Group enjoying sunset drinks on vast salt pan landscape, San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
Canvas safari tent with extended awning in savanna landscape
Elevated wooden lodge structures nestled among tall trees, Shinde, The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Safari camp dining setup overlooking water at sunset, San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
Canvas safari tent with bed and covered wooden deck, Kweene Trails, The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Dining deck overlooking wetland with reeds and water, Shinde, The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Illuminated safari tent under starlit sky at night, San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
Modern wooden lodge structure built over river water, Island Treehouse Suites, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Safari tent interior with beds overlooking savanna landscape, Kweene Trails, The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Guests on wooden deck overlooking savanna at sunset, Shinde, The Okavango Delta, Botswana
Canvas safari tent glowing at dusk with palm trees, San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana

inspiration

zimbabwe & botswana: the falls, the delta and the pans

Private Safari
From $24,480 pp
2 guests
12 nights

trip highlights

  • Kweene Trails walks between two canvas camps across a private 30,000-hectare concession in the western Okavango Delta.
  • Shinde sits beside a lagoon that holds water year-round, so mokoro, motorboats and game drives run from the same island in every season.
  • San Camp stands on the edge of Ntwetwe Pan, where quad biking, horse riding and sleeping out are possible on private concession land.
  • At Victoria Falls the Zambezi falls into the Batoka Gorge, with a rim rainforest kept green by the constant spray.
Scroll for the full itinerary
Guests poling traditional boat through papyrus wetlands, Shinde, The Okavango Delta, Botswana

From the Zambezi to the Makgadikgadi

The route opens at Victoria Falls in northwest Zimbabwe, where the Zambezi drops into the Batoka Gorge along a curtain of water nearly 1.7 kilometres across. It then crosses into Botswana for three contrasting parts of the Okavango and the Kalahari: a private walking concession in the western Delta, a permanent lagoon in the north, and the salt flats of the Makgadikgadi.

You travel by boat, light aircraft and helicopter, on foot and by mokoro. The days hold game drives, river cruises, walking and time on the pans. Accommodation runs from timber treehouse suites to classic tented camps and a lightweight mobile walking camp, each chosen for its ground rather than its built hardware.

plan your safari

Daily Itinerary Breakdown

Victoria Falls on a Private Zambezi Island

Two nights on the Zambezi above the falls, on a private island reached only by boat. The days run from the mainland lodge a short transfer away: game drives in Zambezi National Park morning and afternoon, guided walks, canoe trails on the upper river, and a cruise at sunrise or sunset when the elephants come down to the bank. Victoria Falls itself and the Batoka Gorge are close enough to take at your own pace. You sleep at Island Treehouse Suites, timber and glass on stilts above the water, adults only, each with a plunge pool facing the river.

Walking the Kweene River Concession

Four nights walking the Abu Private Reserve, a 30,000-hectare concession in the western Delta reached only by helicopter. You walk between two camps fifteen kilometres apart, Kweene River Camp among arid grass floodplains and Magwegwe Camp north of it in seasonal swamp that holds water all year, so the ground changes underfoot as you go. There is no timetable. Some days are a gentle stroll to a lagoon, others run beyond twenty kilometres. On foot you share the ground with lion, leopard, wild dog and spotted hyaena, and with elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and red lechwe across the floodplain. Both camps are lightweight canvas, pitched and struck with the season, and Kweene Trails is hosted by Simon and Marleen Byron, who walk with you.

Shinde and the Permanent Lagoon

Out of the Abu concession by helicopter and on to a private concession in the northern Delta for three nights. The lagoon here holds water all year, so you can take a mokoro out at dawn, a motorboat after lunch and a game drive at dusk on the same day, in any season. The land is private, which lets the guides do what Moremi does not permit: walking safaris, and night drives for genet, civet and porcupine. The reserve boundary is shared with Moremi, the vehicles are not. Shinde is a small camp on a palm island in the middle of it, with the lagoon at its edge and every boat, mokoro and vehicle leaving from the same landing.

San Camp on the Edge of Ntwetwe Pan

Three closing nights on the edge of Ntwetwe Pan, a flat white expanse of salt in the Makgadikgadi. This is not game-drive country and the days do not pretend to be: you quad bike out onto the crust, ride across it, and sleep out on the salt with nothing on the horizon. Mornings go to the habituated meerkats, and to walking with the Zu/'hoasi, who read the ground for what it will give. The camp runs only in the dry months, roughly April to October, when the pan will carry a vehicle. San Camp is seven white tents under desert palms, with a mess tent of fossils, maps and curios.

frequently asked questions

Only as hard as your party wants it to be.

The camp fixes no daily distance and no timetable: each day is shaped by the wildlife, the water levels and the mood and capabilities of the group, and most days mix walking with a game drive or, when the flood is in, a mokoro.

A twenty-kilometre day happens because a party asks for it, not because the schedule demands it.

The one set piece comes when the camp moves. Guests normally set out on foot for the second site, roughly 15 kilometres up the Kweene River, stopping for a picnic lunch and a siesta, and anyone who prefers can do it by vehicle; bags and bedding travel separately with the back-up crew.

The country is flat, so the test is hours on your feet and the heat of the day, never gradient. Every walk goes out behind an armed guide, in a party of eight at most, and nobody under twelve may join.

Because there is no other way in.

Access is by helicopter only, with no road transfer and no airstrip for aeroplanes, so the helicopter sets you down at the camp itself and, four nights later, lifts you out and across the Delta to Shinde.

The flights are operated by Helicopter Horizons of Maun, which flies Bell helicopters seating four or five guests as well as a smaller three-seat machine; for two travellers it is typically one of those, and which one is the company's call on the day.

Coming from Victoria Falls, the usual routing is a light aircraft from Kasane to a bush airstrip, where you change to the helicopter. The company flies its transfers privately and low enough to look for animals on the way.

It suits the Okavango for a reason of its own: the land rises and falls by less than two metres across the whole Delta, so the pattern of channels and islands only shows from the air. Luggage is 20 kilograms each, in soft bags.

San Camp is about the salt pans, not big game, and nearly everything runs for the whole of its short year.

It takes guests for six months, mid-April to mid-October, the dry months when the pan will carry a vehicle.

In that time you can:

  • Take quad bikes out across the crust, an outing of two to three hours that is always subject to the weather
  • Spend a morning, about four hours, with the habituated meerkats
  • Walk for a couple of hours with Zu/'hoasi trackers
  • Ride, on outrides suitable for riders of every level

Children can quad bike from six and ride from eight. Sleeping out on the pan is arranged by the camp when conditions allow, so ask us to request it ahead.

What you cannot see from San Camp is the zebra migration, which reaches the pans with the rains between November and March, when the camp is shut.

June to September, the months we rate as recommended at the falls, in the Delta, on the pans and for Botswana as a whole.

Cold mornings and warm, clear days are what you want for walking at Kweene, the flood is in for the mokoro there, which the camp runs from May to September when the water allows, and the pans are hard and dry for the quad bikes.

Two of the camps are seasonal, which narrows the calendar: Kweene Trails takes no guests between 6 January and 31 March, and San Camp none between mid-October and mid-April, so as written the trip runs from mid-April to mid-October.

April and May are quieter, with the falls at their fullest. Early October is very hot, often near 40 degrees out on foot, with the falls low.

For a green season trip, with storms, migrant birds and zebra on the pans, the pans stay would move to a camp that operates all year, and our Delta rating from December to March is challenging.

Not as it stands, but it is easily changed for older children.

Two stops set the limits. The island suites at Victoria Falls are for adults only, so a family would stay at a different hotel by the falls.

At Kweene Trails the minimum age is twelve when you share the camp with other guests, and twelve in any case for the walking and the mokoro outings. A family that takes the whole camp for itself may bring younger children, but they could not join the walking that is the reason for going.

The other two stops are easy: Shinde takes children from six, and San Camp welcomes all ages, with quad biking from six and riding from eight. So for a family whose children are twelve or older this route works well with one change of hotel.

Give us their ages when you enquire, and remember that Botswana asks to see a full birth certificate for every traveller under eighteen.

For part of the trip, no.

Kweene Trails is off the grid: there is no mobile signal and no wifi, which means four nights out of reach, so let family and the office know before you fly in. Neither of its camps has mains electricity.

Lighting and charging points run off solar batteries, enough for a phone or camera, the tents have a fan, the shower is a bucket filled with warm water when you ask, the toilet is a composting one and water for the basin comes in jugs. Credit cards are not accepted there.

San Camp is simple in a different way: the tents are lit by lamps, and batteries are charged in the mess tent, which is also where the wifi is.

If being reachable matters for work or family, tell us, and we can plan the dates so that the four nights out of contact fall when it suits you.

Ed Charles photographing wildlife

Ed Charles, BBC Producer

Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.

Ed Charles

Bafta & Emmy award winning film producer of BBC’s Planet Earth 2 and A Perfect Planet

looking for inspiration?

Illuminated canvas safari tent at night in African bush, Hwange Bush Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Riverside camp at dusk with illuminated tent and large tree, Zambezi Expeditions, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Safari lodge with canvas tent by riverbank at sunset, Old Drift Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Elephant herd walking through savanna grassland with acacia trees Spacious tent bedroom with warm lighting and colorful bedding, Hwange Bush Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Tent camp setup overlooking river at sunset with lounge chairs, Zambezi Expeditions, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Waterfront deck with pool overlooking river at sunset, Old Drift Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Table set for dinner in African savanna at dusk, Hwange Bush Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Riverside safari camp at dusk with illuminated seating areas, Zambezi Expeditions, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Outdoor bathtub on wooden deck overlooking water, Old Drift Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

zimbabwe

hwange and mana under canvas

Nine nights in northern Zimbabwe, walking Hwange and Mana Pools by foot and canoe, finishing at Victoria Falls.

  • Private Safari
  • From $8,905 pp
  • 2 guests
  • 9 nights
View Safari
Guides approach elephant on safari walking tour Wooden riverside lodge on stilts surrounded by vegetation, Island Treehouse Suites, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Canvas safari tent under acacia tree with blue sky, Little Vundu, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Elevated deck overlooking lake at dusk with dining setup, Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe Illuminated canvas safari tent at night in African bush, Hwange Bush Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Woman standing on wooden bridge walkway with valley views, Amalinda Lodge, Matobo, Zimbabwe Riverside deck with loungers overlooking water and trees, Island Treehouse Suites, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Spacious safari tent bedroom with two beds and seating area, Little Vundu, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe Elevated deck overlooking water and landscape at dusk, Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe Spacious tent bedroom with warm lighting and colorful bedding, Hwange Bush Camp, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe Luxury bedroom with sheer canopy bed in round thatched structure, Amalinda Lodge, Matobo, Zimbabwe Modern wooden lodge structure built over river water, Island Treehouse Suites, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Twin beds in safari tent with canvas interior, Little Vundu, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe African elephants bathing and drinking at river waterhole

zimbabwe

walking with elephants

Twelve nights across Zimbabwe, from Victoria Falls and Mana Pools to Lake Kariba, Hwange and the granite of Matobo.

  • Private Safari
  • From $9,986 pp
  • 2 guests
  • 12 nights
View Safari
Group of rhinoceroses walking through dusty savanna landscape Riverside deck with fire pit and comfortable seating at dusk, Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe Canvas safari tent with wooden deck beneath shade trees, Sango Expedition Camp, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe elephants drinking water at riverbank during daytime Riverside lounge area with seating overlooking water and trees, Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe Open-air bedroom with four-poster bed overlooking grassland savanna, Sango Expedition Camp, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe River gorge with golden cliffs and dense forest landscape, Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe Elegant dining tent with tables set for dinner overlooking savanna landscape, Sango Expedition Camp, Gonarezhou & Malilangwe, Zimbabwe Two hippopotamuses interacting in river water African buffalo head portrait with curved horns

zimbabwe

rhino in the save valley

Nine nights in south-eastern Zimbabwe, from the Save River and Gonarezhou to rhino tracking in the Sango Conservancy.

  • Private Safari
  • From $11,015 pp
  • 2 guests
  • 9 nights
View Safari

rated five stars by our clients

Planning a journey together

our approach

remote, exclusive
& personal

Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.

Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.

Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.

Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.

Get in touch to start planning yours.

get in touch
destinations ideas & inspiration our process about us contact us