Tourism Update highlights some new adventure pursuits on offer in Botswana from tour and lodge operators, on land, water and in the air.

Elephant interactions and indulgence at Sanctuary Retreats

Sanctuary Retreats offers an elephant interaction in partnership with the Living with Elephants Foundation in the Okavango Delta. Guests stay at Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp or Sanctuary Baines' Camp and walk through the wilderness with Jabu, Thembi and Morula, a trio of semi-habituated orphaned elephants. While guests interact with elephants, they do not ride the elephants.

A day spent on a safari in the Okavango wetlands can be topped off in Sanctuary Baines' Camp's opulent star bath. Hidden on a private viewing deck, guests unwind surrounded by twinkling lanterns and shining stars. Four-poster 'sky beds' can be rolled on to a private wooden deck for a night under the starry skies.

At Sanctuary Stanley's Camp guests can indulge in a tranquil water lunch. The buffet-style meal is enjoyed, sitting with feet soaking in the cool, shallow waters of the Okavango Delta. For special occasions, private dinners can be arranged at the pool, complete with lanterns and candles. 

Balloon Safaris with Wilderness

Wilderness Safaris has also launched hot-air balloon safaris at Vumbura Plains and Little Vumbura camps in the Okavango Delta, available this year from April 18 to end September, coinciding with the dry season. Guests can also opt for an exclusive eight-minute helicopter transfer to and from the launch site, getting an additional bird’s-eye view of the terrain.

Private camping tours with Drifters

New from Drifters Adventure Tours are private camping tours in Botswana for small groups of two to 12 clients.  According to Christiaan Steyn, Marketing Manager, the tours feature tailor-made itineraries at affordable rates.

Drifters’ 16-day Botswana tour packages the country’s rich diversity.  Clients get the opportunity to interact with the local San people in the barren Kalahari Desert and spend three nights on a private island in the Delta, undertaking several mokoro trips and guided walking safaris. They also spend four nights camping wild in the national parks and a night under the stars on the Makgadikgadi salt pans.

Quad biking in the Makgadikgadi

Something to arouse the interest of adventurous travellers is quad biking across the flat, sandy surfaces of the Makgadikgadi salt pans, as offered by tour operator, Your Africa.  It’s an unusual way of experiencing the starkness of these vast pans, topped by a night spent under skies chock full of stars.

Your Africa also offers walking with elephants at selected camps, hot-air balloon rides over the Delta, and nights spent in traditional Bushman villages for a first-hand experience of an age-old culture.

Affordable safaris with Anthology

Kadizora Lodge, says Chris Anagnostellis of An African Anthology, is one of the more affordable lodges in the Okavango Delta. Straddled between the Vumbura and Selinda Rivers in the Delta, it is able to offer year-round game drives, mokoro trips and bush walks.

“We are also the first lodge operation to successfully pioneer and introduce hot-air ballooning in the Okavango Delta and this activity commences this year for the high season. There has been a resoundingly positive response to this activity from our trade partners as it is a different and exciting activity to the norm. We also offer a fantastic village tour and we are involved with the community from an employment and mentorship point of view.”

The group’s second Botswana location, Elephant Valley Lodge, is the only lodge at the edge of the Kasane Forest overlooking a very active waterhole. “The game and bird life is abundant and the location in itself lends itself to exceptional viewing opportunities from the confines of the lodge. Naturally, we also do game drives and boat cruises in the famous Chobe National Park,” says Anagnostellis.

Meerkat interaction and horseback riding

Sense of Africa’s Botswana programme comes with a gamut of adventurous activities. Manager Nicky Dance lists interacting with meerkats; walking safaris through the Linyanti; horseback riding on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, fishing the barbel runs on the Okavango Panhandle, Bushman cultural experiences, game driving both on- and off-road day and night, the famed mokoro trail experience and Chobe river cruises.

Water adventures at Xogeba Island

In association with Wildside Africa, Sun Destinations is now offering an affordable water-based camp in the Moremi Game Reserve, called Xogeba Island Camp. It is also accessible via self-drive, which is quite unique in Botswana, says Sun Destinations MD, Brett Thomson.

“In addition, with Wildside Africa, we are opening a new camp called Tuskers Safari Camp in NG43. This is a previously undiscovered wilderness area, giving safari travellers the opportunity to discover an unexplored area between Nxai Pan and the Moremi Game Reserve.” 

Air access

In addition to its daily services from Johannesburg to Maun and Kasane, Airlink is now offering a service from Cape Town to Maun five times a week.

The flight to Kasane gets passengers from Johannesburg within easy reach of Botswana’s Chobe, and the Victoria Falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambian sides. The hour-and-a-half flight is operated by Avro RJ regional jet, an 83-seater. The same equipment is used for the flight to Maun, which has the same duration.

The new Cape Town-Maun flight takes place on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays by a 37-seat Embraer ERJ regional jet. The flight takes two hours.

A previous version of this article appeared with misleading images. Tourism Update apologises for the error.