10-night green-season safari
Kalahari Green Season
The Kalahari after the rains: Nxai Pan, Baines’ Baobabs and Deception Valley, on a small-group tented safari with limited seats.
Nxai Pan and Deception Valley
Kalahari Green Season
Ten nights in the Kalahari as it blossoms after the seasonal rains when the pans fill, the herds gather and the desert is at its least desert-like.
Come and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the surrounding salt pans as they bask after the rains. At this time of year the Kalahari offers some of the most rewarding game viewing of the year, and a great deal of space to yourself.
We take a limited number of guests on each departure so the guiding stays personal, and each tour is tailored to the group travelling. The route takes in Nxai Pan, Baines’ Baobabs and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, with proper down-to-earth tented camping while we look after your tastes and your thirsts.
At a glance
| Duration | 10 nights |
|---|---|
| Starts / ends | Maun |
| Season | Green season, roughly December to April; departures timed for mid-February, mid-March and early April |
| Accommodation | Two lodge nights in Maun, eight nights in fully equipped tented camps |
| Regions | Boteti River, Nxai Pan, Makgadikgadi, Central Kalahari Game Reserve |
| Group size | Deliberately small, for personal guiding |
| Who travels with you | Toff or Kiddy, a professional guide and our camp crew |
| Add-on | Extra days in Cape Town, on request |
| Rates | Quoted per departure and group size |
Every itinerary is tailored, so we quote per trip rather than publishing a headline rate. Ask us and you will have a written, itemised quotation.
The route
Ten nights, three camps
- Nights one and ten
Maun, either end
Two nights of accommodation in Maun, on arrival and departure, with dinner and breakfast included. Maun is Botswana’s fifth-largest town and the administrative centre of Ngamiland, an eclectic mix of modern buildings and traditional homes, and the tourism capital of the country.
- Nights two to five
Boteti River, Nxai Pan and Baines’ Baobabs
Four nights camping at the Boteti River, including all equipment, meals, vehicles, staff and guide. From here we run a day trip to Nxai Pan and visit the world-famous Baines’ Baobabs. The Makgadikgadi pans, Nxai included, form part of an ancient salt lake and offer excellent game viewing in the rains: lion, cheetah, leopard, elephant, zebra, springbok, oryx, giraffe, bat-eared fox and jackal, with plenty for the birders.
- Nights six to nine
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
We leave Nxai Pan and drive to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, camping above Deception Valley. This is where the space and the silence do their work: enormous night skies, and at this time of year some of the biggest gatherings of springbok and gemsbok you will see. The area is also known for the black-maned Kalahari lion, along with cheetah, leopard, brown hyena and jackal.
What is included
- All camping equipment, meals, vehicles, staff and guiding on safari
- Two nights in Maun with dinner and breakfast
- Day trip to Nxai Pan and Baines’ Baobabs
- Game drives throughout, including the Deception Valley area
- National park and camping fees for the routed days
Not included
- Airfares and airport taxes
- Visa and entry fees where these apply
- Travel insurance, which is compulsory
- Alcoholic drinks and bottled water unless quoted
- Gratuities to staff and guides
- Single supplements
Good to know
Practical notes
- Green-season travel means occasional heavy afternoon rain, good light, and, on the pans, the best game viewing of the year.
- Access tracks change with the weather. If a route is impassable we move to another sector of the reserve rather than risk the group or the vehicles.
- Cape Town add-on days are easy to arrange at either end. Just say so when you enquire.
Start the conversation
Interested in this safari?
Tell us when you would like to travel, how long you have and what you most want to see. You will hear back from Toff or Kiddy personally, not by a call centre.