Kalahari Makgadikgadi Salt Pans Safari – nights Central Kalahari | 3 nights Makgadikgadi Pans

Overview

This is the second safari in Botswana that I have planned for Jerry M. I first received an enquiry from Jerry M in March 2017 to assist in planning a safari in the Chobe Game Reserve, Okavango Delta and Victoria Falls for Jerry, his wife and daughter. I put together Jerry’s safari in Chobe Game Reserve and the Okavango Delta with a few nights in Victoria Falls. After returning from his first safari in Botswana and Victoria Falls, Jerry contacted me in July 2017 interested in another safari in Botswana for December 2017. The trip would only be for himself and his daughter this time. Jerry mentioned his interest in seeing the Kalahari and adding Chobe or the Okavango Delta for this safari. Jerry went to the Okavango Delta and the Chobe Game Reserve in his previous safari in April 2017, with this in mind I suggested something completely different. Although December is considered the “wet” season in Botswana and many lodges in Chobe and the Okavango Delta close or experience less game viewing opportunities, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are full of life as the migratory herds pass through from the Chobe and Okavango Delta area. I suggested a 7 day safari in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Makgadikgadi Pans. The game viewing and scenery would be completely different to Jerry’s previous safari in Chobe and the Okavango Delta. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve would give them a opportunity to see the classic Kalahari animals such as Oryx, Zebra , Springbok and eland, they would also be able to see the well known predators of the Kalahari such as the black-maned Kalahari lions, cheetah and jackal. After reviewing the itinerary, Jerry was happy with this safari and excited for the new safari adventure! He showed the itinerary to his mum and she decided to join her son and grand daughter for a portion of the safari. Everything was booked and in place and their safari began! I am now planning Jerry’s next adventure to Namibia!

Day 1 :

Arrival in Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Upon arrival in Johannesburg, you will be met by our representative at the International Arrivals Terminal who will bear a name board with your name on. He will hand over your travel documents and assist you to your onward flight to Maun.

Upon arrival at Maun Airport, you will be welcomed by a representative from your safari camp and assisted to your onward light aircraft transfer to your camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Upon arrival at an airstrip near your lodge, your ranger will meet you and transfer you to your lodge for your 3 night stay.

Day 1-4 :

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The Central Kalahari game Reserve (CKGR) is the largest, most remotely situated reserve in Southern Africa, and the second largest wildlife reserve in the world. Waist-high golden grasses seem to stretch interminably, punctuated by dwarfed trees and scrub bushes. Wide and empty pans appear as vast white stretches of saucer-flat earth, meeting a soft, blue-white sky. At night the stars utterly dominate the land; their brilliance and immediacy are totally arresting.

The park contains wildlife such as South African giraffe, bush elephant, white rhino, cape buffalo, spotted hyena, brown hyena, honey badger, meerkat, yellow mongoose, warthog, South African cheetah, caracal, Cape wild dog, black-backed jackal, bat-eared fox, cape fox, African leopard, Kalahari lion, blue wildebeest, plains zebra, common eland, sable antelope, gemsbok, springbok, steenbok, impala, greater kudu, aardvark, cape ground squirrel, cape hare, cape porcupine, chacma baboon, red hartebeest and ostrich. The land is mostly flat, and gently undulating covered with bush and grasses covering the sand dunes, and areas of larger trees.

Many of the river valleys are fossilized with salt pans. Four fossilized rivers meander through the reserve including Deception Valley which began to form around 16,000 years ago.

Day 4 :

Central Kalahari Game Reserve to Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

This morning you enjoy your morning game activity and brunch before you are collected and transferred to the nearest airstrip for your light aircraft transfer to your lodge in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. You bid farewell to the Central Kalahari.
Upon arrival in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, you are met at the airstrip in the Park and transferred by road your lodge along the Boteti River for your 3 night stay.

You have time to settle into your lodge, before you depart on your first afternoon game activity in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park.

Day 4-7 :

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

The Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve, a salt pan– with an area of 3 900 sq. kms is situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana. It is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi. Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan but many pans with sandy desert in between, the largest being the Sua (Sowa), Nwetwe and Nxai Pans.

The pans themselves are salty desert whose only plant life is a thin layer of blue-green algae and Very little wildlife can exist here during the harsh dry season of strong hot winds and only salt water, but following a rain the pan becomes an important habitat for migrating animals including wildebeest and one of Africa’s biggest zebra populations, and the large predators that prey on them. The wet season also brings migratory birds such as ducks, geese and Great White Pelicans. The pan is home of one of only two breeding populations of Greater Flamingos in southern Africa, and only on the Soa pan, which is part of the Makgadikgadi pans.

Day 7 :

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and Departure

This morning you enjoy your morning game activity and brunch before you are collected and transferred to the nearest airstrip for your light aircraft transfer to Maun Airport. Upon arrival at Maun Airport you bid farewell to this African Wonderland.
You check in for your connecting flight to Johannesburg.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve: Deception Valley Lodge

Set on Deception Valley Lodge is a luxury game lodge situated on the northern-eastern border of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. Meet and explore the Kalahari with bushman guides of the San peoples.

The main complex boasts a dining room, lounge and bar area decorated in warm Kalahari colors making use of Bushmen and other African artifacts. A curio shop and small library forms part of the complex. The lodge has an ethnic African theme and was built to fit into the surrounding bush without altering, damaging or detracting from its ambiance and color. A swimming pool situated close to the main complex, enhances the enjoyment of guests.

Six of the 10 accommodation facilities consist of luxury twin bedded rooms with en-suite Victorian style bathroom, an outside shower and a private spacious lounge. There is also a chalet with two inter-leading rooms for families. The Kalahari Manor is a private facility which can accommodate a maximum of four guests with the exclusive use of your own private chef, services and game ranger. The two bedrooms each have its own spacious en-suite bathroom as well as two splash showers designed to pamper guests.

Evening meals are enjoyed under the African sky in a traditional boma area. Silver and bone china set the scene for a three course feast in front of the open fireplace. Brunch is usually enjoyed on the spacious veranda while steenbuck and kudu join the warthogs at the waterhole a short distance away.

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park: Leroo La Tau

Situated on the river bank of the Boteti River with the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in the distance, Leroo La Tau offers a stunning seasonal game-viewing experience as wildlife can be seen congregating along the river. Leroo La Tau has 12 luxurious thatched en suite chalets, all of which are situated on individual raised wooden platforms.

A wide private balcony provides the perfect setting to enjoy the views of the river and bush landscape beyond.

Each chalet is furnished with two twin beds, a writing desk, fan, and electric lights. Although the camp aims to provide total comfort and luxury, this is done while still maintaining a rustic bush atmosphere.

The main lounge and dining area, with its inviting wooden and thatch finish, allows you to relax at the bar while listening to the wide variety of night sounds so characteristic of the African bush. Alternatively you can lounge around the swimming pool or enjoy the panoramic river vista from the game-viewing hide built into the bank of the river.

Daily Safari Programme at Deception Valley Lodge

A visit to Deception Valley Lodge would not be complete without experiencing a walk with the San (Bushmen). ‘Braam’ Badenhorst, one of the owners, grew up in the Kalahari with the San and several of his friends live on the reserve and are available to show guests the way they used to live and survive. Walk through a terrain that appears to the uninitiated to offer little in the way of sustenance, but is a treasure-trove of fruits, berries, tubers, barks, herbs and flowers used in cooking, medicine, ceremonies and for a plethora of other purposes. All this before we turn to the mammals, birds, reptiles and insects that form part of the fascinating panoply of their desert world.

Activities are varied. The Reserve’s extensive network of tracks make for perfect day and night driving terrain. The Kalahari sand offers excellent opportunities for tracking lion and leopard and where your guide can follow off road as this is a private game reserve. Other activities include bush walks with San (Bushmen) hunters, sleep outs and a relaxing afternoon in the swimming pool.

Afternoon and night safaris in custom built game viewing vehicles afford visitors the chance to see a variety of different species which include the magnificent Kalahari lion, cheetah, leopard as well as giraffe and kudu. The elusive brown hyena has also been seen on occasion. Night safaris reveal reveal a fascinating world of nocturnal species. Deception Valley is also a bird lover’s paradise.

Daily Safari Programme at Leroo La Tau

Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, one of Botswana’s most diverse national parks, also offers sanctuary to the second largest zebra migration in the world during the dry season when the water dries up in the salt pans, they migrate to the Boteti River.

The lodge offers guided day and night game drives. Depending on the water level, boat activities are also provided. Optional cultural excursions can be arranged to Khumaga Village, as can guided nature walks in the area surrounding the lodge.

Leroo La Tau translates as ‘lion’s paw’ but, although the surrounding area features abundant Lion, Zebra and Wildebeest, it also boasts Chobe Bushbuck, Leopard, Cheetah, Brown and Spotted Hyena, Impala, Kudu, Jackal, Porcupine, Genet and Caracal, to name but a few. Birding is also spectacular, from the rare wattled crane, to saddle billed storks, and a variety of vultures and other birds

You can send your enquiry via the form below.