surface water and has resulted in a fascinating ecological challenge for flora, fauna and the San Bushmen who have inhabited the area for thousands of years.

The Kalahari has three of Africa's most remote game reserves including the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Khutse Game Reserve and Gemsbok National Park.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was brought to the world's attention through Mark and Delia Owens' book "Cry of the Kalahari" during their research on brown hyeana between 1974 and 1981. It's the world's second largest protected area encompassing a harsh and unforgiving environment that holds a fascinating history of geological change.

Khutse Game Reserve is a small reserve abutting the CKGR's southern boundary. It consists mostly of some 60 calcrete pans within undulating savannah.

Gemsbok National Park, situated in the dry south of Botswana provides excellent habitats for raptors with nearly 50 having been listed the oryx or gemsbok after which it is named are best seen between March and May.

Provided By The Zambezi Safari And Travel Co. Ltd.


Details & Reservations: The Kalahari
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024275_Travel-Consideration-Botswana http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024275_Travel-Consideration-Botswana Official Info Botswana Wed, 18 Oct 2000 00:10:00 US State Department Travel Considerations for Botswana -
US State Department Travel Considerations for Botswana



Details & Reservations: Travel Consideration Botswana
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024121_Background-Notes-Botswana http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024121_Background-Notes-Botswana Official Info Botswana Fri, 06 Oct 2000 00:10:00 U.S. Department of State information for the Republic of Botswana. -
U.S. Department of State information for the Republic of Botswana.





Details & Reservations: Background Notes Botswana
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