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Book Now14 Days Botswana Birding Safari

Day 1 - Maun/Khwai

Travel Day 3-4 hours

Maun is a frontier town situated on the banks of the Thamalakane River, one of the fingers of the

Okavango Delta.  The wildlife moves freely from the vast concession areas that buffer Moremi and the

reserve itself.  Considered one of Botswana's finest wildlife viewing areas.  The Khwai is on the ecotone between the swampy regions  of the Okavango  proper, and the dry  savannah / woodland that typify the low lying semi-arid and sub-tropical reaches of Southern Africa.

Day 2 & 3 - Khwai Exploration Day

The Khwai region boasts excellent populations of both bull elephants as well as breeding herds.  Lions, leopard, serval and African wildcat  are common predators of the region. This is also a bird mecca, the western reaches are prime  habitat  for the uncommon  Rosy-throated Longclaw.  The entire length of the river is hunting domain for the Bat Hawk other interesting rapters include Cuckoo Hawk (rare), Long Crested Eagle and Black Sparrowhawk.

Day 4 - Khwai / Savuti

Travel Day - 4-5 hours

A fascinating days drive looking at some of the evidence of the Paleolake Makgadi-kgadi that dried up some ten thousand years ago.This is a day when anything could happen! The range of habitat that is covered  encompasses  most of the habitat types of northern Botswana and wildlife that can be viewed include lion and cheetah.  The Mababe Depression is a birders paradise with its nutritious grasses  and rich soils entice an impressive erray of estrillids and viduids.

Day 5 - Savuti (Chobe National Park)

Unlike the vast majority of the country, Savuti is not  a flat landscape.  Large outcrops of volcanic rock reach up out of the Kalahari sands which provide habitat for a completely different array of small wildlife, birds and plants.

Day 6 - Savuti / Chobe River

Travel Day - 5 hours

The habitat on today’s drive takes us through the stunted mopane scrub of the Goha clay basin, across the sand-ridge and through the wonderful Zambezi teak woodlands of the Chobe Forest Reserve and along the Chobe River itself. The Chobe floodplain is tens of kilometers wide and in years of exceptional rains the water stretches as far as the eye can see.

Day 7 & 8 - Chobe Exploration Day/s (Chobe National Park)

The Chobe River is presided over by an impressive sand-ridge. Along this sand-ridge broad-leafed woodland is the dominant vegetation. As you move into the valley the impact of the high elephant population is felt with the paucity of large trees that typically line the rivers of sub-tropical Africa and the dense tangled masses of knobbly combretum Combretum mosambicesne and wooly caper bush Caparis that appear impervious to the constant onslaught of browsers. The river itself is broad and meandering and in the flood season it is an impressive sight. To the east, outside of the park lie the riparian forests that are home to so many of the more tropical species who’s ranges end abruptly in northern Botswana

Day 9 - Chobe / Kwando River

Travel Day 5 hours

The drive takes us through broad-leafed woodland for most of the day. The species composition changes from predominantly teak Baikea to a combination of Brachystegia and other miombo species. We cross the Chobe river and will hopefully have a little time to spend on the Zambezi River.

Day 10 - Kwando Exploration Days

The Kwando River is small perennial river that flows out of Zambia and through the Caprivi Strip. The river is densely vegetated along the banks with reeds, papyrus and lush grasses. Situated further back is a riparian forest that follows the course of the river. Moving further still from the river, the habitat opens into long grass savannah with predominantly Terminalia trees and shrubs.

The habitat along this river makes it ideal for Purple Swamp-hen, Allen’s Gallinule*, Little Bittern, Great Reed Warbler, Black Crake, Lesser Jacana, African Jacana and many other more furtive water-birds. In the adjacent woodlands we would hope to find Flappet-Lark, Coppery Sunbird, Purple-banded Sunbird, Amethyst Sunbird, Western Banded Snake-Eagle, Sharp-tailed Glossy Starling, Stierling’s Wren Warbler, Sousa’s Shrike and Grey Tit-Flycatcher

Day 11 - Kwando / Shakawe

Travel Day 4 Hours

Between these two river systems the landscape is slightly undulating and the vegetation is miombo or broad-leafed woodland on deep Kalahari sand. This mornings birding will largely be focused on finding the miombo woodland species we have missed so far. As we head west we move into more suitable habitat for Cinnamon-breasted Tit, Black-faced Babbler and Sharp-tailed Glossy Starling. Raptors of this habitat include Lizard Buzzard, Little Sparrow-hawk, Red-necked Falcon, Dark Chanting Goshawk, African Hawk-Eagle and African Harrier-Hawk.

Day 12 & 13 - Okavango River, Pan Handle Exploration Day/s

The Pan Handle of the Okavango is a section of river approximately 100km long and extends from where the river widens into broad papyrus beds and varying numbers of channels traveling parallel to the main stream. The end of the Pan Handle is marked where the alluvial fan of the “swamps” begins. Habitats of interest here are the arid savannah of the Kalahari situated a short distance away from the water, the woodlands and riparian forest along the banks of the river, massive floating beds of papyrus and reed-beds of Phragmites australis. The river changes nature from the main, swift flowing channel to side channels and lagoons with some backwater habitat too. The steep river banks provide ideal breeding habitat here for the migratory Southern Carmine Bee-eater as well as the resident White-fronted Bee-eater which oblige by nesting in colonies numbering in their hundreds. These colonies can be found almost anywhere where suitable banks occur.

Day 14 - Okavango Pan Handle / Maun

Travel Day 4-5 days

The northern Kalahari is typified by large open savannah punctuated with the occasional large tree. The stands of Schinziophyton (manketi nut) trees and the characteristic shape of the Pterocarpus (kiaat) trees are a signature of this landscape. Further south dense groves of Acacia erioloba (camel thorn) and A. tortillis fringe the famous Lake Ngami which we will visit (time permitting)

The majority of the habitat favors the Kalahari species and Marico Flycatcher, Scaly-feathered Finch, Crimson-breasted Shrike and Violet-eared Waxbill make up some of the more common species. Booted*, Walhberg’s*, African-Hawk and Steppe* eagles are among the more common raptors.  Lake Ngami (when filled with water) is a birding bonanza. Thousands of White Pelican fish in rafts, closely followed my masses of both White-winged Tern and Whiskered Tern.  African Fish Eagle, Osprey, Montagu’s, Pallid, Eurasian Marsh and African Marsh harriers can be found. Flocks of waders such as Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint number in their thousands and flocks of Red-billed Teal may number in their tens of thousands. The surrounding woodlands house Burnt-necked Eremomela, Chestnut-vented Titbabbler, Red-necked Falcon and Black Cuckoo.

 

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