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Leader: Weldon Lee Price: $8425 Deposit: $500 Limit: 7 Days: 16 days/15 nights From: Johannesburg, South Africa Includes: air transportation (South Africa to Botswana), safari vehicles (4 photogs to a 9 pass vehicle), boat cruise, lodging, complete meals, professional guide, park fees, 13 full days shooting
This adventure takes you into the legendary Okavango Delta, a primeval oasis situatedpl in the heart of the Kalahari, as well as the wildlife rich areas of Chobe, Nxai Pan and Magadgikgadi National Parks.
The magnificent African elephant will be our quarry as we explore the Chobe River by boat. Game drives in Chobe, Moremi, Naxai Pan, and Magadgikgadi will provide opportunities to photograph lion, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, impala, waterbuck, warthog, wild dog, hippo, and crocodile, along with an amazing variety of colorful and exotic birds. Nights around the campfire will find us listening to the sounds of the African night as they filter through the inky darkness.
Botswana is the Africa of the imagination where land and skies stretch on forever. Most of the country is wide-open bush or desert. Few people inhabit the land -- less than two per square kilometer. Most roadways are nothing more than simple one-lane jeep tracks hacked out of the savannah. It's this remoteness that makes Botswana so captivating and intriguing.
We will do everything in our power to transform this trip into a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
Photography at its best -- The Ultimate in Adventure!
Itinerary
Day 1 Saturday) - Day 1 (Saturday) - Upon arrival in Johannesburg, you will be met at the airport by our South African representative and delivered to the Albatross House, where you, along with the others in your group, will spend the night. You will enjoy dinner at the Moyo Restaurant at 6PM, where you will experience authentic South Africa cuisine embellished with true Native hospitality.
Day 2 (Sunday) - Depart Johannesburg for the flight to Livingstone, Zambia. From there, you will experience the breathtaking "Flight of the Angels" as our bush plane takes you to Kasane, Botswana, where you'll be met by our safari guides and transferred to Chobe Safari Lodge, one of the best lodges in all of Botswana. Here, you will spend the first four nights of your Botswana adventure, During the afternoon, you'll experience the Chobe River by boat where you will have the opportunity to photograph the awesome herds of African elephants as they gather along the river to drink and bathe.
The flight over Victoria Falls is referred to as "The Flight of the Angels" -- called so, after David Livingstone, the famous explorer who was supposedly the first white person to view the Falls. Livingstone writes, "No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."
National Park where you will experience photo opportunities that most have seen only on the pages of National Geographic magazine. African lions, cheetahs, leopards, buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, hippo, and crocodiles, to say nothing of the amazing variety of colorful and exotic birds, are but a few of our wild brothers and sisters that you can expect to grace your viewfinder.
Days 6, 7, 8 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) - This morning our bush plane will transport you to Moremi Game Reserve where we will spend the next three nights camping in the African bush. This section of the Okavango Delta consists of woodlands, slow moving channels, and open flood plains. Likely subjects during your stay in Moremi include elephants, lions, giraffe, zebra buffalo, and leopards, along with birds such as the Wattled Crane and African Fish Eagles. You'll also have opportunities to photograph the rare, red lechwe and puku. Who knows, you may even encounter wild dogs.
Days 12, 13, 14 (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) - Today. you will depart for Meno A Kwena Lodge where you will spend the next three nights. The Lodge, situated on the high banks of the Boteti riverbed bordering Makgadikgadi National Park, Nxai Pan National Park, and the Kalahari Game Reserve, provides easy access to three of the prime wildlife photography areas of Botswana's Kalahari desert. The winter months (June-August) host a hive of activities as the 'Legendary Migratory Herds' of zebra and wildebeest fill the river bed at night relying on the few remaining water holes of the Boteti water system for their survival.
Day 15 (Saturday) - Following an early breakfast, you'll be transported to Maun where you'll board Air Botswana for your flight back to Johannesburg and an unforgettable night at the Lesedi Cultural Village, a World Heritage Site. Nesteled in pristine bushveld where families from the Zulu, Xhosa, and Pedi live in their traditional homesteads, Lesedi is a true African experience that MUST be experienced; it cannot be described.
Day 16 (Sunday) - All good things must come to an end. It's time to return home and process all those pixels. Following breakfast, you will be transported to the airport where you will begin the first leg of your journey back home.
This itinerary is meant as a guide. Exact routing depends on movement of animal herds.
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Dates: May 10-24, 2008
Days
3, 4, 5 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) - You will spend these days
in the heart of Chobe
Days
9, 10, 11 (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) - Morning will find us
breaking camp in preparation for the journey to Nxai Pan National Park. Our
supply team will travel ahead and set up camp. Along the way, we will stop in
Maun, eat lunch, and stock up on supplies for the next three nights of your
adventure. If you have ever dreamed of photographing African elephants
silhouetted against blazing African sunsets, then wait no longer. This is the
location! Not only can you expect to photograph elephants, herds of giraffe also
live in the pan as do gemsbok, springbok, and cheetah. The amazing little
bat-eared fox also call the pan home.
