9N Botswana Specialist Safari

Canoeing the Selinda Spillway is one of the most unique experiences in southern Africa. The two person Canadian style canoes are situated in front of the camp for use at anytime. An ideal morning or afternoon trip would be to paddle down the spillway and to then walk back to camp, or be met by a vehicle for a safari drive on your return. Canoeing is seasonal and dependent on water levels in the Selinda Spillway.

One of the core activities at Selinda Explorers Camp is to enjoy a guided walk. It’s also a huge benefit of staying within the conservancies. Walks allow you to appreciate the stunning landscape around us on foot, peacefully, without the noise of engines. Talk to the managers to arrange a good time and location for a walk. Usually early morning or evening is the best time, as the middle of the day is too hot to venture out of the shade. Wear good walking shoes, a hat, and neutral coloured clothing so as not to alarm the wildlife, and take binoculars. Your guide will have water for you.

Selinda Explorers Camp focuses primarily on the traditional safaris of walking and canoeing. Safari drives are offered, both day and night, but are a supplement to other activities as opposed to the emphasis.

Your drives will be planned for you so that you get the most out of your stay. The best times to be out are from first light for the morning drive, and in the soft light in the afternoon continuing until after dark. These are the times when most of the action is likely to happen and the photographic light is at its best.

Please remember that the cars are open and it can be quite chilly in the early mornings and evenings, so take very warm clothing with you on your drives. There are lined ponchos provided in the vehicles if you get cold while out, so just ask your guide to show you where these are if you need them.

A full syllabus of bush craft skills for our young explorers. This is a complimentary program that follows in the footsteps of National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence, Dereck and Beverly Joubert. An extensive pack will be provided to eager children on arrival, so they can learn about animal calls, how to track wildlife, and other facts and figures about the wild. At the end of a child’s stay, he/she will become a Young Explorer and Conservation Ambassador - ready to go out and tell the world about what they have learned and what they too can do to help protect this beautiful environment.

Fly-fishing and rod/reel kit is available for those who want to try their cast at the local fish (except January and February when there is a moratorium on fishing).

Because walking through pristine wilderness that has no sign of a human footprint remains one of Kweene's key ingredients, Beagle Expeditions have left a vast portion of the area inaccessible to any motorized transport. Here, they bring back the safari experience of old: walking through wildest Africa.

The morning walking expeditions can be as long or as short, as intense or as modest, as your ability allows; they tailor make this at the time of your safari. However, as temperatures are much milder in the mornings and the duration of the morning activity generally longer, they prefer to conduct their walking safaris in the morning.

The Kweene River system is characterised by a combination of seasonal and occasional swamp habitats. Here the river receives water - normally - on a yearly basis with the inundation cycle of the annual Okavango flood dynamic. This section of the river is an exposé of exceptional Okavango Delta scenery and its wildlife; endless floodplains with well-wooded islands dotting the plains and all year round surface water drawing in an abundance of wildlife.

When water levels permit (generally May/June to Aug/Sep) the Kweene area has the luxury of unrivalled mokoro territory: vast open floodplains that allow you to see for miles and miles, reinforcing the solitude and wilderness and silence that the Beagle team have grown to treasure and to crave. Their mokoro (dugout canoe) excursions are normally combined with morning walks. Utilizing this age old mode of transport inherent to the lives and peoples of the Okavango Delta, they can further access normally inaccessible territory, and hop from island to island as you adventure and explore these pockets of habitat and the wildlife within.

Game drives along a crafty game drive network allows one to get a sense of the area and a feel for what the resident wildlife in the area has been up to. Beagle Expeditions have sensitively developed a limited game drive network in order to preserve the wild and untouched beauty of this remarkable landscape, without compromising their ability to explore the dry land habitat adjacent to the Kweene River floodplains by vehicle and experience the excitement of observing wildlife from a game drive vehicle.

One has access to two private bush sites that are located along the Kweene River System. On your moving day, you journey between these two sites, a full day out in the wilderness. In order to achieve this, you will pack your backpacks and picnic lunch and set out for a full day of adventure. Journey a distance of anything from 10 to 50 km, depending on the route travelled that day. Normally, it is a tranquil mokoro / walking trail, giving you a sense of age-old exploration as your heightened senses absorb a full day of wilderness sounds, smells and sights. However, based on the group dynamic, the presence of children and abilities of the individual members of the expedition, the trail may be replaced with a full day of exploration by game drive vehicle.

During this time, the Beagle Expeditions back up team breaks your first camp, packs up your tents and bedrolls, your bags and belongings, the kitchen and mess tent, the toilets and ablutions, and moves it all to your second camp, in time for your afternoon arrival, with enough light and time to get settled and appreciate the day's journey you have just undertaken. And that night, while you rest after your full and often tiring day, the first wilderness site begins its recovery and return to its natural state. Within just a few short days, your footprints disappear, as though you were never there; replaced by those of the elephant, impala and beetles that walk away your presence.

game drives in open 4x4 vehicles with fully qualified professional guides comprise the primary activity in search of wildlife

Karangoma - activity (game drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Melanie van Zyl)

Karangoma - activity (game drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (game drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (game drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Ed Bath & Ryan Crocker)

night drives in open 4x4 vehicles with fully qualified professional guides offer a glimpse into the lives of nocturnal creatures

Karangoma - activity (night drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Chris Roche)

Karangoma - activity (night drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (night drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (night drive) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Chris Roche)

being on foot with a tracker and fully qualified professional guide allows for perspective-changing experiences with large mammals

Karangoma - activity (walk) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Melanie van Zyl)

Karangoma - activity (walk) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Melanie van Zyl)

Karangoma - activity (walk) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Melanie van Zyl)

Karangoma - activity (walk) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

the mokoro is the traditional craft of the Okavango and allows you to silently explore shallow water in search of birdlife and more

Karangoma - activity (mekoro) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (mekoro) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (mekoro) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Jamie Thom)

Karangoma - activity (mekoro) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Melanie van Zyl)

for long periods of the year (rainfall and flood dependent) the Magwegqana Channel is deep enough to allow motor boating along more than 25km of winding, crystal clear water punctuated by hippo and often fringed by lechwe, elephant, zebra and buffalo

Karangoma - activity (boating) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (boating) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (boating) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)

Karangoma - activity (boating) Credit: Wild Expeditions Africa (Dana Allen)