10 Days Zimbabwe & Botswana Safari

Your safari begins in Maun, the frontier town at the edge of the Okavango, reached by a short flight from Johannesburg. From here a light aircraft carries you out over the Delta. It is worth asking for a window seat: from the air you see what no road could show you, a maze of channels, lagoons and palm-fringed islands spreading across the Kalahari, with elephant and buffalo trails worn between them. Your first camp sits deep in the Delta, surrounded by water and reached only by air. You arrive in time to settle in, meet your guide and head out on your first afternoon activity, then return to camp for dinner beneath a sky with no light pollution for hundreds of kilometres.

We begin in the Delta for a reason: it is the quietest, most remote part of the journey, and it resets your pace for everything that follows. Today you glide through the channels by mokoro, the traditional dugout canoe, poled by a local guide who reads the water and the wildlife as only someone raised here can. At water level you notice the small things: painted reed frogs on the papyrus, a malachite kingfisher darting past, and the silence broken only by hippos grunting in the distance. The Okavango floods in the dry season, peaking around June to August, when water arriving from the Angolan highlands spreads across the Delta. That is when mokoro and boating are at their best. From roughly November to March water levels drop, and some camps switch to game drives and walks in place of water activities. We match your camp to the season so the Delta is at its best when you are there.

A second full day lets you experience the Delta properly rather than rushing through it. Depending on your camp, you may take a guided walk on one of the islands, learning to read tracks and dung the way the San trackers once did, or a boat trip into deeper lagoons in search of the rare Pel's fishing owl, the bird that brings birdwatchers here from across the world. The afternoons are for slowing down. After an early start, the hottest hours are best spent in camp before heading out again as the light turns golden. Evenings end around the fire, listening to the night sounds of the Delta.

A short flight takes you east to Moremi Game Reserve, where the Delta's water meets dry land. Moremi has a history few parks can match: in 1963 the BaTawana people set it aside themselves, making it one of the first reserves in Africa created by a local community rather than by a colonial government. This is where the safari shifts from water to wildlife in numbers. The mix of permanent lagoons, floodplain and mopane woodland supports lion, leopard and some of Africa's most important populations of the endangered African wild dog. Your first afternoon game drive gives you a sense of just how rich this land is.

A full day of game drives in one of Botswana's finest wildlife areas. Morning drives, when predators are most active, follow fresh tracks along the floodplains, where lion prides hunt herds of red lechwe, a water-loving antelope found in very few places outside the Okavango. Your guide will plan the day around what you most want to see, whether that is a leopard in a sausage tree or a pack of wild dogs on the move. Moremi is at its best in the dry months, from about July to October, when wildlife gathers around the permanent water. In the green season, from December to March, the landscape turns lush, many animals give birth and prices are lower, though game is more spread out and some roads can flood.

You fly north-east to Kasane, gateway to Chobe National Park, home to one of the largest elephant populations on earth. The change is striking: after the intimacy of the Delta, Chobe is about scale, with herds of hundreds moving through the woodland and down to the river. In the late afternoon you head out on a sunset cruise on the Chobe River, and this is often the moment guests remember most. From the boat you watch elephants drink, bathe and sometimes swim across to the islands, while hippos, crocodiles and buffalo gather along the banks as the sun drops behind the floodplains of Namibia on the far shore.

A morning game drive along the Chobe riverfront combines the classic safari with the drama of the river. Lion and buffalo are frequently seen here, and the dry-season concentrations from July to October create some of the most memorable elephant encounters in Africa. The rest of the day can be as active or as relaxed as you like: a second boat safari for photographers, when the light is low and the animals are close, or simply time at the lodge before your final evening in Botswana.

After breakfast a road transfer of around 90 minutes takes you across the border into Zimbabwe and on to Victoria Falls. Ending here is deliberate: after a week of early starts in the bush, the Falls bring comfort, great food and one of the natural wonders of the world. In the afternoon you take a guided walk through the rainforest on the edge of the gorge, stopping at the viewpoints that face the main falls. The Zambezi drops over a curtain of rock around 1.7 km wide, the largest sheet of falling water on earth, and the local name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders," makes sense the moment you hear it.

A day to see the Falls your way. A helicopter flight shows the full width of the Falls and the zigzag gorges below them. For the adventurous, there is white-water rafting on the Zambezi, some of the most famous Grade 5 rapids in the world, or a swim in Devil's Pool on the very edge of the Falls. In the evening, a sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi is a gentle way to celebrate the end of your safari. The Falls change completely with the seasons. From about February to May they are at full flood: thunderous, but the spray can hide the view and soak you through. From about September to December the water is low and parts of the Zambian side can be almost dry, but this is when Devil's Pool opens and rafting is at its best. We will advise on the right timing for you.

A relaxed breakfast, perhaps a last look at the spray rising over the gorge, then a transfer to Victoria Falls Airport for your onward flight.