Platinum Botswana 2021

Day 3 - Zarafa Camp

Game drives are in 10-seater open 4x4 Land Rovers each accommodating maximum six guests, allowing you an outside seat. The camp has a supply of bean bags for you to use to steady your camera while on game drives. You can take a walking safari (on request as dependent on walking guides being in camp).

Apart from the simple appeal of watching the elephants at the water's edge from the luxury of the raised decks of Zarafa Camp, spectacular wildlife viewing is available on day and night game drives and walks.

Cruising on the Zibadianja Lagoon is possible when water levels permit. The camp also has an open-air gym and offers in-room massages.

Elephants at Zarafa Camp

Accommodation: Zarafa Camp – Tent (B, L, D)

Day 4 - Zarafa Camp

Enjoy another day exploring the Selinda Reserve on game drives and bush walks.

Giraffes at Sunset - Zarafa Camp

Accommodation: Zarafa Camp – Tent (B, L, D)

Day 5 - Selinda Reserve/Makgadikgadi

Today you will be transferred by light aircraft to and transfer to Jack’s Camp, one of the most legendary and iconic camps in Southern Africa. Founded by explorer Jack Bousfield in the 1960s, the camp sits in a striking spot on the edge of Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans, gazing over glittering salt pans and shimmering expanses of sun-scorched earth.

Please Note: Luggage restrictions on the Botswana light aircraft transfer flights is 20kg/44lbs in soft bags – including hand luggage.

Guest Tent at Jack's Camp

Jack’s Camp is an oasis of style and comfort in the middle of Botswana’s Kalahari Desert. A beautiful authentic, 1940’s style tented safari camp, which includes a private museum, shop, iconic tea tent and a pool pavilion. Spectacular vistas, creative surprises, expert guiding, old-world safari styling and superb cuisine all come together to create an experience that is completely different to any other.

Wildlife at Jack's Camp

Jack's Camp features ten, Bedouin-style tents with en-suite bathrooms featuring indoor and private outdoor showers, scattered below a soft canopy of molokwane palms, each one an ode to safaris of old.

At the mess tent, a museum of vintage artefacts, maps, photos, and manuscripts all collected by the Bousfield family, is the centre piece of the 1940s-style canvas pavilion. And if you weren’t already completely and utterly blown away, wait until you see the sleek swimming pool tent, and the fact that it’s the only one of its kind on the continent.

Pool Tent at Jack's Camp

The desert is never a place of abundance. The Makgadikgadi is full of elusive species and desert-adapted animals and the perfect complement to Botswana’s traditionally game-rich areas, like the Khwai Private Reserve and the Okavango Delta.

Accommodation: Jack’s Camp – Luxury Tent (B, L, D)

Day 6 - Makgadikgadi

While staying at Jack’s Camp you will have the opportunity to go out on safari game drives.

On these guided game drives, you have the opportunity to explore the 6,200 square miles of Makgadikgadi Salt pans further to see rare desert species. Ornithology enthusiasts will enjoy birding walks to seek migratory and resident bird species.

Wildlife of Botswana

Nature and anthropology walks to seek ancient stone tools dated 2,000 to 500,000 years old. Sunset “sundowners” on the pans and surreal astronomy evenings with the guides. During the wet, rainy season 35-75,000 zebra and wildebeest migrate into the area with regular sightings of lion, cheetah and other predators on the hunt of their trail. See hundreds of thousands of Pink Flamingo on the soda lake at Kubu Island in the wet season - the greatest flock on earth.

Accommodation: Jack’s Camp – Luxury Tent (B, L, D)

Day 7 - Makgadikgadi

Enjoy a day of wildlife viewing. A visit to the Makgadikgadi means getting up close and personal with the local meerkat families.

Years of scientific study have resulted in several meerkat colonies in Botswana being semi-habituated. Here you can have a great meerkat experience, with the opportunity to meet these social mongooses, giving unique insights into how Kalahari meerkats band together to face the challenges of this unique and unforgiving environment. Head out from camp just as the sun it is rising, so that you are on the ground as these little guys set off in search of their breakfast.

See amazing meerkats up close at Jack's Camp

Walk amongst them (you’re not allowed to touch or feed them) and if you take a seat you might be lucky enough to be mistaken for a termite mound, where you will be used as a look out point for predators.

Spend time walking and interacting with a group of Zu/’hoasi Bushmen and gain insight into their ancient culture.

Learning from the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen in Botswana

During the dry season, go quad biking across the lunar expanse of the pans. During the green season, experience the spectacular migration of zebra and wildebeest – the second biggest in Africa, and the last remaining in Southern Africa.

Accommodation: Jack’s Camp – Luxury Tent (B, L, D)

Day 8 - Makgadikgadi/Okavango Delta

Today you will take a light aircraft transfer to the Okavango Delta. On arrival at the camp airstrip you will be met and transferred to the spectacular Xigera Safari Lodge, where you will spend 3-nights, including all meals and two activities each day.

Please Note: Luggage restrictions on the Botswana light aircraft transfer flights is 20kg/44lbs in soft bags – including hand luggage.

Xigera (“Kee-jera”) Safari Lodge is a bold new statement in Botswana’s most unspoiled wilderness on the western side of the Moremi Game Reserve, in the heart of the Okavango Delta.

Discover 12 suites suspended above the forest floor, with a deck that extends to an outdoor daybed with uninterrupted views over the floodplains and passing wildlife. Floating delicately above the water and allowing wildlife to pass uninterruptedly beneath, the suites are situated on two islands, bridged together with an extraordinary bronze lily centrepiece designed by Anton de Kock and created by Otto du Plessis.

Wildlife is abundant at Xigera

Each guest suite is fully air conditioned and solar powered by the Xigera Energy Centre, which supplies over 95% of Xigera’s energy needs. Water is also purified using an innovative Reverse Osmosis mineralising process, to enable guests to drink the water.

The lodge is surrounded by palm-filled islands, breath-taking floodplains and riverine forests: a pristine lacework of islands, papyrus swamps and dense trees. This afternoon enjoy your first scheduled game viewing activity in the Okavango Delta, where you might encounter lions, leopards, elephants, crocodiles and more than 450 bird species.

Leopard in Botswana by Mike Myers

During your free time, admire Xigera's 'living gallery' of bespoke works commissioned exclusively by Africa's most exciting artists and craftspeople. Ground-breaking in its scope and vision, it will be the first design project of this scale on the continent, in partnership with award-winning gallery Southern Guild.

Relax around a totemic firepit sculpture by blacksmith artist Conrad Hicks, holding the fire as a boma centrepiece and offering a contemporary take on the traditional boma setting.

Xigera - Giraffe baby

The spectacular spa provides a tranquil haven, with an extensive spa programme focused on mindfulness, wellness and holistic healing, tapping into the natural healing powers of the bush. Practise yoga each day, spend time in the gym or swim in the flowing water of the swimming pool, which overlooks the river, with a deck for relaxation.

Dining at Xigera is a true bush experience. Beneath the velvet night sky, dine on delicious dishes that are inspired by the Delta, using the very best fresh and local ingredients. African-inspired menus, designed by experienced Red Carnation Executive Chefs, are complemented by much-loved signature recipes and a cellar that showcases a superb selection of award-winning Bouchard Finlayson wines.

Accommodation: Xigera Camp – Luxury Suite (B, L, D)

Day 9 - Okavango Delta

At Xigera, you’re at the heart of one of the most incredible eco-systems in Africa. It’s a wetlands paradise where the ebb and flow of the seasons paints an ever-changing vista to frame your wildlife experiences.

Lion at Xigera by Mike Myers

Embark on you game viewing experiences, as Xigera's expert guides generously share a lifetime’s knowledge of the local flora and fauna. Take a flexible game drive or walking safari, or journey through labyrinthine waterways on a mokoro craft or sleek motorboat.

Accomodation: Xigera Camp – Luxury Suite (B, L, D)

Day 10 - Okavango Delta

Exquisite palm forests and long miscanthus grass; papyrus-lined channels and large floodwater lagoons all form the dramatic stage of an ancient land that showcases one of Africa’s greatest natural wildernesses. Witness this magical world come to life on a walking safari, with the opportunity to spot wildlife that might otherwise be missed from a vehicle.

On nature walks discover the smaller miracles of the bush, things sometimes missed in a vehicle.

Accommodation: Xigera Camp – Luxury Suite (B, L, D)

Day 11 - Okavango/Maun/Johannesburg

It is time to say goodbye to depart from your luxury wildlife experience as you transfer by light aircraft to Maun Airport.

Please Note: Luggage restrictions on the Botswana light aircraft transfer flights is 20kg/44lbs in soft bags – including hand luggage.

On arrival in Maun, you will connect with your regional flight to Johannesburg and then onto your international flight. (B)