Go on a special 12 day Hunting and Fishing Safari with Peter Durkin

Now Booking for Sept, 2010

Sporting Safari Summary - African Excursions is offering a hunting and fishing adventure unlike any other. This 11 night/12 day safari is for three people who like that sense of accomplishment that comes with doing it yourself, well not all yourself. The trip starts at Maun Airport where the guests will be met by Peter Durkin, African Excursions owner who will be personally hosting the trip. Then we'll drive into Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta for three days and two nights of exploring and camping. We'll then return to Maun to overnight at Marina's, a quaint lodge with one the coolest watering holes in Maun. Then we head off to a game farm in Ghanzi to meet up with group of hoã Bushmen who are among the last of the Bushmen clans to give up full time hunting and gathering. We'll camp and hunt with the Bushmen for the next four days. Included in the price are 2 trophies, a kudu and a choice of either a blue wildebeest or a red hartebeest. Each hunter will pair off with two Bushmen to track their trophies. From Ghanzi, we'll drive northeast to a lovely lodge on the banks of the Okavango River for three days of fishing for tigerfish and bream - the trip is timed to meet the barbel run. The last night we return to Marina’s before catching an outbound flight home the following morning.

Below is a detailed itinerary:

Detailed itinerary:

Sept 8-Sept 19

You leave the US on Saturday, September 6th (Guests are responsible for arranging for their own commercial flights).

Day 1 - Arrive Maun Airport by commercial airline, where I'll be waiting for you after you clear customs. From Maun we'll drive to Moremi Game Reserve and the Okavango Delta. Moremi is the absolute greatest game viewing place in the world with a different animal behind every bush. We'll spend the next two nights camping in the center of the reserve. The ride in is in itself an excellent game drive, this evening's game drive will be tremendous for its wide variety and quantity of animals.

Day 2 - We'll spend the whole day exploring Moremi and the fascinating Okavango Delta. The quantity and variety of wildlife in the Reserve is unbelievable.

Day 3 - After a morning game drive, we'll drive back to Maun in time for dinner. We'll be spending the night at Marina's Lodge. Marina's is a great laid back lodge with the coolest bar in Maun. We've spent many nights on a bar stool with our close friends Marina and Paul.

Day 4 - First thing in the morning, we'll drive southwest across the Kalahari to the cattle farming community of Ghanzi and the heart of Botswana's Bushmen population. If it was a good rainy season, we'll stop by Lake Ngami for a quick look at this legendry lake, the destination of Livingstone's first trip in the Kalahari and a magnet for thousands of waterbirds. We'll be staying at Dqãe Qare Game Farm, owned by the D'Kar Trust, a non-profit community trust. Here we'll meet the group of Bushmen who'll be your hunting guides including Xanate, who at 70 years old is one of a handful of old Bushmen still alive who really survived off his bow. We'll can either stay in an old farm homestead or, really immerse ourselves in the Bushmen lifestyle and stay in grass huts. We'll be hunting by the afternoon. This safari is part of the D'kar Trusts TRAKS project which is combining younger Bushmen with the old hunters with so they can pass on their wealth of hunting knowledge.

Day 5, 6, & 7 - Each hunter will be pair off with two Bushmen trackers and spend the day hunting. Each hunter can take a trophy kudu and either a blue wildebeest or a red hartebeest. Other species can be taken for a trophy fees. The trophies will stay behind to be skinned out, salted and transported to the trophy shipper in Maun.

Day 8 - Today we'll drive north to a riverside lodge in the Okavango Panhandle. We'll spend this evening and the next two days fishing. The lodge provides guides and motorized skiffs. They also have fishing tackle but I'd recommend you bring your own stuff, 8 or 10 lbs spinning rods and 8 wt fly rods are about right. Email me for more information on terminal tackle.

Day 9 & 10- Fishing!

Day 11 - After a last morning on the river we drive back to Maun to spend end the safari Marina's Lodge.

Day 12 - I'll bring you to the airport and say our good byes before you catch the plane to Jo'burg and home.