Special Personally Hosted Safaris

We went back to Botswana in 2008 to purchase more crafts to stock Cecilia’s shop and hosted a very special safari ( check out some photos from our trip). The trip combined incredible game viewing with unique cultural experiences. We had a great time, especially at the Kuru Dance Festival. We're going back for the summer of 2011 and will be hosting another trip around northern Botswana. Come see our favorite spot in Moremi and meet the people that made living in Botswana so special to us. There are only a few seats left so don't wait to contact me if you're interested.

This 11 day Eco-cultural tour starts in Kasane, Botswana on July 25th and ends in Maun on August 4th. Trip combines world class game viewing with unique cultural experinces only offered by African Excursions. See a map of the trip.

Day 1: Kasane. You will arrive at Kasane International Airport where we'll meet and take you to your lodge located on the Chobe River where we'll spend your first night. In the evening we'll take a taking a leisurely boat cruise on the Chobe River and get close to a wide variety of wildlife.

Day 2: Victoria Falls. We're going to take a guided day trip to the magnificent Victoria Falls. Returning to the lodge for dinner.

Day 3: Kasane to Savuti, Chobe National Park (CNP). After breakfast we depart for the Savuti area of Chobe National Park. Our drive takes us by a small remote craft shop who'd read about Cecilia's efforts in the US and contacted her to sell some of their simple crafts. In the afternoon us pass the famous Pump Pan where the sun sets behind the camel thorn trees with the elephants silhouetted in the foreground. In camp we should hear the plaintive call of the jackal, often referred to as the 'cry of the Kalahari' and the eerie whooping of the hyenas, infamous inhabitants of the region.

Day 4: Savuti to Moremi Game Reserve (MGR). After breakfast we depart for Moremi Game Reserve. Our drive takes us through ever changing scenery as we pass through Savuti marsh and the famous Mababe depression and folow the Khwai River to our camp. This area is somewhat drier as we are moving east of the delta proper. The change in habitat heralds a change in the dominant wildlife species and we explore all of this before arriving at our new camp. After a late lunch we head out on our evening game drive. We return to camp for dinner.

Day 5: Moremi. Our morning starts off once again with a light, early breakfast followed by a game drive and brunch. In the afternoon we head to the Xakanaxa boat station where you will explore the channels of the Xakanaxa Lediba (Lagoon) and see the permanent waterways and the associated birds and wildlife. Return to boat station and transfer to camp for dinner. After dinner we relax and listen to the chorus of owls.

Day 6: Moremi to Maun. After our early morning game drive and a light lunch, we drive out of Moremi G.R. and head for Maun. Upon reaching Maun, you'll get a chance to check your emails and shop a little bit at the grocery store. The night is spent a comfortable lodge on the outskirts of town.

Day 7: Maun to Ghanzi. In the morning you'll head back into Maun to meet Mma Kushonya who will teach you how the famous Botswana baskets are made and show you around her shop. After lunch, and a stop back at your lodge to collect your things, we head west into the Kalahari proper to the cattle farming town of Ghanzi. Ghanzi is at the cross roads of many cultures. First there were the San Bushmen, then various black tribes such as the Bahereros, the Bakgalagadi, and the Batswana, then the white Afrikaners, who first settled in the area in the late 1800's. Add to that the more recent western expatriate development workers and you've got Ghanzi. You'll spent the night at a Bushmen cultural village.

Day 8: Ghanzi. A full day is planned. In the morning, we'll get up and accompany a small group of Bushmen as they show us how they traditionally gathered plants from the veld, or bush. The small family groups that work at the culural village are from the either the #Hoa or Gwi clan, some of the last clans to give up the traditional hunter/gatherer lifestyle. Peter's adopted grandfather and tracking mentor Xanate is one of the guides and hopefully will be around. After a late breakfast, we'll drive into Ghanzi to get a demonstration of how ostrich eggshell beads are made. Then off to visit the store at Gantsi Craft where Cecilia used to work, That night, back at the culural village we'll watch a traditional Bushmen dance as the women sit around the fire chanting and clapping and the men dance a hypnotic rhythm in a circle round the women. As an extra, we can also arrange for a traditional healer to be there to perform a trance dance, where he has an out of body experience then performs a laying on of hands.

Day 9: Ghanzi to Shakawe. In the morning, we drive back towards the east then turn north along the western edge of the Delta to Etsha 6, the epicenter of Botswana's basket making communities. This is where Mma Kushonya is from. In Etsha 6 you'll get to meet a few more basket makers and see how they live. Next is a push north with successive stops at Etsha 9 and 13 to see wood carvers and a traditional HaMbukusu dance troupe. Then on to Shakawe, and your lodge. That evening we'll relax on the banks of the Okavango River where we'll enjoy sundowners and the incredible bird life.

Day 10: Shakawe. Today we visit Tsodilo Hills, a world heritage site because of its 100's of ancient rock paintings. Recently the oldest known evidence of human religion was found there. We'll be shown around the "Mountains of the Gods" by a local Bushman guide. Tsodilo is a really cool place that gets few international tourists. In addition to the rock paintings there are numerous caves for the adventurous to explore. That evening we'll go for a relaxing boat cruise on the Okavango and see the many crocodiles and prolific bird life.

Day 11: Shakawe to Maun. On your final day on safari you will leave Shakawe drive back to Maun and catch your flight home.

Tour size: The tour is be limited to a maximum of 8 participants.

The fee for the Best of Botswana tour is US$6,500 (2011) per person sharing. This includes all meals from dinner on day 1 to breakfast on day 11 of the tour, all lodgings, ground transportation, boat trips as per the itinerary, reserve entrance fees, and all guiding services (including local guides and tour leaders.)

A single supplement will be charged if you wish to have single accommodation. If we cannot provide you with a rooming partner although you choose to share, the single supplement will become applicable. We will make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a rooming partner is found if you do wish to share.

Not included are excessive alcoholic beverages, gratuities, telephone calls, laundry and items of a personal nature. All costs are subject to major currency fluctuations, fuel price fluctuations and other significant items that might be beyond our control.

Notes for all hosted trips -

All trips are timed to allow for guests to leave the US on a Saturday and arrive back on a Saturday to for a day of recuperation.

The trips are limited to a maximum of 8 guests and designed to be at a relaxing pace yet still cover a lot of ground. We almost always stay two nights in each location. The accommodations are a mix of established lodges and fully catered luxury camping (Mobile Safaris are the traditional safaris). Transportation will be in a customized Land Rover game viewing vehicle with a canvas top and roll down windows with an accompanying support Land Rover.

We will also provide you with all kinds of pre-trip information such as what to expect, what clothes and accessories to pack, and a list of books that cover the wildlife, culture, and history of the places and people we’ll be visiting. And, for guests in the northeastern US, we will happily meet with you and give you a pre-trip PowerPoint presentation. For guests beyond our travel distance, we can provide a DVD of the PowerPoint presentation.