7 Day Okavango Delta & Linyanti Safari

Guests are met and welcomed at any location of their choice in either Johannesburg or Pretoria, from where they are transferred to O.R. Tambo International Airport for a flight to Maun in Botswana. In Maun, a light charter aircraft awaits to fly guests into the heart of the Okavango Delta and the classic Camp Xakanaxa, where three nights are spent on a full board basis. On each full day during your stay, a morning and afternoon game activity is conducted by the lodge’s expert rangers and trackers. Game activities alternate between open 4x4 game drive, walking safari and water-based game viewing on the channels and lagoons of the Khwai River and Xakanaxa Lagoon system.

The Okavango River, which rises in the highlands of Angola, never reaches the sea. Instead, its mighty waters empty into the sands of the Kalahari and into a vast basin known as the Okavango Delta. Here the thirstland of the south meets a blue-green wilderness of crystal-clear fresh water, with emerald reed beds and islands dotted with towering old-growth trees. It is one of Africa’s most pristine wilderness areas and offers some of the finest wildlife experiences on the continent.

A last morning safari experience in the Okavango Delta is followed by a short charter flight to the Linyanti safari area wedged between the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park and Namibia's Caprivi Strip. The Linyanti Swamp, fed by the Kwando River, forms the heart of this wildlife refuge. It attracts a great variety of mammals during the dry season and offers keen birders an Eden of sorts. The Linyanti safari area is less well-known than the Okavango, but nevertheless offers exceptional game viewing in one of Africa’s truly wild places.

Guests spend three nights at Linyanti Ebony, an intimate tented camp set in a grove of ebony trees on the edge of the marsh. Two game activities are conducted daily by experienced rangers and trackers. Game drives, boat cruises and, when conditions permit, guided walks provide opportunities to encounter elephant, buffalo, lion, wild dog and an impressive diversity of birds. Evenings are typically rounded off around the fire, listening to the call of hyena and the grunting of hippo drifting across the water.

A last morning game drive in the Linyanti area is followed by breakfast at the camp, after which you bid farewell to the marsh and board a light aircraft flight to Maun. From the air, the patterns of channel, lagoon and woodland reveal just how remote this corner of Botswana truly is. In Maun you connect with your scheduled flight to Johannesburg. On arrival at O.R. Tambo International Airport an African Sky representative meets you and assists with your private transfer to any location of your choice in Johannesburg or Pretoria. As your safari draws to a close, you can reflect on a week filled with wilderness, water and remarkable wildlife encounters in both the Okavango Delta and Linyanti.