Back in August this year we were lucky enough to stay four nights at the beautifully designed and run bush camp, Khwai Leadwood, located in Botswana's Okavango Delta.
The Okavango is a vast inland delta that extends from southern Angola into Botswana. Every year around ten cubic kilometres of water floods into a 15,000 kilometre area where it eventually sinks into the ground - it's the only delta in the world that doesn't flow into an ocean.
The Okavango is a UNESCO World Heritage site and accommodates some of the finest wild game viewing in the whole of Southern Africa. Khwai Leadwood, part of the African Bush Camps group, offers unparalleled viewing of a wide range of animals and birds - plus fabulous service, luxurious accommodation and wonderful, all-female staff.
One interesting fact about the Delta is that it physically changes year by year, depending the amount of water fed into the Okavango River in Southern Angola. As more water flows into the system so the landscape changes from a vast area of sun-blasted bush and semi-desert to a series of semi-accessible islands, each supporting large groups of animals. August is towards the end of the dry season so the wildlife is quite spread out - but relatively easy to find because the vegetation is sparse. In the rainy season, although the wildlife is more concentrated because there's so much flooding, it can be harder to find as the bush is so thick. Both times of the year offer great opportunities for great game viewing.
One very nice feature of this camp was a free helicopter ride, something I'd not really thought about when the trip was first booked. Twenty minutes in the air gave us a fantastic overview of the Delta: its rivers, channels, millions of animal tracks and the vegetation.
(Our thanks to Lindy and all at Destinations Africa for organising such an exciting and truly memorable trip)
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