Okavango Delta

Chief’s Island in the Okavango Delta is as good as it gets in a safari destination.

I just spent a week at Mombo Trails camp in Botswana. I am somewhat of an old hand at African destinations since I have travelled the continent from north to south and east to west over 5 decades. However, I have never before seen so many critters up so close or been guided by professionals who knew more about the flora and fauna. The birds were gorgeous, the big cats magnificent, the other creatures plentiful and the backgrounds colorful and varied. Mombo Trails accommodations were comfortable and the food varied and delicious. The staff were solicitous but never intrusive. In short, this was the best safari experience I have known!

A unique and unforgettable experience.

We were on a camping safari organised by On The Go Tours in conjunction with Africa Tour Company. We thoroughly enjoyed the Mokoro ride through the blue water of the Delta...it is so relaxing with only the sound of the Mokoro slicing through the water accompanied by the sound of the reeds in the breeze. We saw some grazing zebras far away, beautiful water lilies and lily pads, local wild flowers and some birds. It was sunny and warm and most of us were completely relaxed.
Our campsite was in a remote area with fixed tents and attached open air "en-suite". At night we have a fantastic view of the Milky Way and stars. After dinner, the polos and campsite personnels gave an impromptu concert singing and dancing...the atmosphere is simply wonderful and you feel you are really experiencing the real Africa.
We had a guided walk in the evening through the Delta and were given a first hand education on the local flora and their medicinal benefits...the climax that evening is to view the sunset out in the water in the mokoro and the next morning to see the sunrise.

Don't miss it - it is different but nevertheless amazing, pure and peaceful and th hippos are a little scary!!Just so cool!!

Amazing place to visit

Everything was perfect about this safari, except the season. We've been there at the end of still wet season, with too much water around and too tall grass to hide for wildlife. Did not spot big cats at all. However, a lot of hypos, zebras, giraffes, elephants, different kinds of antelopes, beautiful birds.

It was very wet while we were there, which sometimes made travel challenging, but even so, the safari vehicles navigated through the water over the sandy bottom. We didn't see quite as much wildlife here as in Chobe, probably because of the water levels, but had great looks at hippos and numerous birds.

Botswana and the Okavango Delta

I spent one month in Botswana and from the moment we crossed the border from Namibia we were greeted with incredibly warm and friendly people and a whole host of amazing wildlife everywhere we looked! Its Africa so the weather was sunny and hot but not unbearable at all.

Our base camp was the Old Bridge Backpackers in Maun which is just on the edge of the Okavango delta and the Moremi Game reserve which made it easier to access the Okavango Delta. The backpackers backs directly on to the Thamalakene River and Hippos, Crocodiles, Elephants and amazing birds such as the Lilac-breasted Roller, Malachite Kingfisher and Fish Eagles were often seen. We stayed in a tent in the backpackers which opened directly onto a balcony overlooking the river with a group of Pied Kingfishers using our balcony rail as a perch to fish from which made for some excellent breakfast viewing!

The Old Bridge Backpackers was a perfect base camp with extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff who helped us to organise Safaris, scenic aeroplane rides, boat trips and other activities very easily and at competitive prices. This backpackers has to be up there for best location award! Plus the food was excellent!

The Okavango Delta was the main reason we took a trip up to Botswana and we were not disappointed! With cheap eco friendly safari operators who employ very knowledgeable and experienced guides to choose from you can be sure to have an amazing experience in the Okavango and in Botswana. We also took an scenic aeroplane ride over the Okavango before and during sunset which was an experience I shall never forget. You were able to see the beautiful delta as a whole and see the animals from a unique perspective and offered some incredible photographic opportunities. I am a keen bird watcher and for me I wanted the opportunity to get closer to the beautiful birds of Botswana, so I had to take a boat tour through the delta water ways. This was also an amazing experience which brought you face to face with hippos, crocodiles, herds of elephants and of course the all important birds!

Start to finish an amazing trip and I cant wait to go back!

An opportunity to submerse yourself into the iconic natural world of Africa!

The biggest highlight for me was the isolation felt within the Okavango Delta. For the entire week we were there we didn't run into any other tourists/safari companies which I have previously noticed on safari tours elsewhere. This isolation made every encounter seem incredibly more special and private and enforced the feeling that we were guests into the animals world.

Great scenic Flights over the Okavango Delta, Maun, Botswana.

The wildlife is in abundance below,as you fly over the delta at 3600 feet above sea level,which is only actually 500 feet above the ground,due the the height of the Okavango,The Delta does not flow into any river or ocean,but simply evaporates when it hits the barren Kalahari desert nearby.There are many operators of small aircraft,that will arrange a sightseeing flight above the Delta,and most of their business comes from flying guests that arrive at Maun International airport,to the many bush and game lodges with an hour flying from Maun,where Elephants,giraffes and Water buffalo alongside many spieces of bird life others,will come right up to your game lodge.Small boats also cruise though the delta,but its from the air you see the Delta at its best, Game lodge tends to be at the higher end of the market but are worth that once in a life time experience!Highlights will be seeing elephants drinking water right from your lodge,and the changing weather,which can produce massive lighting storms within minutes,it all adds up to a unforgettable adventure in Africa.

Spectacular encounters with beautiful animals in unspoilt surroundings.

If you are interested in seeing animals and birds in their natural surroundings, unspoiled by a constant stream of trucks passing by, then this is the place to come. Because many areas are concessions, it means that fewer people are "out on safari" at any one time and the guides coordinate with each other so that their vehicles only converge if something extra special is spotted.
We stayed in two places in the Delta, Sango Safari Camp in the Kwai Concession and Pom Pom Camp.
Sango was our favourite stop of all the places we visited throughout Zambia and Botswana, with the staff being so friendly and the food out of this world, especially considering how isolated it is. The highlight here were the African Painted Dogs which we saw on three separate occasions at close quarters. We saw a large family of 20 resting under some bushes and then one night we were surrounded by them playing and frolicking. The most memorable, though, was a smaller family of six cornering a large spotted hyena and giving it a good seeing to before letting it go, bloodied and bowed but able to slink away to fight another day.
Pom Pom was very different and because the water was low, it probably wasn't at its best. After saying that, however, we had some wonderful and very close encounters with lions and leopards, with a 1 year old leopard probably the most beautiful animal I have ever seen in my life. It was waiting for its mother to come back with food but in the meanwhile, entertained us with acrobatics in its tree. The birdlife was great but sporadic. We saw 2 Pels Fishing Owls and lots of water birds plus the usual variety of kingfishers , babblers, coucals etc but perhaps not quite the abundance that we saw in Chobe and around Victoria Falls.
I would definitely return to either camp as you do get the impression that things can change very quickly and new birds and animals are just around the corner.
A spectacular holiday in all respects.

Getting back to Nature

Okavango Delta had an amazing range of habitat from savannah to wetland to woods. In most other areas we found that after 3 days you had "worked" an area. In the Okavango that is not true, there is just so much to see. We deliberately went in the wet season to increase our chances of bird/animal spotting and to enjoy the scenery more. We were very fortunate in that we only had one evening's rain and one overnighter so it was an excellent choice - not too hot either. We stayed at Kwara Camp which was excellent, yes it looks a little tired but that didn't matter, it blended in with the habitat. In with nature - being woken at 3am to hear Lions "purring" just outside the tent wall was quite an experience ( I took my hearing aids out so you can imagine how loud it was) - but you are quite safe inside. One night we had to be taken by Landrover to the main tent (100 metres) because of lions prowling around. The food was varied and all excellent - something for everyone I would think, I thought I might lose weight - wrong so good and so much I put plenty on... Off on the trips we saw the usual suspects hippo, elephant, lion, giraffe, warthog (my favourite), zebra, Antelopes and a tortoise. Painted Reed Frogs when we went out canoeing and an Ostrich family with 8 youngsters. Bird life - well with the range of habitat there is a large number of species you can see. Carmine Bee-eaters, Crested Barbet, openbills and plenty of raptors. How much you see does depend on your guide as well as your knowedge, in particular who you are out for the day with - if you are with people uniterested in birds and only in chasing for wild dogs then you'll see much less bird or insect/butterfly life. We were lucky on our whole Safari in that only once were we in a group that wanted to chase, other times we were on our own and could take our time (saw more birds and animals that way). Another advantage of the wet season when the camps aren't so full. I've just looked back over my Flickr album of Okavango Delta and am amazed at what we saw.

Just go - you won't be disappointed - we spent 3 nights in Kwara and so had the best part of three (two whole plus two half) days, I'm glad we didn't do any less.