Itinerary · 9 days · 33 places
9 Days in Botswana
Nine days from the delta town of Maun via the lagoons of Moremi and the Khwai River to the Chobe at Kasane — by mokoro, bush plane and boat. The route runs in one direction through this land of water and elephants, so you never cover the same stretch twice.
Open in the appThere you can adjust the plan to your dates, your pace and your interests.
Photo: Mark de Jong · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Maun — gateway to the delta
Arrival in Maun
Hotel check-in
The lodges lie north of town on the Thamalakane River, where hippos call from the reeds in the evening, yet the airport is only ten minutes away.
Old Bridge over the Thamalakane
From the old concrete bridge on the edge of town you watch herons and kingfishers at sunset over the river that drains water from the delta.
Day 2Maun, scenic flight and first mokoro trip
Nhabe Museum
The small museum in an old colonial building displays Bayei baskets, fish traps and photos of the delta before the safari industry.
Scenic flight over the Okavango Delta
From a light aircraft out of Maun airport, at 150 metres up, you see the channels, palm islands and usually herds of elephants and buffalo from above.
Maun Educational Park
This fenced stretch of river right by the town can be explored on foot — impalas, warthogs and over a hundred bird species along the Thamalakane.
Mokoro trip from Boro station
From the landing at Boro village, polers punt the narrow dugout canoes through the reed channels, where water lilies and tiny reed frogs cling to the stems.
Evening: bar at the Cresta Riley's Hotel
Maun's oldest hotel, from 1935, has a bar where bush pilots and safari operators have been meeting for decades.
Day 3Into Moremi: Xakanaxa Lagoon
Onward to Xakanaxa
Hotel check-in
Xakanaxa Lediba
Marabou and saddle-billed storks stand in the shallows of the large lagoon, and cormorants and herons breed in colonies in the dead trees.
Dead Tree Island
The bare, silver-grey leadwood trunks on the small island are Moremi's best-known sight and a reliable spot for lions in the shade.
Paradise Pools
The waterholes east of Xakanaxa draw elephant families and kudus in the late afternoon; leopards often lie in the trees along the banks.
Evening: campfire at Xakanaxa Camp
By the fire under the ebony tree the guides recount the day, while hippos grunt from the lagoon.
Day 4Third Bridge and Mboma Island
Mboma Island Loop
The sandy track across the grassy island leads through open savannah where cheetahs hunt and roan and sable antelopes stand.
Third Bridge
The famous log bridge of mopane trunks crosses a clear channel where crocodiles bask — getting out of the vehicle is forbidden here.
Mboma Boat Station
From the jetty a motorboat takes you through papyrus channels to open water, home to sitatunga antelopes and malachite kingfishers.
Xini Lagoon
The quiet lagoon in the south of the island is an afternoon haunt for elephants, which wade through the shallows to drink.
Evening: starry sky over the Mboma plain
With no light pollution at all, the Milky Way stretches from horizon to horizon, the Southern Cross low in the south.
Day 5Khwai — river, bridge, night drive
Onward to Khwai
Hotel check-in
Khwai log bridge at North Gate
The narrow bridge of rough logs over the Khwai is both notorious and beautiful; hippos lie in the pools beneath it.
Khwai River at Magotho
Elephant herds gather to bathe in the shallow river channel in the afternoon, while wild dogs and jackals hunt in the reeds on the banks.
Khwai Village
The village of the Bugakhwe, who were resettled from the park, now manages the area itself — sandy tracks, reed huts and a small craft stall.
Evening: night drive in the Khwai Community Trust
Drives after sunset are allowed in the community area — with a spotlight you find genets, springhares and often a leopard.
Day 6Savuti: channel, marsh and rock art
Onward to Savuti
Hotel check-in
Savuti Channel
For decades the channel has sometimes carried water and sometimes none at all — dead trees from the last flooding line its course.
Gubatsa Hills rock paintings
On the granite hills above the plain, San painted elands and giraffes on the rock in ochre centuries ago.
Savuti Marsh
The wide grassland is known for its lion prides, which attack buffalo here and, in the dry season, even bull elephants.
Evening: campfire at Savuti Camp
By the fire you hear the spotted hyenas that regularly roam through the camp in the evening, and the contact calls of lions from the marsh.
Day 7To the Chobe: the riverfront near Kasane
Onward to Kasane
Hotel check-in
Sedudu Gate of Chobe National Park
Park fees are recorded at the main gate west of Kasane; from here the riverside track leads straight to the Chobe.
Puku Flats on the Chobe
Puku antelopes, found in Botswana almost only here, graze on the floodplains by the river, along with waterbuck and warthogs.
Serondela
At the old sawmill site hundreds of elephants come down to the river to drink in the late afternoon.
Evening: deck at Chobe Safari Lodge
From the wooden deck above the river you see the lights of Namibia opposite and hear hippos grazing in the reeds.
Day 8The Chobe from the water
Chobe boat trip from the Kasane jetty
From the boat you get within a few metres of bathing elephant herds and crocodiles without disturbing them.
View of Sedudu Island
Botswana and Namibia disputed this grassy island in the river until the ruling in The Hague in 1999; today buffalo graze there in the shallows.
Kasane Hot Springs
The warm spring on the edge of town bubbles out of the limestone into a small pool where baboons and vervet monkeys drink.
Kazungula four-country confluence
Where the Chobe and Zambezi meet, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe almost touch at a single point; the new bridge spans it.
Evening: bar at Kubu Lodge in Kazungula
Under old fig trees on the riverbank you sit looking across the Chobe to Namibia, while fruit bats circle over the branches.
Day 9Last morning on the Chobe — departure
Sedudu Valley in Chobe National Park
The last game drive leads through the dry valley behind the riverfront, where giraffes, kudus and often lions lie on the track in the morning.
Departure from Kasane
Make it your trip
Viatro AI opens this plan in the app — with map, travel times and opening hours. You change the days, pace and places yourself.
