Fly in & Kruger

3 Day Kruger + 5 Day Okavango Delta

Departs ever Monday

Day 1: Panoramic route - Blyde river canyon (South Africa) The tour departs early morning from Johannesburg and Pretoria from where we pick clients up from any backpackers hostel, guest house or hotel. We will stop en-route for breakfast (own cost), after which we continue to Nelspruit (if there are clients to pick up) or alternatively through Dullstroom and Lydenburg to Graskop where we stop for lunch (own cost). After lunch we drive through the panoramic route in the northern Drakensberg mountains, where we stop at God's Window, Bourke Luck Potholes and the third largest canyon in the world - the Blyde River Canyon, where we stop at the Three Rondawels view point. Accommodation (Camping): Camping at a private lodge Accommodation (Bedded): Private lodge Included meals: Dinner

Day 2: Kruger National Park (South Africa) A very short drive takes us to Orpen gate which is the most central gate to Kruger national park, where we arrive as the gates open. Kruger is home to 147 mammal (incl the Big 5), 114 reptile & 502 bird species. You will be transferred to open sided 4 x 4 game viewing vehicles (on arrival at the park) in which we will do game drives. Kruger national park is the same size as Israel, Wales or Netherlands and contains different vegetation types, that attracts different animals to different areas of the park. Therefore we spend as much time on game drives as possible, so that we give ourselves a better chance of seeing different animal and bird species. We concentrate the game drives around the central region of the park, where we have a better chance of seeing the big cats and a large variety of other animals. Breakfast and lunch will be prepared by your guide and enjoyed at one of the many picnic sites inside Kruger national park. The guides will also stop at various view points and hides inside the park. At sunset you will start with a 3 hour night drive, done in a Kruger national park open sided game viewing vehicle with a Kruger guide. Accommodation (Camping): Camping inside Kruger national park Accommodation (Bedded): Private lodge Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 3: Return to Johannesburg & Pretoria (South Africa) This is our final morning in Kruger national park. This morning you have the opportunity of doing an optional game walk inside Kruger national park with two Kruger park armed guides. Game walks is not about seeing the animals, as you are guaranteed to see much more animals and much closer on a game drive than on a game walk. Game walks are about the smaller things normally not seen from the vehicles. The clients who are not doing a game walk, will head out on a final short game drive (done in a closed vehicle), searching for the animals not yet seen or photographed. We then head for a private lodge just outside Kruger national park, where we will enjoy a home cooked breakfast. From here we drive to Johannesburg where you will be dropped at a backpackers hostel where you will stay the night (included) Accommodation: Dormitory accommodation with the option to upgrade to a private room Included meals: Breakfast

Day 4: Maun (Botswana) The backpackers lodge will drop you off at Johannesburg (OR Tambo) International airport from where you fly to Maun. Our guide will meet you at Maun airport, from where you will drive to Sitatunga campsite, where we stay the night. This afternoon you can relax by the pool & pool bar or visit the crocodile farm where you will see hundreds of Nile crocodiles, ranging from small to 16 foot crocks. Accommodation: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation. Included meals: Dinner

Days 5, 6, 7: Okavango Delta (Botswana) The Okavango Delta must be one of the greatest experiences on offer in southern Africa. The Okavango Delta is a series of flood plains, waterways and rivers, that gets its water from Angola 6 months after the rain season. The Okavango Delta is not only extremely beautiful and peaceful, but also home to a large variety of animal and bird species. The best time to visit the Okavango Delta for game viewing is in the winter months, when the water levels are at its highest. The summer months attract a large variety of bird species and is a wonderful experience with less mammals, as they migrate north to larger quantities of water. We start the day with a breakfast, before heading into the Okavango Delta with 4x4 open-sided game viewing vehicles which will take us all the way into the park to the edge of the water channels. Here we meet the local guides (polers), and we transfer all the equipment and our personal belongings into mokoros (traditional dug out canoes), which we use to glide down the water channels deeper into the Delta. Camping in the Okavango Delta is an amazing experience in its own. There are no campsites in the concession that we visit, which means that we do free or bush camping. There will be no fences, no running water, no showers, no buildings and no electricity. We camp in the wild with only what we take with us. We enjoy a light lunch after setting up camp. It is normally very warm by this time of the day (especially in the summer), which means that we will have to cool off. The Okavango Delta offers fantastic natural swim pools in the smaller rivers, with white sand and crystal clear water. Every day we will do early morning and late afternoon game walks, searching for as many different animal species as possible. The guides will explain more about all the animals, their tracks, the vegetation and the Delta during these walks. You may have the opportunity to get close (safety first) to the wildlife during walks. After dinners you can relax around a campfire, while listening to the nocturnal animals calling out in the night. We often hear elephants rumbling, lions roaring and jackals and hyenas crying out in the night. You start your last morning in the Okavango delta with a cup of coffee before doing your final game walk. After the walk you will enjoy a quick breakfast, break down camp, and then return with the mokoros to the place where the 4x4 vehicles will meet you. Your guide will prepare a light lunch on return to camp in Maun. This afternoon you have the opportunity to do an optional one hour game flight over the Okavango Delta. This is another fantastic experience. It is amazing how much distance the small planes cover in an hour, and how much wildlife you see from the skies during the flight. Remember to take your camera, as you can take good photos during a flight. Accommodation - Days 5 & 6: Free bush camping Accommodation - Day 7: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation. Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 8: End of tour Our guide will drop you off at Maun airport after breakfast, from where you fly back to Johannesburg. Included meals: Breakfast

3 Day Kruger + 5 Day Okavango Delta

Departs ever Sunday

Day 3: Kruger National Park (South Africa) We start the day with a cup of coffee or tea, before heading out on a game drive in an open game viewing vehicle shortly after the gates open. You will be on a game drive for the majority of the day, searching for as many animal species as possible. Breakfast and lunch will be enjoyed at picnic sites inside Kruger national park. Accommodation (Camping): Camping inside Kruger national park Accommodation (Bedded): Private lodge Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 4: Return to Johannesburg & Pretoria (South Africa) This is our final morning in Kruger national park. This morning you have the opportunity of doing an optional game walk inside Kruger national park with two Kruger park armed guides. Game walks is not about seeing the animals, as you are guaranteed to see much more animals and much closer on a game drive than on a game walk. Game walks are about the smaller things normally not seen from the vehicles. The clients who are not doing a game walk, will head out on a final short game drive (done in a closed vehicle), searching for the animals not yet seen or photographed. We then head for a private lodge just outside Kruger national park, where we will enjoy a home cooked breakfast. From here we drive to Johannesburg where you will be dropped at a backpackers hostel where you will stay the night (included) Accommodation: Dormitory accommodation with the option to upgrade to a private room Included meals: Breakfast

Day 5: Maun (Botswana) The backpackers lodge will drop you off at Johannesburg (OR Tambo) International airport from where you fly to Maun. Our guide will meet you at Maun airport, from where you will drive to Sitatunga campsite, where we stay the night. This afternoon you can relax by the pool & pool bar or visit the crocodile farm where you will see hundreds of Nile crocodiles, ranging from small to 16 foot crocks. Accommodation: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation. Included meals: Dinner

Days 6, 7, 8: Okavango Delta (Botswana) The Okavango Delta must be one of the greatest experiences on offer in southern Africa. The Okavango Delta is a series of flood plains, waterways and rivers, that gets its water from Angola 6 months after the rain season. The Okavango Delta is not only extremely beautiful and peaceful, but also home to a large variety of animal and bird species. The best time to visit the Okavango Delta for game viewing is in the winter months, when the water levels are at its highest. The summer months attract a large variety of bird species and is a wonderful experience with less mammals, as they migrate north to larger quantities of water. We start the day with a breakfast, before heading into the Okavango Delta with 4x4 open-sided game viewing vehicles which will take us all the way into the park to the edge of the water channels. Here we meet the local guides (polers), and we transfer all the equipment and our personal belongings into mokoros (traditional dug out canoes), which we use to glide down the water channels deeper into the Delta. Camping in the Okavango Delta is an amazing experience in its own. There are no campsites in the concession that we visit, which means that we do free or bush camping. There will be no fences, no running water, no showers, no buildings and no electricity. We camp in the wild with only what we take with us. We enjoy a light lunch after setting up camp. It is normally very warm by this time of the day (especially in the summer), which means that we will have to cool off. The Okavango Delta offers fantastic natural swim pools in the smaller rivers, with white sand and crystal clear water. Every day we will do early morning and late afternoon game walks, searching for as many different animal species as possible. The guides will explain more about all the animals, their tracks, the vegetation and the Delta during these walks. You may have the opportunity to get close (safety first) to the wildlife during walks. After dinners you can relax around a campfire, while listening to the nocturnal animals calling out in the night. We often hear elephants rumbling, lions roaring and jackals and hyenas crying out in the night. You start your last morning in the Okavango delta with a cup of coffee before doing your final game walk. After the walk you will enjoy a quick breakfast, break down camp, and then return with the mokoros to the place where the 4x4 vehicles will meet you. Your guide will prepare a light lunch on return to camp in Maun. This afternoon you have the opportunity to do an optional one hour game flight over the Okavango Delta. This is another fantastic experience. It is amazing how much distance the small planes cover in an hour, and how much wildlife you see from the skies during the flight. Remember to take your camera, as you can take good photos during a flight. Accommodation - Days 6 & 7: Free bush camping Accommodation - Day 8: Camping with the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation. Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 9: End of tour Our guide will drop you off at Maun airport after breakfast, from where you fly back to Johannesburg. Included meals: Breakfast

Included:
All transport
All accommodation
Qualified and registered guide
All camping and other equipment
Meals as specified below
Blyde River Canyon (Three Rondawels view point)
Bourke Luck Potholes
God's Window
Entrance & conservation fees to Kruger national park
Game drives in Kruger national park (open vehicles)
Night drive inside Kruger National Park
Return flights (Jhb to Maun to Jhb)
Airport departure taxes
Meet and greet at Maun airport
Transfers from and to Maun airport
All accommodation
Qualified and registered guide
All camping and other equipment
Meals as specified
Entrance & conservation fees to Okavango Delta
Open vehicle transfers into & out of Okavango Delta
Dug out canoes (mokoros) in the Okavango Delta
Local guides (polers) in the Okavango Delta
Game walks inside the Okavango Delta

Excluded:
All drinks (except coffee & tea with meals)
Meals not specified
Optional game walk inside Kruger national park
Optional 1 hour game flight over the Okavango Delta
Visas if required (See booking conditions for info)

Kruger national park (Camping): The first night we camp at the same private lodge where the "bedded accommodation' clients are staying, where we have permanent erected tents. The tents are 3.0 x 3.0 (meters) in size with built in mosquito netting over the door and windows. Each tent has 2 proper single bed mattresses. A three course dinner will be served by the lodge. You will still require a sleeping bag. The next morning we depart for Kruger national park, where we have a permanent camp inside Kruger national park. These tents are also permanently erected on platforms with two proper single bed mattresses. We further have a kitchen tent with gas stoves and a fridge to keep food fresh and drinks cold. The camp has separate male and female bathrooms with permanent hot water.
Kruger national park (Bedded): Bedded accommodation clients will stay at the private lodge every night while on the Kruger park leg of the package. You will leave the lodge early mornings to arrive at the gates of Kruger national park as they open. You will be inside the park the full day and return to the lodge in the evenings. Three course dinners will be served by the lodge.
Camping (first night) and bedded accommodation (every night): There are a number of local villages in the rural community close to the lodge. The children from these villages started their own dance and song routine and asked the lodge if they can dance for the guests staying at the lodge. The lodge assisted the kids by making traditional dancing outfits for them and allowing them to dance and sing for the guests staying at the lodge. The children work for themselves and do not work for the lodge. Therefore they do not get payment from the lodge, but earn an income from tips that they get from the guests. Please note that sometimes (not often) the kids do not come to do the dancing.

		While staying in Maun The included accommodation is camping. We provide the tents, sleeping mattresses and camping equipment. There are chalets at Sitatunga camp (where we will be staying these two nights). You do have the option to upgrade to bedded accommodation (depending on availability), once you arrived at the camp. Livingstone Trails will pay the camping rate and you will pay the balance. While inside the Okavango Delta We enter the Okavango Delta with traditional transport used by the locals for a very long time. This form of transport (left) is called mokoros and the guy at the back with the long stick is called a poler. It is an awesome experience and very relaxing. More often than not, we will see animals such as elephant while travelling deeper and deeper into the Okavango Delta.

The area that we visit while in the Okavango Delta is totally untouched. No power boats or planes and landing strips, no fancy lodges or villages. Just us and mother nature. Probably one of the most untouched areas in southern Africa, with an enormous variety of wildlife, depending on the season.

This means that you will not be staying in a lodge or camp site - we will be doing free camping.
What is free camping?
Well, any one of our guides will tell you that it is the best way of camping. We find an ideal patch of trees along the waterways that is suitable for us to camp. This means that there are no fences, electricity, buildings or bathrooms.

The local guides will dig a hole and build a toilet.
Unfortunately we do not have a shower for these days, but we do have many natural swim holes in the rivers. These swim holes has crystal clear water and are extremely welcome when the temperatures reaches maximums during the afternoons.

Vehicles used on this tours
Transfers to and from Kruger national park & Transfers from and to Maun airport Toyota Quantums 12 clients plus 1 guide / driver
Game drives inside Kruger national park & Transfers into & out of Okavango Delta Open sided game viewing vehicles 10 clients plus 1 guide / driver
Night drive inside Kruger national park Nissan Cabstar 25 clients plus 1 guide / driver
Transport inside the Okavango Delta Mokoro 2 clients plus 1 poler

Important tour / safari information

Participation tours: All tours are participation tours. This means that the clients are responsible for pitching their own tents (except inside Kruger Park), and washing up after every meal, which is social event where people chat and get to know each other. Some guides may ask the clients to assist with the chopping and cleaning of vegetables, while the guide prepares the meals.

What to take on tour: Clothing and personal effects Comfortable shoes for walking Warm clothing for the evenings Basic first aid kit Insect repellent Anti-Malaria medicine Sunblock and cap or hat Comfortable shoes for walking Slip slops or trainers Camera with extra film & batteries Torch with extra batteries

Tent, sleeping bag and roll matt: We provides all the camping equipment including a roll matt with cover that is washed after every tour, and a 2.2 x 2.2 (meters) or 2.4 x 2.4 (meters) tent with built in mosquito netting over the door and windows, as well as a built in floor. You must have a sleeping bag on all of the camping tours, which you can rent from us at R50 per person per tour, if you do not have one of your own.

Malaria areas: Many of the areas and destinations in southern and east Africa are malaria areas. It is the responsibility of the client to ensure that you have insect repellent and a course of anti-malaria tablets. Consult your local doctor or pharmacist.

Water: All drinks (except coffee & tea with meals) are excluded from the tour price. All tap water in areas where we do tours to, are 100% safe to drink, and tastes very good. Bottled water is freely available (every day), for those who prefer bottled water.

Laws and clients: We expect our clients to uphold the laws of each country that we visit while on tour. We do not accept any responsibility for any client on our tours, who breaks the laws of any country visited during a tour.

Be considered: Sometimes our guides are asked to stop at local villages along the road, so that clients can take photos. Nothing wrong with that, but then we often see the people just walking into a village taking photos, instead of doing it from the road. Keep in mind that a village will normally be a family living together. How would you feel if a stranger just walks into your yard or home and start taking photos?

Our clients: All our clients are international travellers from different countries. The ages of our clients range from 18 to 60, with the majority being between 20 and 40. All that we require from our clients is that they must enjoy travelling and be fun-loving people. You do not need to be super fit to participate in any of our included activities or adventures.

Our crew (guides & drivers): All our guides and drivers are registered with the authorities as per government regulations.

Our tours: We offer a variety of tours and safaris to a variety of destinations, from 3 days to 16 days. You have the option of camping or lodge (bedded) accommodation, while on any of our tours / safaris.

Important: Before you travel please check your Tour Voucher and Arrival Information for the latest joining instructions. This will be sent to you upon receipt of final payment.

All itineraries are subject to change without prior notice.

Prices for - Botswana Safaris