Big Five presents Botswana & Zambia journeys

Exploring the best of what southern Africa has to offer

The adventure begins here…  Rise in the morning to all the sights and the sounds of the fabled Zambezi River.  Birds chatter, monkeys skitter about in the trees overhead, elephants graze on the far shore, and the river rushes past on its way to Victoria Falls, just a short distance off.  You can see its thunderous clouds of spray for miles around.  This is Africa, this is the dream.

Big Five Tours & Expeditions has launched two new safari adventures into Botswana and Zambia.  The seven-day Botswana & Zambia – Three Rivers and the nine-day Botswana & Zambia both delve into iconic locations in southern Africa, beginning with Victoria Falls, a two-mile wide curtain of water that is the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

Both journeys also travel into Botswana’s Linyanti Wildlife Reserve and the private Selinda Reserve.  The region is one of the least visited and most untouched corners of Botswana, shared by a very small number of camps on private concessions, assuring outstanding wildlife viewing.

Botswana & Zambia – Three Rivers journey goes on to explore the Okavango Delta, one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of Africa” and home to an amazing variety of species, sided 4×4 vehicles and water safaris at the gentle pace in a poled mokoro or by safari motorboats.  Here, too, night games drives and walking safaris with skilled, armed professional guides are available.

Leaving Selinda Reserve, Big Five’s nine-day Botswana & Zambia safari heads into a different region of the Okavango – to a private concession within Moremi Game Reserve, a rich and diverse wildlife sanctuary with boundaries that are defined naturally by the river systems.  A network of game drive routes through the reserve and access to the permanent delta waterways in Xakanaxa make this an outstanding safari locale that is home to a resident herd of several hundred buffalo that range over the territories of at least four prides of lion.  Breeding herds of elephant move between their browsing areas in the mopane forests and the fresh water of the Okavango.

“Botswana was one of the pioneers of sustainable-style journeys, and its definition echoes our own,” says Ashish Sanghrajka, president of Big Five.  “Botswana has faced many challenges as tourism has become a major part of their economy; and it is amazing to see how they have tackled the myriad of issues involved.  Most recently, we were extremely pleased to learn that the government has announced that hunting will be banned in Botswana beginning in 2014.”

New for 2014, the seven-day Botswana & Zambia – Three Rivers starts from $6345, land price, per person, double occupancy; and the nine-day Botswana & Zambia safari tarts from $9135, land price, per person, double occupancy.