Predators & Pans of Botswana

Welcome to Botswana!

On arrival in Maun, you will be met and transferred by road to your camp on the edge of Makgadikgadi Pans National Park.
Your home is Meno a Kwena, a relaxed tented camp perched on a rocky clifftop overlooking the Boteti River. In this dry landscape, the river is a magnet for wildlife, and the elevated position means the game viewing can begin without even leaving camp. Elephant, zebra, wildebeest and other animals regularly gather along the water below.

Settle in, take in the expansive views and head out to begin exploring, depending on your arrival time.

Overnight: Meno a Kwena

Spend today discovering the contrasting landscapes and wildlife surrounding Meno a Kwena.

Head out on a game drive into the Makgadikgadi region, where the landscape shifts between open grasslands, acacia scrub, salt pans and the wildlife-rich Boteti River. Keep watch for elephant, zebra and a variety of antelope, as well as predators including lion, leopard and cheetah.

Seasonality plays a huge role here. During the dry months, wildlife concentrates around the Boteti River, while the arrival of the rains transforms the pans and surrounding grasslands. The wider Makgadikgadi ecosystem is also home to one of Africa’s great zebra and wildebeest migrations.

Meno a Kwena also offers some more unusual ways to experience the area. Spend time at the floating photographic hide, positioned at water level on the Boteti, where you can quietly watch wildlife arriving to drink. You may also have the opportunity to spend time with San guides, learning about their knowledge of the land, wildlife and traditional survival skills.

Return to camp and enjoy your final evening overlooking the river.

Overnight: Meno a Kwena

After breakfast, travel by road back to Maun, where you’ll swap four wheels for something considerably more exciting – a helicopter.

Take to the skies for a spectacular flight into the Okavango Delta. This is far more than a transfer. From above, you’ll get a completely different perspective on the Delta as channels weave between islands, floodplains stretch towards the horizon and animal tracks criss-cross the wilderness below.

Touch down in the vast Xudum Concession and continue to Mokolwane, an intimate seven-tent camp tucked amongst the palms. With around 180,000 hectares of private wilderness to explore, this is a wonderfully remote corner of the Okavango.

The wildlife credentials are equally impressive. Xudum is renowned for its predators, particularly leopard, while lion, wild dog and cheetah also roam the concession alongside elephant, buffalo and plenty of plains game.

Settle into camp and, depending on your arrival time, head out for your first safari in the Delta.

Overnight: Mokolwane

Wake to the sounds of the bush and head out to explore the Xudum Concession, a landscape that has become particularly renowned for its leopards.

Rather than simply searching for a checklist of animals, your guides will read the signs of the bush – fresh tracks in the sand, alarm calls from antelope and monkeys, or the distant calls of predators – to piece together what has happened overnight and what might be nearby.

You may recognise some of this wilderness. Wildlife filmmaker Brad Bestelink spent extensive time in the concession filming Living With Leopards, following the lives of leopards in this very landscape.

Head out on morning and afternoon safari activities, with time back at camp during the heat of the day. Leopard may be a highlight here, but they are only part of the story, with lion, wild dog, cheetah, elephant and buffalo all moving through this vast private wilderness.

There are never guarantees on safari – and that's exactly what makes each sighting so rewarding.

Overnight: Mokolwane

By now, you’ll be settling into the rhythm of safari life: early starts, coffee before sunrise and long stretches in the bush with no idea what might appear around the next corner.

Spend the next two days exploring the concession on morning and afternoon safari activities. With several days here, there’s less pressure to rush from sighting to sighting. You might stay with a leopard as it moves through the bush, watch a breeding herd of elephant at close quarters or follow wild dogs as they set off on the hunt.

Conditions in the Okavango are constantly changing, so no two days follow quite the same pattern. Water levels, seasons and wildlife movements will all shape where you explore and what you encounter.

Between activities, enjoy some downtime at Mokolwane before heading back into the wilderness as the afternoon cools.

Overnight: Mokolwane

Enjoy a final morning in the Delta before saying goodbye to Mokolwane.

Board your helicopter for the flight back to Maun, giving you one last opportunity to take in the Okavango from above.

Watch the channels, floodplains and wildlife trails pass beneath you before arriving back in Maun, where your Botswana safari comes to an end.

From the stark landscapes and wildlife of the Makgadikgadi to the predator-rich wilderness of the Okavango Delta, it’s been a short but seriously rewarding taste of wild Botswana.