Miracle Rivers

Safari like the original pioneering explorers through the beating heart of the Okavango – the Moremi Game Reserve. This authentic mobile safari visits the west and east Moremi, the beating heart of the Okavango with superb game viewing. Mobile safaris are ideal for adventurous travellers looking for a pure safari experience and raw wilderness. Guiding is top notch, the camps are comfortable and the groups small ensuring a personalised safari experience. A great option for adventurous travellers -couples, friends and solo travellers. Extensions and variations available too. Min age 12 years, but private safaris available.

Operated by the leaders in scheduled departure mobile safaris, Letaka Safaris, this safari combines comfortable accommodation with the company’s experienced and highly regarded guides.

Guiding is key to any safari, but most importantly on a mobile safari. Here you are in excellent hands. Letaka, the operator, also founded the Okavango Guiding School and have trained many of the country’s top guides. Keeping the groups small, with a maximin of 7 people allows the guide to interact with everyone and address all interests. This creates a much more personal safari experience than the larger groups – although this comes at a premium it is worth it. The minimum age is 12, though private safaris can be arranged for families.

This safari explores two distinct areas of the Moremi, Xakanaxa in west Moremi and Mababe in east Moremi, a perfectly balanced Okavango safari.

The safari begins with 3 nights in the beautiful Xakanaxa region. This is the heart of the Moremi, at the tip of the Mopane tongue, an area marked by mopane woodland, wide open grass floodplains and the lovely Xakanaxa lagoon. Ephemeral water pans dot the lands and make for find sundowner spots. Excellent resident game is a feature of Xakanaxa – large numbers of antelope live here and lion, leopard and hyena are seen regularly.

From here you drive to the east of the Moremi, to the Mababe Private Reserve for 3 nights, another beautiful area and also home to excellent resident game. Woodland and lagoons peppered with lilies are home to a variety of animals. The predator numbers are impressive here- lion, leopard and wild dog are resident here, hyena too. This area also provides diverse activities and is explored on foot, by dug-out mokoro and both day and night game drives.

The itinerary ends with a charter flight back to Maun in time for the midday international departures. Please speak to us for more information on extensions – we can arranged an add-on into the deep Okavango, Chobe, Kalahari, Victoria Falls and more.

This safari includes:

• Spacious and comfortable tented accommodation, including beds, bed linen and towels, with a private bathroom en-suite.
• The tents are 4 x 3m Sahara style tents with high roof with a 2 x 3m en-suite bathroom and a 2 x 3m covered area in front of the tent. The tents are fitted with solid base camp beds made up with mattresses, sheets, duvets and pillows. The tents have en-suite long drop toilet facilities and a bucket shower at the rear of the tent. Hot water provided.
• Services of a professional guide, safari chef and camp assistants, complete with a supply vehicle.
• Game drives and local transfers in customised safari vehicles.
• Exclusive camping in private campsites within the national parks and reserves.
• All entrance and camping fees within the national parks and reserves.
• All meals and drinks (mineral water, soft drinks, beer, wine and G&T) whilst in Letaka Tented Camps
• All activities as specified in the itinerary.

Please speak to us for extensions and additional activities. Helicopter or fixed wing scenic flights over the Okavango are highly recommended. For those looking to explore deeper into the heart of the Delta for a water safari extensions to lodges can be arranged.

Day 1 - Xakanaxa, Moremi

You will be met on arrival in Maun International Airport. International flights from Joburg and Cape Town arrive around 1.30pm and your charter flight will be schedule to meet this. A representative from Mack Air will be waiting to assist you onto your charter flight at approximately 14h00 to the Xakanaxa airstrip in Moremi Game Reserve where you will be met by your guide. (If you are staying in Maun prior to the safari, please request an airport transfer, Mack Air will liaise with your accommodation the day before to confirm the flight departure time.)

The first three nights are spent in the Xakanaxa region where you will explore the surrounding wilderness on morning and afternoon game drive excursions.

This is a diverse environment with every type of mopane habitat being well represented in this drive from the towering cathedral woodlands Xakanaxa to the classic climax mopane woodland and in the drier and harsher habitats, extensive stretches of scrub mopane. The San-ta-Wani region has scattered ephemeral water pans with large floodplains and camel-thorn woodlands. 40 km of the drive is in Moremi Game Reserve with a further 40 km in areas designated for wildlife management where animals roam freely to and from the Game Reserve.

Day 2 and 3 - Xakanaxa, Moremi

Today and for the rest of the safari your days begin early, at dawn – this is when predators are still active and the best chance of catching those exciting sightings. As the sun rises and the heat increases the animals move to the shade in the middle of the day, so an early start is essential for productive game viewing. After a hot drink around the fire and light breakfast option you depart on your morning game drive, tracking the events of the night before.

You will be out for around 4 hours or so- depending on the sightings, stopping for a coffee break along the way. Returning to camp as the heat begins to settle in mid-morning, around 11am. You will then have a hearty brunch followed by some time to relax in camp and rest – as the animals do – in the shade!

Later that afternoon you set out again after tea and cake for your afternoon drive, as the animals become active again as the sun begins to set. Stopping in a scenic spot to soak up the incredible sunset views is a tradition on safari, drink in hand you toast the setting sun before returning to camp where a camp fire will welcome you back. Dinner is served under the stars followed by drinks around the camp fire, a chance to discuss the days events and share stories before retiring to bed.

Moremi lies on the eastern extremity of the Okavango Delta. Habitats here range from wide-open floodplains, marshes, lagoons, papyrus fringed channels, vast stands of Miscanthus and Phragmites, woodland and savannah. As a result of the extremely variable habitat the diversity of both wildlife and birdlife is excellent.

The Moremi is amongst the best game reserves in Africa for viewing the endangered African wild dog. Xakanaxa is home to a resident herd of several hundred buffalo whose range covers the territories of at least 4 prides of lion which may often be seen flanking the ever moving herd. Breeding herds of elephant move between their browsing areas in the mopane forests and the fresh water of the Okavango. Red lechwe are one of the more unusual antelope species and commonly found here.

Day 4 - Mababe Private Reserve, East Moremi

Following an early morning breakfast you take a slow drive through Moremi Game Reserve north-east towards the Khwai and Mababe Areas. This is not a transfer, this is a game drive and an opportunity to explore the wide ranging habitats of the Moremi. The camp staff will drive ahead and set up camp which will be ready on your arrival.

The Manuchira Channel is known as the Khwai River at its eastern most extremity. The day’s journey follows this water course, with the track weaving from the riverside and floodplains into the mopane veld and the woodlands to Mababe Private Reserve where camp will be set up on the banks of the Khwai River before it flows out into the Mababe Depression. We pass the magnificent Dombo Hippo Pools in the morning stopping to enjoy the scenery and the antics of the resident hippo.

The western mopane veld is home to mostly breeding herds of elephant whilst the eastern reaches of Mababe is home to some impressive old bulls. The mature bulls revel in the cool waters and are far more approachable while drinking and bathing than the breeding herds.

The river has an unusually high density of hippo as well as some huge crocodile. Leopard, cheetah, serval and lion are common predators along this route and both Xakanaxa as well as Khwai are included in the home ranges of 2 different packs of wild dog. General game includes southern giraffe, Burchell’s zebra, tessebe and red lechwe with roan and sable antelope being less common residents.

This is a beautiful and exciting area to visit. You will arrive in camp after a full day’s game drive and relax into your new home.

Day 5 and 6 - Mababe Private Reserve, East Moremi

The next two days follow the same routine with early morning and later afternoon drives exploring the Mababe region. This concession has a strict maximum number of vehicles allowed at any given time making for an exclusive safari experience.

The Khwai River forms a boundary between the reserve and the community area. Exploring after dark with spotlights offers you an opportunity to experience some of the nocturnal animals that are rarely encountered during the day. As well as the usual suspects like the big cats and hyena, we look for the smaller species, genets, caracals, aardvark, ardwolf, bush babies and more.

We will also have the opportunity to explore the surrounding wilderness on foot and enjoy an up close and personal encounter with Botswana’s flora and fauna. It is important to note that night drives and guided walks are not permitted within the national parks and reserves. These activities are conducted outside the boundaries of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Khwai community area.

We spend our time between the dry-land habitats of the lead-wood and camel-thorn woodlands and savannahs and the riverside and marshy back-waters of the Khwai River, as well as the more desert-like habitats in the western parts of the concession.

The Mababe region boasts excellent populations of both bull elephant as well as breeding herds. Lion, leopard, serval and African wildcat are common predators of the region with wild dog and cheetah being less common. Buffalo use this area seasonally with large herds moving in during the summer rains. The swampy areas in the west are home to red lechwe. Other ungulates include tsesebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope and impala.

Day 7 - End of Safari

After breakfast we take a game-drive to the airstrip where you will be met by your charter flight back to Maun. This will be planned to connect with your onward international flight to Joburg or Cape Town. We can also arrange for direct flights to other camps in the Okavango or elsewhere in the northern Botswana region.

Map View

Letaka Fully Serviced Tented Safari

Letaka Fully Serviced Tented Safari

Letaka Fully Serviced Tented Safari

Letaka Fully Serviced Tented Safari

Letaka Fully Serviced Tented Safari

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