Okavango Delta Moremi Tour

Okavango Delta Moremi tour is a 4 days Botswana exploration safari.  Okavango Delta Moremi tour starts from Maun. You will be taken to Moremi Game Reserve.

About The Okavango Delta Moremi Tour

The Okavango Delta Moremi tour is a 4 days Botswana exploration safari.  Okavango Delta Moremi tour starts from Maun. You will be taken to Moremi Game Reserve. The reserve is located on the Eastern part of the Okavango Delta.

You will enjoy a 15 minutes helicopter transfer from Maun. It is the best way to explore the Delta from the air. This African safari tour in Botswana will also let you explore the Delta’s eastern fringes.  This will be undertaken by boat and on foot.

The highlight of the Okavango Delta Moremi tour is wildlife and birding. Land formation will also be a part of the attractions.

Okavango Delta Moremi Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Maun - Moremi Game Reserve

You will be met on arrival at the Maun International Airport. This will be by our Botswana safari representative. You will be briefed on this Okavango Delta – Moremi tour in Botswana.

You’ll enjoy a 15 minutes helicopter charter to Xaxaba Airstrip. Here the guide will be at hand to meet you upon landing. You’ll have a boat transfer head for your camp on the banks of the Boro River.

As you will be flying to Xaxaba Airstrip, be on the lookout for larger animals. This can be easily seen from the air. They include the African elephant and large herds of buffaloes.

On your boat ride be on the lookout for the very common hippopotamus. There will also be variety of wildlife on the banks of the river. They will either be grazing or coming to quench their thirst. It is also at this point that some carnivores make their kill.

Therefore, it is important to be alert to this. Birds are also some of the common feature and you should be on the lookout for. They include the African Fish Eagle, Shikra, Tawny Eagle among others. You will be spending your night at Letaka Tented Camp.

Day 2: Game Viewing - Moremi Game Reserve

You will start your day on Okavango Delta Moremi tour with breakfast. This will be followed by a venture into the day’s activities. You will be exploring the south-western portion of this region. This lies along one of the Okavango’s main waterways.

The waterway runs all the way south to the Thamalakane River in Maun. It goes on to become the Boteti River. The river runs down into Makgadikgadi Pans National Park.

Game activities will be done on traditional dugout canoe. These canoes are referred to as the mokoro by the locals. A mokoro will usually carry 2 seating passenger.

The coxswain of the mokoro will be standing. He’ll be using a long stick help you maneuver your way. This is through the narrow canals of the seasonal waterways of the Delta.

This ride will provide an experience unparalleled anywhere in the world. You’ll start with the contrasting views of land and water.

You’ll then dive into the diversity of wildlife found along the channels. Your dinner and overnight will be at Letaka Tented Camp.

Day 3: Game Drive - Moremi Game Reserve

Your Okavango Delta Moremi tour day will begin with breakfast at Letaka Tented Camp. Today you’ll be embark on game drives and walks in search of wildlife. This will be in the famous Moremi Game Reserve.

It is here that the big game aspect of Botswana wildlife safari is captured. Moremi Game Reserve is one of the best wilderness areas of Botswana. The reserve is also an ideal place for bird watcher and wildlife photographer.

A first time visitor to the Okavango Delta will definitely enjoy creations wonder.

Day 4: Transfer - Moremi Game Reserve – Maun

You’ll wake up early on the Okavango Delta Moremi tour. Your morning will begin with breakfast. Check out of your lodge and with your luggage in the boat,. It is time to bid farewell to your camp crew on this Okavango Delta Moremi tour.

This will be the start of your journey back to Maun. This journey will take between three to five hours. You’ll maneuver along the winding waterways of the Okavango. There will be a stop on an island for tea and coffee.

You have an option of flying back to Maun on the helicopter. This flight will however be at an extra cost with a minimum of 2 people.

End of Okavango Delta Moremi Tour in Botswana

Okavango Delta Moremi Tour Destinations

Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta Moremi Tour takes you to the Okavango Delta. This is a vast and varied ecosystem created as the Okavango River flows into the Kalahari desert in Botswana.

The Okavango Delta is rich in wildlife, this World Heritage Site is a sanctuary to some of the world's most endangered animals and birds.

This delta in north-west Botswana comprises permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains. It is one of the very few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is almost intact.

One of the unique characteristics of the site is that the annual flooding from the River Okavango occurs during the dry season, with the result that the native plants and animals have synchronized their biological cycles with these seasonal rains and floods.

It is an exceptional example of the interaction between climatic, hydrological and biological processes. The Okavango Delta is home to some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammal, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion.

The Okavango Delta Moremi Tour takes you unique pulsing wetland. More correctly an alluvial fan, the delta covers between 6 and 15 000 square kilometers of Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana and owes its existence to the Okavango (Kavango) River which flows from the Angolan highlands, across Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and into the harsh Kalahari Desert.

Each year the Okavango River discharges approximately 11 cubic kilometres (1.1 × 10¹³ litres) of water into the Okavango Delta. Most of this water is lost to transpiration by plants (60%) and by evaporation (36%) with only 2% percolating into the aquifer system with the remainder finally flowing into Lake Ngami.

The Okavango Delta is affected by seasonal flooding with flood water from Angola reaching the Delta between March and June, peaking in July. This peak coincides with Botswana’s dry season resulting in great migrations of plains game from the dry hinterland.

Okavango Delta is generally flat, with a height variation of less than two meters across its area. The dry land in the Okavango Delta is predominantly comprised of numerous small islands, formed when vegetation takes root on termite mounds.

However larger islands exist with Chief’s Island, the largest, having been formed on a tectonic fault line.

The 1000th site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2014, the Okavango Delta is an important wildlife area protected by both the Moremi Game Reserve. On its eastern edge, and the numerous wildlife concessions within Ngamiland.

An oasis in an otherwise dry environment the Okavango Delta is known for its superb wildlife, with large populations of mammals and excellent birding particularly in the breeding season.

Moremi Game Reserve

A 100 years after explorer David Livingstone called this land ‘country full of rivers’, the environment and wildlife in the Moremi area were under threat. It is because of the bold, local Batawana people that this area was proclaimed Moremi Game Reserve in 1963, making Moremi the oldest and first protected reserve of the Okavango Delta.

As a sign of gratitude, the reserve is named after Batawana tribe members, Chief Moremi III and his wife. Now, the Moremi Game Reserve is one of the most diverse reserves with surprises everywhere, even for the most seasoned Africa-travelers.

The only proclaimed wildlife reserve in the Okavango Delta, Moremi Game Reserve (and its spectacular Khwai area) is also widely regarded as the most beautiful. Moremi Game Reserve has the most diverse habitat and animal populations in Botswana.

The reserve contains about a quarter of the Okavango Delta and stretches across several thousand square kilometres, comprising a stunning landscape of forests, lagoons, floodplains and islands.

Game viewing when on Okavango Delta Moremi Tour here is excellent year-round and resident species include lion, cheetah, leopard, elephant, African wild dog, zebra, red lechwe and many more.

In 2008, Moremi Game Reserve was voted 'best game reserve in Africa' by the prestigious African Travel and Tourism Association at South Africa's premier tourism fair, Indaba.

It is the first reserve in Africa to be established by local residents. Concerned about the rapid depletion of wildlife in their ancestral lands – due to uncontrolled hunting and cattle encroachment – the Batawana people of Ngamiland, under the leadership of the deceased Chief Moremi III's wife, Mrs Moremi, took the bold initiative to proclaim Moremi a game reserve in 1963.

It is the only officially protected area of the Okavango Delta. As such, it holds tremendous scientific, environmental and conservation importance. To this day, Moremi ranks as one of the most beautiful reserves in Africa, possibly in the world.

Flora and Fauna on Okavango Delta Moremi Tour

Moremi Game Reserve is situated in the central and eastern areas of the Okavango. It includes the Moremi Tongue and Chief's Island, boasting one of the continent's wealthiest and most diverse ecosystems.

This makes for spectacular game viewing and bird watching when on Okavango Delta Moremi Tour. Wildlife here include all significant, naturally occurring herbivore and carnivore species in the region and over 400 species of birds, many migratory and some endangered.

Both Black and White Rhino have recently been re-introduced, making the reserve a 'Big Five' destination.

Covering approximately 3,900 sq. km, where land and Delta meet, Moremi Game Reserve is a profoundly picturesque preserve of seasonal and perennial floodplains.

The landscape includes waterways, lagoons, pools, pans, grasslands, and forests. This terrain makes driving Moremi's many tracks and trails delightful and exceptionally inspiring.

Moremi is a top-rated destination for self-drive campers, often combined with the northeast's Chobe National Park.

Okavango Delta Moremi Tour Accommodation

Xugana Island Lodge

Xugana Lagoon is widely recognised as the most spectacular permanent water site in the entire Okavango Delta, which itself is Africa’s largest and most awe-inspiring oasis. The Okavango River rises in the highlands of Angola yet never reaches the sea; instead its immense waters empty over the sands of the Kalahari, where the great thirst of the desert is quenched in a wilderness of freshwater lagoons, channels and islands.

Xugana Island Lodge is situated on a private concession and takes full advantage of this magnificent site. An expansive deck and al fresco dining area overlooks the vast, pristine body of water that makes up the permanent Okavango Delta.

The lounge, bar and dining areas are set back under the Ebony and African Mangosteen tree canopy in open-sided thatched structures, and the swimming pool, located within the mature gardens in the centre of the island, is a perfect place to relax.

The lodge accommodates only sixteen guests in large, raised, reed and thatch lagoon-facing chalets, with en-suite facilities and private viewing decks optimally placed on the shaded fringe of the island.

Camp Moremi

Sheltered by ancient ebony trees and set on the banks of the lush Xakanaxa (pronounced ‘ka-ka-na-ka’) lagoon in the pristine wetland of the Okavango Delta, Camp Moremi provides a true ‘get away from it all Okavango Delta Moremi Tour experience.

With only 11 East African-style safari tents (and one family tent) and located in the heart of the Moremi Game Reserve, Camp Moremi is ideal for those keen on ‘unplugging’ from modern communications but who still want some 21st century creature comforts.

‘Water safaris’ by boat allow you to go in search of hippo, elephants and water fowl, and are an excellent way of understanding this vast and fragile ecosystem (the water here is too deep to use mekoro).

Back at Camp Moremi, tuck into their famous homemade bread at lunch and then take to your viewing deck with a book and binoculars – or to your king-sized bed for a lazy siesta.

With a beautiful setting, comfortable accommodation and attentive staff, Camp Moremi is an excellent introduction into the lifeblood of Botswana on your Okavango Delta Moremi Tour.

Camp Xakanaxa

Camp Xakanaxa was one the first set up in Botswana’s mesmerising Okavango Delta. Today, it has a welcoming balance between old-school rustic charm and modern conveniences and, being fenced, is a good choice for families travelling with pre-teen children.

It is also wheelchair-friendly and has four open-roofed Land Cruisers for game drives in Moremi Game Reserve, and three power boats for exploring the gentle reeded waterways of the Delta.

There are 12 twin-bedded Meru-style tents and a separate guide’s tent for those who bring along a personal tracker, guide or other staff. There is also one of the largest swimming pools in the Delta and a cosy fire pit for convivial sundowners.

As part of the laid-back atmosphere of Africa, Camp Xakanaxa has an ‘open bar’ where you can help yourself to your favourite tipple and the kitchen staff will be happy to prepare some local dishes if you want to extend your Okavango Delta Moremi Tour adventure to your taste buds!

Sanctuary Chief's Camp

This exclusive safari camp comprises top-notch accommodation on iconic Chief’s Island – the largest in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

Twelve secluded bush pavilions with thatched roofs are located in the Moremi Game Reserve with views of the Piajio floodplain and Okavango Delta Moremi Tour guests all but guaranteed predators sightings as this area is generally thick with game.

During the flood season guests are able to explore the miraculous waterways of the Delta by mokoro (dug-out canoe) in search of a diverse array of wildlife, including the elusive white rhino seen nowhere else in Botswana.

Twice daily games take place in 4x4s that seat six, meaning each guest has a coveted ‘outside seat’. After returning, be welcomed back to Chief’s Camp with refreshing hot towels and cool drinks.

Birders on Okavango Delta Moremi Tour should be in the look-out for jewel-like malachite kingfishers, while leopard frogs cling to the reeds of the Delta. Chief’s Camp is well laid-out, with a swimming pool, open-plan bar, safari shop for last-minute essentials and tranquil views over Piajio. Sisal, leather, wicker and wood combine to create tasteful and comfortable interiors.

The wellness studio is on tap for massages, facials, scrubs and nail treatments during the sunny afternoons between a delicious lunch and your late-afternoon game drive on this Okavango Delta Moremi Tour.