Discover the astonishing contrasts of Botswana - including winding waterways, parched landscapes, and immense floodplains - as well as the colossal cascades of Victoria Falls.
Day: 1
The adventure begins as you enplane for Africa.
Day: 2
Johannesburg, South Africa
After arriving at O.R. Tambo International, we'll be escorted to the Saxon Boutique Hotel and Spa in Johannesburg's tree-lined suburb of Sandhurst. This luxury hotel has much to be proud of but says, touchingly, that its greatest "boast" is that the late Nelson Mandela chose the Saxon as his sanctuary at which to complete his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Tonight, we'll also enjoy dinner at the home of Micato family friends.
Hotel: Saxon Boutique Hotel and Spa
Day: 3
Okavango Delta, South Africa
Our base in the Delta is Xugana Island Camp, exactly the camp of an Okavango dream: brainily constructed, logically luxurious, set on a lush, wild ebony tree-shaded island overlooking a lagoon much frequented by animals and birds, permeated by peace and quiet, a lagoon considered by many the lagoon of all Okavango lagoons. We'll explore the Delta's complex waterways by mekoro, or canoe, and on foot, accompanied by well-versed guides.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Xugana Island Camp
Day: 4
Okavango Delta, South Africa
At some point we may experience "one of the Okavango's delights," as Lanting wrote, "the sheer surprise of seeing an elephant emerge from underwater"; we'll certainly see many elephants, lots of bobbing hippos, sun-bathing crocodiles, lounging (and hard at work) lions, and scores more creatures large and small.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Xugana Island Camp
Day: 5
A quick flight takes us to Chobe's semi-arid Savute region, famous for its aforementioned exceptionally large and numerous elephants, for its lofty baobabs, and for its Kalahari mystique (operative day and night; Laurens van der Post wrote in The Lost World of the Kalahari about the "night silence in Africa [that] always holds the far sea-sound of urgent stars").
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Savute Safari Lodge
Day: 6
Savute Safari Lodge, set beside the once-dry, now wonderfully watery Stolen River - frequented by thirsty beasts of all varieties, chummily visible from our verandas - is a fine base for exploring Chobe, for immersing ourselves in a still fiercely wild - but not in the least bit unfriendly - place, one of the great earthly, unique, abiding.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Savute Safari Lodge
Day: 7
Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
Another short flight takes us north to the Khwai River and Machaba Camp, designed in classic 1950s safari style, so well suited to its surroundings that animals wander down to the river insouciantly, delighting us as we watch, sundowner in hand, from our tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Khwai River and Machaba Camp
Day: 8
Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
And, not to be outdone by Chobe, Moremi gives us the chance to see the huge African night sky that ever captivated Elspth Huxley, a sky "bristling with innumerable stars, as close-packed as the quills on a porcupine."
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Khwai River and Machaba Camp
Day: 9
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
We don't like to repeat ourselves - to gild any lilies, perhaps especially an Agapanthus africanus, treasure of our home continent - so we hope you won't mind if we direct you to a torrent of praise for Victoria Falls and the Royal Livingstone Hotel over on page 134.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Royal Livingstone Hotel
Day: 10
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Here we'll repeat something a good friend of ours once said: "Victoria Falls is billed as one of the world's greatest waterfalls, but as a matter of fact, it's one of the world's greatest anythings."
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Royal Livingstone Hotel
Day: 11
Johannesburg, South Africa
We fly from the Falls to Johannesburg and connect with our international flight home.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day: 12
Returning home, we reflect on a journey of a lifetime.
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