Destination Malawi

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LINYANTI 

To the north-east of the Okavango Delta, along the Linyanti Fault line, lie the Chobe and Linyanti areas. The varied woodland habitats and ancient floodplains help to create a balanced experience of the country. In many ways the Linyanti is an essential complement to an Okavango visit. The area is home to several unique features: the Savute Channel, an ancient and sporadic water-course attracting abundant wildlife; and the productive Linyanti River frontage. Seasonal zebra and elephant migrations add further drama and the Linyanti expanse is the favoured hunting ground for healthy numbers of predators. 

SELINDA

Selinda Reserve is west (upstream) from Savute Channel and Chobe, so it has all the advantages of both of those famous areas but with the tremendous advantage of exclusivity. It is a truly spectacular and unique landscape.      

A patchwork of microhabitats, Selinda Reserve hosts a staggering diversity of wildlife. The open plains are an ideal habitat for cheetah and the thicker woodlands are refuge for leopard. It is famous for elephant and lion, wild dog and hippo, buffalo and giraffe and the more rarely seen roan and sable 

KWANDO

This sprawling, extensive wilderness area lies in the remote northern reaches of Botswana and adjoins Namibia's's Caprivi Strip. The area is scenic and varied, from wide-open grasslands teaming with various antelope to riverine forests where you're likely to encounter shy kudu and sable. There are dense mopane forests where leopard like to hide, and reeded waterways and marshes where you'll find large herds of red lechwe, hippos and crocodiles. Then there are the open floodplains where the larger antelope roam. It's excellent predator territory with large, healthy populations of lion and wild dog and the rarer aardwolf can also be seen. In the wet season, it becomes a birder's paradise with the arrival of all the migrant species.

THE CENTRAL KALAHARI 

South of the Okavango Delta and dominating central Botswana, the five million-hectare (12 million-acre) Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of the biggest protected areas in Africa, its diverse wildlife and wonderful scenery offering an amazing contrast to the rest of the country. The Kalahari Desert is the largest unbroken stretch of sand in the world and at its core is the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a vast flat expanse of scrub-covered fossil dunes interspersed with ancient river valleys. This area is home to a fascinating spectrum of very different plants and animals that have successfully adapted to living in such a harsh environment. 

MAKGADIKGADI PANS

The northeastern region of the Kalahari Basin contains the Makgadikgadi Pans – this huge expanse of pristine, sugary white landscape is bigger than Switzerland. Once a large river-fed lake, the Makgadikgadi Pans now lie saline and empty. The pans are littered with stone tools and artefacts dated from between 2,000 to 500,000 years old! During the wet season 35-75,000 zebra and wildebeest migrate into the area with regular sightings of lion, cheetah and other predators who follow in their wake, this is southern Africa’s last surviving zebra and wildebeest migration. Hundreds of thousands of flamingo appear from nowhere to feed as long as the water lasts. Also a permanent haven for desert species such as the captivating and engaging meerkat and the elusive brown hyaena, the third rarest carnivore in the world!