Botswana Safari Itinerary: 6 Days, Okavango Delta and Chobe

Many safaris start with a scenic flight over the Delta, and in Maun you can book one right on arrival, in the late afternoon. It runs about 30 to 45 minutes in a 5 to 12 seat Cessna, taking off from Maun airport itself, for around US$ 150 to US$ 250 per person. Ask for a window seat on the left side of the plane, which usually gets the best view of the channels winding between the islands.

From above it becomes clear why the Delta is unique: it is the world’s largest inland delta, fed by a river that rises in Angola and never reaches the sea, spreading across the Kalahari until it evaporates. In years of strong flooding, the water disappears completely until the following year.

Late afternoon in Maun has a fixed plan: a boat cruise on the Thamalakane River, which cuts through town and feeds the Delta further north. Departures usually leave from near Sedia Hotel or Old Bridge Backpackers, last one to one and a half hours, and cost around US$ 25 to US$ 40 per person, drinks included.

Along the way expect hippos, crocodiles and the African fish eagle, the Delta’s signature bird, whose call is the background sound of any safari in the region. It is the calmest way to adjust to the time zone before the water takes over the next few days.

The dirt road between Maun and Moremi’s South Gate, also called Maqwee, runs about 150 kilometres and takes two to three hours by 4x4, with a stop to register and pay the conservation fee. This is where the trip stops being a road and becomes a park: the vegetation shifts from dry savanna to mopane woodland and then to the first lagoons.

The gate itself is simple, a fence and a wooden booth, but impala and sometimes elephants often graze right beside it, the first sign that Moremi delivers.

The mokoro is the dugout canoe Delta polers have used for generations to move through channels too shallow for a motor. The classic outing leaves in the late afternoon, lasts one to two hours, and glides silently through reed corridors barely a metre wide, crossing water lilies and, with luck, red lechwe on the banks.

It is not adrenaline, it is the opposite: the silence is the point. Most lodges inside Moremi run the outing straight from their own base, at no extra cost beyond the daily rate, and it is worth booking the first or last slot of the day, when low light turns the channel into a mirror.

Moremi was Africa’s first reserve created by a local community, the Batawana, in 1963, and it covers the eastern sector of the Delta, including Chief’s Island, the region’s largest permanent island. The morning game drive leaves while it is still dark, around 6am, because that is when predators are still active and heat has not yet pushed animals into the shade.

The dry strip known as the Mopane Tongue holds Moremi’s highest wildlife density: elephant, buffalo, lion and, with patience, leopard. Set aside at least three hours, since that is usually enough time to also spot zebra, giraffe and large numbers of antelope.

Third Bridge is one of Moremi’s most photographed wooden crossings, at the point where the Delta’s permanent fresh water meets the dry Mopane Tongue. A 20 to 30 minute stop nearly always turns up something new, since the reserve has recorded more than 400 bird species, including the African jacana and the malachite kingfisher.

It is also where sable and roan antelope tend to show up, two rarer species your guide will point out from a distance, so keep the binoculars handy.

Khwai sits just north of Moremi, linked by about 70 kilometres of sand track that doubles as a game drive: getting there is already part of the day’s programme, not just a transfer. The area is a community concession run by the village of Khwai itself, with no fences separating it from Moremi or Chobe National Park, letting wildlife move freely between all three.

It is common to cross elephant herds right on the track, and the guide will switch off the engine and wait as long as it takes for the way to clear.

The Khwai River, which gives the area its name, draws one of Botswana’s most studied lion prides, with males that tend to stay near the water through the hottest hours. Khwai is also one of the few areas in the country outside the national parks where night drives are allowed, so it is worth booking the after dinner slot, when hyenas and, with luck, leopards get more active.

Khwai village has lived off safari tourism since hunting was banned in the area in 2014, and part of every camp’s daily rate goes to the community that runs the concession.

The track between Khwai and Kasane runs about 150 kilometres of dirt road inside Chobe National Park, a four to five hour drive that works as one last game drive before arrival. Near the end, the road passes Kazungula, where the Chobe River meets the Zambezi at the point where the borders of Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia come within less than 200 metres of each other.

The Kazungula Bridge, opened in 2021, replaced the old ferry crossing that used to mean hours of waiting, and now links Botswana to Zambia in a few minutes, with an African-gauge rail track built into the middle of the road for a future railway.

The stretch of Chobe National Park along the river, between Kasane and the old Serondela outpost, holds the continent’s highest elephant density, part of the more than 50,000 that live in the park. In the late afternoon herds file down to drink and bathe, and it is not unusual to see a hundred or more swimming across the river at once.

Besides elephants, the Riverfront holds buffalo, hippo, crocodile and more than 460 recorded bird species, making Chobe one of the densest parks for wildlife per square kilometre in all of southern Africa.

Kasane is small and lives off safari tourism, but a free morning before the flight is enough for a walk down the main street, past craft stalls, a small local market and the town’s Spar for coffee and road snacks. The town sits right against Chobe National Park, and it is not unusual for elephants or warthogs to cross the road during the day.

Thirty minutes is enough to feel the pace of the place before the trip’s last outing.

The sunset boat cruise on the Chobe River is the classic way to close out any safari in the region, for a simple reason: the low light takes the heat away and brings animals to the bank just as it turns the river orange. Boats leave Kasane from around 4.30pm, last about two hours, and cost between US$ 30 and US$ 50 per person.

Expect elephants swimming across, hippos, sunbathing crocodiles and buffalo on the Namibian bank opposite, already in the Caprivi Strip. Book a day ahead, since boats fill up fast in the dry season.