Botswana & Okavango Delta

By air. Maun (MUB) is the Delta gateway, served from Johannesburg in about 1 hour 35 minutes by Air Botswana, Airlink and Cemair, from Gaborone (GBE), from Kasane, and seasonally direct from Cape Town. Kasane (BBK) serves Chobe and the Linyanti on a comparable flight. Victoria Falls (VFA) and Livingstone (LVI) are the usual exit points.

Light aircraft. Nearly every camp is reached by charter or seat-in-plane from Maun or Kasane in a Cessna 206 or 208, landing on a graded strip and continuing by 4x4 or boat. The rule is 20 kilograms per person including hand luggage, in a soft bag with no wheels or rigid frame, typically no larger than 65 by 40 by 30 centimetres. Hard cases are refused at the aircraft, so this belongs in bold in the client documents. Payload is calculated on declared passenger weights: anyone over 100 kilograms must be declared in advance and may need a paid extra seat.

Access and flying times by area:

Okavango Delta concessions — Light aircraft from Maun. 15 to 45 mins to the camp strip, then 10 to 40 mins by 4x4 or boat. No road access, no self-drive.

Moremi Game Reserve — Light aircraft or 4x4 from Maun. Xakanaxa strip about 25 mins. By road, sand and gravel: three hours dry, difficult after rain.

Chobe riverfront — Kasane (BBK). Lodges 10 to 60 mins by road from the airport. Maun to Kasane by air about 1 hr.

Savuti — Light aircraft from Maun or Kasane. About 40 mins from Maun, 30 from Kasane. By road, deep sand and half a day in a 4x4.

Linyanti / Selinda / Kwando — Light aircraft from Maun or Kasane. 30 to 45 mins from either. Sole traversing rights, no self-drive, no day visitors.

Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan — Light aircraft or road from Maun. About 30 mins by air. The A3 to Nata is tarred; road transfers are viable here.

Central Kalahari — Light aircraft from Maun. About 1 hr to the Deception Valley strips. Green-season destination, December to April.

On the ground. Self-drive is possible in Chobe, Moremi and the Kalahari parks for experienced 4x4 travellers, and it is not the right product here; the concessions do not permit it at all. Park roads are deep sand and unimproved gravel, black cotton soil is impassable after heavy rain, and some Delta camps switch to boat transfers entirely at peak flood.

Routing advice. The standard build runs north to south-east: into Maun, three or four nights in the Delta split between a land camp and a water camp, two or three in the Linyanti or Savuti, two on the Chobe riverfront, then across to Victoria Falls. The Makgadikgadi or Central Kalahari means a change of season as well as scenery and works best at the front. The Tuli Block in the far east — 71,000 hectares where the Limpopo, Shashe and Motloutse meet, with Mashatu its principal address — is reached from Johannesburg via Pont Drift and pairs with Kruger, not Maun.

Practicalities. British, EU, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders need no visa for stays up to 90 days. Passports should be valid six months beyond entry with at least three blank pages, two of them facing. A Tourism Development Levy of US$30 per person is payable on arrival. The currency is the pula; camps settle in dollars or by card, and cash is wanted only for tips. Camps are small and sell out early: book twelve to eighteen months ahead for July and August. Most set a minimum age, commonly six or twelve.

Health. The Delta, Chobe, the Linyanti and Moremi are a seasonal malaria area, risk concentrated November to June and lowest in the dry winter. Prophylaxis is standard advice, with covered arms and legs after dusk; camps provide nets or screened rooms. The Kalahari, Makgadikgadi and Tuli carry negligible risk. Camps are remote and evacuation is by air, so insurance covering air evacuation is not optional.