The Okavango is a unique ecosystem, an inland delta situated in the middle of the largest stretch of continuous sand in the world – the Kalahari basin. This wetland lies like an oasis in an otherwise inhospitable landscape. Where land and delta meet, a mosaic of pans, grasslands, forests and lagoons provide an extremely rich and diverse habitat in which a multitude of animals and birds flourish. This wetland is one of the natural wonders of the world, and is a fragile ecosystem that remains one of the world’s least spoilt and most beautiful wildernesses, and is home to various unique species e.g. sitatunga antelope and red lechwe.

Moremi Game Reserve is situated in the eastern corner of the Okavango Delta. Moremi is one of the most beautiful and varied reserves found on the African continent with huge concentrations of wildlife and incredible scenery. The reserve consists of both swamped areas e.g. Xakanaxa, and dry-land areas e.g. Khwai.

The Savute is characterised by the Savute Marsh, the Savute Channel and the Hills. During morning and late afternoon drives your guide will alternate between these areas. Anything can happen on the Savute Marsh and it’s best to get there early in the morning.

A dominant feature of Savute are the Hills, one of which has a few perfectly preserved San bushmen paintings which are easily accessible. Savute has a very healthy population of leopard who live on these hills and the best time to see them is either first or last light as they leave their stony refuge to hunt in the surrounding bush. In sharp contrast to the lush Chobe riverfront is the seemingly endless desolate landscape of the Savute, famous for the dry marsh, sand ridge and volcanic hills, which are unique to this area. The marsh once contained the waters of the Makgadikgadi superlake, and the most typical feature of the landscape is the abundance of dead trees – evidence of the erratic flow of the Savute channel over the years. The area consists of large open game-filled plains, and is home to a variety of dry-land animals, including zebra, wildebeest, kudu, giraffe, wild dog, leopard, cheetah and lion.

The Chobe National Park is one of Africa’s finest game sanctuaries. Situated in the far north of Botswana, Chobe encompasses a wide variety of diverse habitats offering extreme contrasts and is home to a breath-taking variety of animals and birds.

The Chobe River Front is famous for its abundance of elephants – the highest concentration of elephants to be found anywhere in the world. Chobe is also famous for its huge herds of Buffalo, for its rich birdlife and for its exquisite sunsets – a wildlife experience not to be missed.

Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan but many pans with sandy desert in between, the largest being the Sua (Sowa), Nwetwe and Nxai Pans. A dry salty clay crust most of the year, the pans are seasonally covered with water and grass, and are then a refuge for birds and animals in this very arid part of the world. The climate is hot and dry but with regular annual rains.

These salt pans cover 6,200 sq mi (16,057.9 km2) in the Kalahari basin and form the bed of the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi, which evaporated many millennia ago.  The pans themselves are salty desert whose only plant life is a thin layer of blue-green algae. However the fringes of the pan are salt marshes and further out these are circled by grassland and then shrubby savanna.

Very little wildlife can exist here during the harsh dry season of strong hot winds and only salt water, but following a rain the pan becomes an important habitat for migrating animals includingwildebeest and one of Africa’s biggest zebra populations, and the large predators that prey on them. The wet season also brings migratory birds such as ducks, geese and Great White Pelicans. The pan is home of one of only two breeding populations of Greater Flamingos in southern Africa, and only on the Soa pan, which is part of the Makgadikgadi pans