Botswana Luxury Safari Tour - Kubu Island and the Kalahari Bushmen ULSA13

Personal Highlights:

Cocktails, wine and a candlelight dinner on an “island” in a “lake” that dried up 10,000 years ago
Learn tracking, animal behavior and survival skills from the Kalahari Bushmen
Enjoy the wildlife of the Chobe Reserve

Day 1 Depart USA

Your adventure begins as you depart the USA bound for South Africa and arrive in Johannesburg the following afternoon.

Day 2 Arrival in Johannesburg

Upon your afternoon arrival in Johannesburg, you will be met and personally escorted to your hotel, Fairlawns, which is situated in close proximity to the airport. This spectacular boutique hotel will offer a classic and elegant welcome to South Africa. After check in, enjoy dinner followed by a good night's sleep.

Day 3 Fly to Maun and Jack’s Camp

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for the commercial flight to Maun in Botswana, "Gateway to the Okavango Delta". You will be met by your pilot and escorted to your aircraft for the flight to Jack's Camp. After a short flight you land at Jack's Camp, named for the owner's eccentric father, a reformed crocodile hunter, and genuine character. The camp has been described as one of the most romantic on earth. Situated on the edge of the Kalahari Desert the camp is pitched on a low grassland knoll amongst an oasis of dignified desert palms and Kalahari Acacia trees. This evening you will drive out through the verdant grasslands to the edge of the pans which were, 10,000 years ago, one of the world's largest lakes but now a vast salt plain stretching to the horizon. All the guides are fully qualified Zoologist/Biologists most doing field work for their PhDs and they will explain how the Makgadikgadi Pans were formed. You then return to camp for dinner in the elegant mess tent, a designated national museum of Botswana.

Day 4 Meercats and Baobabs

You set off in the morning to visit some Kalahari Meercats. As evidenced by the success of "Meerkat Manor," these animals are the comedians of Africa and you get the opportunity to get up close and personal with these captivating creatures. By spending time with these incredibly social, superbly adapted animals, you will be able to see how they interact with each other and their environment. After lunch, you will visit a remote cattle ranch to learn about the traditional culture of the Botsawna people, Close by is the famous Chapman's Baobab which is acknowledged to be the largest tree in Africa. It was the campsite of early explorers like Livingstone and Selous when they pioneered the area.

Day 5 To the Middle of Nowhere

After an early breakfast, you wrap a kikoi around your head to ward off the sun, mount your four wheel ATVs and head out on the Ntwetwe Pan, destination: Kubu Island. The journey to and from Kubu is completely extraordinary. The convoy, each vehicle following the other to minimize our footprint, barrels across the lunar-like landscape of scorched white earth. As the day heats up, mirages appear. What appear to be topiary trees floating above a shimmering lake is actually a family of ostriches. You stop for lunch thinking that it is like having a picnic on the moon. As the sun begins to drop, squint at a smudge on the horizon – Kubu Island. This is what you have come to see. An island no longer surrounded by water but still studded with baobab trees, older than Christ; a place holy to the Kalahari Bushmen, a place of power and intrigue. The staff have set up camp with a cauldron of water ready for a shower. The dining table, the drinks tray with Beefeater and Georgian fobs on bottle labels, stands waiting. Your bedroll replete with hot water bottles and ticking comforters has been arranged. You enjoy your star-spangled silver service dinner and fall into bed...

Day 6 Exploring Kubu Island

You will spend today exploring this fascinating area. You will visit the extinct mouth of the Zambezi which, together with various other rivers, once flowed into the pans. The remaining beach is covered with beautiful water-worn pebbles amongst which you can find semi-precious stones such as garnets and cornelians. Close to the island is the biggest flamingo breeding site in the world. 30,000 flamingo fledge here when water is available and although the nests are abandoned during the dry season the strangely shaped mud mounds are an eerie and strangely compelling site. After your exploration, it is time to sit back with a glass of wine and exchange stories in your million star dining room.

Day 7 Return from Nowhere

After an early breakfast, you reluctantly say goodbye to this strange but intriguing place. You re-mount your ATVs and head back to Jack's Camp for a more advanced shower and a farewell to the Kalahari dinner in the elegant mess tent.     

Day 8 Tracking with the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen

This morning you are privileged to spend some time with these Kalahari bushmen as they offer a window into the past, teaching you how they have survived in the harshest of environments with their ancient knowledge of plants, animal behavior and survival skills. Our partner in Botswana pioneered cultural tourism in Botswana and is convinced that this type of program is vitally important to slowing the fast vanishing culture of these gentle people.. Leaving your new friends you head for the airstrip for the flight to your next camp which is located on an escarpment overlooking the banks of the Chobe River and offering unparalleled views over the flood plain. Upon arrival you will go for an afternoon game drive before enjoying sundowners and an elegant dinner with wine.

Day 9 Exploring the Chobe Eco System

You go out for an early morning game viewing with your guide. The Chobe area is famed for its large herds of elephant that reach enormous densities in the dry winter months as the animals come to the river. Other game is abundant such as impala, lechwe, kudu, zebra, giraffe, sitatunga, sable, roan, waterbuck, buffalo and bushbuck, and their predators: lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and hyena. During the day you have a chance to relax by the pool which also offers outstanding views over the flood plain. After dinner this evening you have a chance for a nocturnal game drive where large flashlights illuminate another aspect of Chobe.

Day 10 Walking and Cruising in Chobe

This morning you have the opportunity to accompany your trained guide on a walking safari of the local area observing the different plant life, birds and animals. After your walking tour, you will go to the local village to meet the people and to visit the Primary School which your stay at the camp indirectly supports. In the afternoon, you take a boat cruise along the river viewing the animals as they come down to drink.

Day 11 Maun, Johannesburg and the Return to the USA

You have an early morning flight to Maun where you connect with scheduled service to Johannesburg connecting with your US bound flight.

Day 12 Arrive in USA

Your flight arrives back in the US at breakfast time.

Services Included:

• All air transportation as part of the program offered including private and charter aircraft. (On those programs requiring private aircraft flights, you will be limited to 33lbs of luggage which can be stored in the safari luggage which we provide to you. Additional luggage will be stored for you for the rest of your trip. In the private camps, daily laundry is available (and, in most cases included)
• Luxury rail travel as indicated
• Superior Rooms at the properties indicated in the accommodations area (We reserve the right to substitute a property of equal quality in advance of departure should the designated hotel be unavailable)
• On Safari, only private camps are used and include all meals and all game viewing in most camps, house beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks (indicated on itinerary)
• Private Transfers to and from the airport at destination
• All meals as indicated on the itinerary by B=Breakfast, L=Lunch and D=Dinner
• Private guides for city explorations and private driver/guide while traveling.
• Baggage handling at all hotels and camps
• All applicable taxes and service fees

Available year round