Safari Planning
A guide to planning your safari to the Okavango Delta
Read MoreAccessing the Okavango Delta
There are a number of air charter operators that service the Okavango Delta, mostly operating out of Maun. Transport within the Okavango Delta is primarily by light aircraft primarily single engine aeroplanes. Helicopter services are also available.
Mack Air operates from Maun International Airport in northern Botswana. A fixed-wing and helicopter charter company operating their services include, aerial photography and videography, game lodge and camp transfers, medical evacuations as and when needed, private and business charter, scenic flights over the Okavango, supply runs to and from game lodges.
With a fleet that enables them to schedule the appropriate aircraft type for various tasks. Based in Maun, Mack Air flies throughout Botswana and neighbouring countries including Johannesburg, Victoria Falls, Vilanculos and Windhoek.
Delta Air is a Maun-based air charter company with a fleet of seven single and twin-engined aircraft. Delta Air offers a personal and business service and provides scenic flights over the Okavango, medevac and casevac, aerial survey, aerial photography, lodge and camp transfers, cargo, search & rescue.
Major Blue Air, based in northern Botswana, mostly flies over the Okavango Delta and the surrounding areas including Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. Services provided include camp and inter-camp transfers, scenic flights over the Okavango Delta, aerial photography and filming, private / business charter work and medical evacuations.
Wilderness Air (previously Sefofane Air Charters) began operating 20 years ago with one aircraft based Botswana servicing two camps in the Delta. Today Wilderness Air is based in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Operating over 50 aircraft through the regions and flying over 2.7 million hectares of Wilderness conservation land and more. No other single charter in Southern Africa is able to offer this diversity in aircraft location.
Kalahari Air Services
Based in Gaborone, Kalahari Air Services has been operating since 1968 and is Botswana’s most experienced air charter provider. Kalahari Air Services offers charter flights throughout Southern Africa. They operate King Air 200s, Cessna C210 and can also source specialised aircraft to meet your particular needs. They also operate an air ambulance.
Air Botswana is Botswana’s national airline. It flys various local and regional routes, including Maun – Johannesburg, with its fleet of ATR 72-500, ATR 42-500 and BAe 146. It also hires in aircraft from mainly South African operators.
Links both Johannesburg and Cape Town with Maun, the gateway of the Okavango Delta and is the largest independent regional airline in southern Africa utilising a fleet of Embraer jetliner aircraft.
Perfect recommendation, smooth execution! They fully understood our needs and made perfect recommendations. This was by far the best safari I've ever been to, tailored to us and simply exceeding our expectations. Without their help and advice - we wouldn't be able to make this fantastic trip. Worth every penny
Ryszard Wojtkowski - September 2024
Excellent service so glad I found this company to book with! We had to book last minute as another holiday fell through and Louise took time to understand what we were looking for and the holiday exceeded expectations. Answered all my question in a timely way and I found Louise very easy to chat to. They even arranged some special moments as the trip celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary.
Julien Smith September 2024
Fantastic Service, Terrific Safari
Attentive, efficient, responsive and overall great service arranging my safari excursion in Botswana. The folks at Okavango Delta were extremely helpful and courteous, answered every question I had, and always kept an eye on personalizing the trip so I'd get exactly what I wanted out of it. They also smoothed any little bumps that inevitably arise when planning a trip of this scope, and thoroughly prepared me for making my safari a fabulous once-in-a-lifetime experience. Highly recommended.
Morty Bernstein August 2024
#1 Bucket list adventure of a lifetime
We had an absolutely lovely experience from beginning to end with Okavango Delta Explorations. The interaction with Maxine was exceptional. She was very responsive in such a lovely way to all our questions and put together THE MOST amazing trip for us. It will go down as one of our most treasured memories of a lifetime. We will be forever thankful.
Laurie Jeffries - June 2024
An absolutely superb trip, and this is entirely down to Okavango Delta Explorations.
Louise carefully listened to what we wanted to get from the trip, and despite my work schedule patiently kept me informed of all developments in our honeymoon and planned everything. I can't fault Louise or the company's approach to organising this trip. No question or request was too much and everything was planned perfectly. We will definitely be returning and using the company again.
Johnathan Manners -July 2019
Kudos to Okavango Delta Explorations
Anna guided us through the process of creating our itinerary and provided us with a flawless trip! Everything about our safari, from the selection of game lodges, transportation and transfer logistics, was handled professionally and smoothly. The Desert and Delta trip met all our expectations and we had a wonderful experience.
Nick Yiangou May 2024
Best Trip Ever
Our experience with Okavango Delta Explorations was outstanding. We worked closely with Louise FitzGerald through email and video conferencing over the course of several months to craft our Botswana safari and stays in Victoria Falls and Johannesburg. Louise was flexible and very helpful and listened to our needs and requirements. The safari was an unforgettable experience. The camps and lodges that Louise chose were terrific accommodations that aligned with our budget. The safari guides at all locations were amazing - they educated us, kept us safe, and shared these incredible habitats with us - and the staff’s hospitality at each camp was warm and welcoming. We were quite well fed and cared for. All of the transfers and logistics went off flawlessly - which is impressive given how much you move around during the course of several weeks including multiple flights and border crossings. An app is provided that contains everything about your trip, including local weather reports, which was a great and handy resource to have. Our accommodations in Vic Falls and Johannesburg were also lovely.
We found that planning a safari for the first time is daunting, but knew that we didn’t want to sign on to a ready-made group tour with the big-name operators. Using this company gave us the flexibility we wanted with all the infrastructure perfectly in place. We are inspired to go again on safari and if we do, we would use Okavango Delta Explorations again to manage our next adventure. HIGHLY recommend!
Joanne Lustig June 2024
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