Specialty Tours

Mokoro & Island Camping Expeditions

The cheapest and one of the most adventurous ways to enjoy the delta is to pack a sleeping bag and join a mokoro trip through the islands, accompanied by a poler with an intimate knowledge of these waters. Okavango Tours & Safaris specializes in mokoro camping trips and also runs the best-value tented camp in the delta: Oddballs.

Boating, Botswana-Style

No trip to the delta is complete without a trip in a mokoro, a narrow, canoelike boat propelled by a human poler. Traditionally they were made out of hollowed tree trunks, but for environmental reasons, many camps now use mokoros made from fiberglass. These are silent craft, enabling you to get close to birds and animals, and ideally suited to the shallow waters of the delta.

Elephant-Back Safaris

Abu Camp is for many the highlight of a trip to Africa, and the first place in the world to introduce fully fledged safaris on the back of a pachyderm. The camp is named for the late elephant Abu, famed star of such motion pictures as The Power of One, Circles in the Forest, and Clint Eastwood's White Hunter Black Heart, and the herd comprises a blood and "adoptive" family of elephants ranging from a few months to 40 years of age. The camp is run by the flamboyant Randall Moore.

Walking Safaris

CC Africa -- "Walks of the Wild Botswana Pioneer Safari" is a 12-day safari that includes a 3-day walking safari in the Linyanti area -- this in an unfenced 1,350-sq.-km (521-sq.-mile) reserve set aside for on-foot access only, where you'll have an excellent chance of encountering lion and elephant and feel very grateful for the presence of an armed ranger. Ten nights are spent in fully serviced wilderness camps in the best reserves in northern Botswana (including Moremi), so you get all of the thrills of being on a real tented safari with the colonial-style luxury of three staff members servicing the needs of the six guests (maximum) allowed on this safari. Staying in an established lodge will seem very tame after this. Rates range between $7,940 and $10,060 (£4,089-£5,180) double, depending on the season.

Ker & Downey -- K&D offers "Footsteps across the Delta" -- a 3-day expedition where a maximum of six guests make their way by foot and mokoro from camp to camp. The emphasis is on enjoying the slow pace of the delta -- the maximum distance each day is about 6km (3 3/4 miles), and you can travel light; while you cover the distance, the camp staff transports baggage and camp essentials. Accommodations are in twin-bedded en-suite tents. The cost is upward of $495/£255 per person sharing; minimum age is 12.

Selinda Walking Trails -- In the 135,000-hectare (333,592 acre) Selinda reserve, connecting the delta with the Linyanti and Kwando wetlands, hikers are based at two Wilderness Safaris trail camps featuring two very different landscapes: Mokoba Camp is on the fringes of an enormous open plain, usually teeming with wildlife. From here you walk west to Tshwene Camp, located in a more forested area. Each camp has three tents on 2m-high (6 1/2 ft.) elevated platforms. Walks are with a knowledgeable (and armed) guide, while the actual camp is under the management of a "hostess" assisted by a small team.

Join the No. 1 Ladies' Detective

Zimbabwean author Alexander McCall Smith's best-selling novels about Mma Ramotswe, the fictional proprietor of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (the movie of which is currently in production under director Anthony Minghella in Gaborone), are so popular that readers have clamored to explore the locations featured in the books. Picking up on the idea, Ker & Downey now offers Mma Ramotswe's Botswana Tour, which leaves from the U.S.; covers the Botswana capital of Gaborone, the Okavango Delta, and Victoria Falls; and gets you back stateside in just 14 days. For contact details write to info@kerdowney.com.

Cultural Safaris

If you're interested in Bushman (or "San") culture, make sure you spend a few nights with Uncharted Africa Safari Co. in the Kalahari. Uncharted will also, along with operators like Moremi Safaris & Tours, organize a visit to the Tsodilo Hills (in the northwest, near the panhandle), where you can view some 3,000 rock paintings. The paintings are known for their fine clarity and wide variety, and trips can be made by air or four-wheel drive. There is also a traditional village in the foothills.