Langdale Walking & Adventure Holidays

INTRODUCTION
This two week holiday introduces you to some of the best game viewing in Africa, including Victoria Falls in Zambia, the Okavango Delta and, in complete contrast, the Kalahari Desert. Accommodation at Victoria Falls is at The River Club, a small Edwardian-style house on the banks of the Zambezi River. Elsewhere we stay in safari tented camps. All are luxurious, unique and the best available in the areas we visit. We travel between each area in our own private light aircraft. This promises to be a remarkable experience. The walking on this holiday is easy, consisting mainly of nature walks. The maximum group size is 12.

The Okavango Delta is undoubtedly the most outstanding of Botswana's natural wonders and offers great scenic beauty. This wetland paradise spreads out in a wide fan of meandering floodplains dotted with islands and laced with an intricate web of waterways teeming with phenomenal numbers of wildlife, including crocodile, hippo, waterbuck and many other wild species. Expeditions from each camp site will either be by special game viewing vehicles, quad bikes, dug-out canoes or on foot. All are accompanied by an expert guide and native trackers or bushmen.

The River Club
The River Club, with its Edwardian-style house and manicured lawns on the banks of the swiftly flowing Zambezi River, where hippo and crocodile float by, seems to straddle the continents of Africa and Europe.

Its main area has a comfortable lounge, large dining room, impressive library and a wide veranda on which breakfasts and teas are taken. Lush gardens (where midday meals are often served) spread out beneath the trees and a croquet lawn is an ideal venue for a Pimm's-soaked croquet game.

The pool seems part of the river itself, while a secluded deck with hammocks and loungers provides respite. A wellness centre houses a treatment room for manicures, pedicures, facials and massages as well as a sauna, Jacuzzi and gym. Ten luxury chalets are spread out by the river, all with luxurious bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms, and most being split-level.

One side is completely open to the river, so that there is an uninterrupted vista of the Zambezi and its far bank from both bed and bathtub. Each room looks west into the glorious African sunset, best viewed from the privacy of a ball and claw bath, brim-full with bubbles. All have a concertina screen door or window to provide privacy when needed.

Day 1: 10^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - London - Johannesburg
Depart London Heathrow at 2005 hours on the overnight British Airways flight to Johannesburg.

Days 2 & 3: 11-12^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - The River Club, Livingstone (full board basis inclusive of drinks)


Arrive Johannesburg at 0850 hours. Connect with the onward British Airways flight (operated by Comair) to Livingstone (1045/1230). Met on arrival in Livingstone and transferred to the River Club (approx 30 mins).

At 1708 metres wide, Victoria Falls is the most expansive curtain of water in the world and drops more than 100 metres into the sheer Zambezi Gorge. Located in the south-west corner of Zambia, these Falls and the Zambezi River are the central points in an area of spectacular scenic beauty: from the Falls themselves to the broad, picturesque course of the Zambezi River upstream, the rainforest adjacent and the stark jagged gorge downstream, the power and timelessness of nature's forces are evident throughout.

Activities include sundowner cruises, visits to the Victoria Falls, Simonga Village, local markets and Livingstone town. Livingstone is rich in history and certainly worth exploring. It dates back to 1905 when the famous Victoria Falls bridge, spanning the Zambezi River, was completed in April of that year. Many of the town amenities date back to the early 1900s, including the recently renovated 18-hole golf course (1908), the country's first synagogue (1928) and later on its Museum (1953) where many of David Livingstone's personal possessions are on display today.

Days 4 to 6: 13-15^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - Savute Camp, Linyanti.

Private light aircraft flight to Kasane in North East Botswana where you will be met and flown onto Savute Camp (approx 20mins). Met by our guide from Savute Camp on arrival at the airstrip and transfer you to the camp.

Savute Camp is located in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, to the north-east of the Okavango Delta which lies within the Chobe & Linyanti Parks. The many varied habitats within the Chobe and Linyanti parks - such as marshes, waterways, riverine forests, dry woodlands and the world-famous Savute Channel - have created an area renowned for its predators and large concentrations of game, particularly elephant. The grasslands of the Kalahari together with the lunar expanse of the Makgadikgadi saltpans complement and are in total contrast to the verdant, game-rich Okavango and Linyanti regions.

While the emphasis of a Botswana safari is often on large mammals - and there are plenty of these - there are many other specialised creatures to be seen and enjoyed. As many as 580 bird species have been recorded in Botswana with 75 larger mammal species known to occur and more than 80 fish species identified in the Okavango. But overall it is often the sense of wilderness and pristine functioning ecosystems that has the most significant impact on visitors. Nearly 40% of the country has been set aside as private reserves and national parks!

The Camp is situated in an isolated part of the Linyanti Concession along the Savute Channel in northern Botswana. In the 1980s, the Savute Channel, deep, clear and harbouring hundreds of hippo and aquatic life, dried up, due to shifts in the Linyanti Fault system. What remains is an unusual and productive ribbon of grassland that serves as a corridor and feeding ground in the surrounding woodland for a wide variety of herbivores. Savuti Camp is situated about 17 kilometres 'downstream' from the Zibadianja Lagoon - the source of the Channel; in the dry season the waterhole in front of camp is the only source of water over a large area and therefore offers excellent wildlife viewing.

This intimate camp's en-suite accommodation is in seven large walk-in tents that are raised off the ground and face onto the Savute Channel's grasslands. From the camp's thatched dining area and pub, a plunge pool and large viewing area with fire pit extend outwards on raised wooden decks towards the Channel, providing a wonderful view of the waterhole. Explore the Channel and its environs through day and night game drives, nature walks with a guide (on request), and several well-positioned hides for safe, up-close animal viewing. Savuti Camp's 'wood-pile hide' at the waterhole in front of the camp is famous for spectacular elephant viewing in the drier winter months. Game concentrations here are high, particularly in the winter dry season, and apart from abundant plains game, species such as roan and sable antelope, southern giraffe, lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyaena, black-backed jackal and wild dog may also be encountered. In winter, this area can also be excellent for the sought-after aardvark and aardwolf, which are big ticks on anyone's mammal lists.

3 nights at Savute Camp on a full board basis inclusive of game viewing activities and local drinks.

Days 7 to 9: 16-18^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - Little Vumbura Camp, Okavango Delta.

Private light aircraft flight to Little Vumbura (approx 30mins). Met on arrival at the airstrip by a guide from Little Vumbura and transfer to the camp.

Little Vumbura Camp is located in the world renowned Okavango Delta. Each year floodwater flows into the Okavango from its source in the moist central African highlands over a thousand kilometres away. These floodwaters flow from their catchments southwards and into the Kalahari Desert to create a unique wetland that supports and sustains a huge diversity of wildlife. Apart from year round excellent game viewing, the beauty of this water wonderland is awe inspiring. More than 400 species of resident and migrant birds, lions, elephant, hyenas, wild dog, buffalo, hippo and crocodiles congregate with a variety of antelope and smaller animals - warthog, mongoose, genets, monkeys and bushbabies to name a few.

Little Vumbura is situated on an island in a private concession in the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta, in the same region as its sister camp, Vumbura Plains. It is a beautiful six-roomed tented camp shaded by the canopy of an ancient Okavango forest. Each tent is large and roomy and has en-suite facilities. A plunge pool and reading area overlook the floodplains and a star deck leads off the dining area. Surrounded as it is by water and lying close to large rivers, water-based activities are a focus with mokoros traversing the floodplains under the guidance of experienced polers, and motor boats cruising the permanent channels.

Game drives in open Land Rovers allow guests to get close to animals in the savannah areas. Walks (on request) around the islands are an opportunity to enjoy Africa from a different perspective. Game viewing is consistently good all year round with lion, leopard, elephant, sable and buffalo, along with extensive plains game, providing an excellent all-round wildlife experience in this remote corner of the Delta. Little Vumbura is part of a community participation plan bringing the communities that live around the Okavango Delta into the tourism mainstream.

3 nights at Little Vumbura Camp on a full board basis inclusive of game viewing activities and local drinks.

Days 10 to 12: 19-21^st SEPTEMBER 2011 - San Camp, Kalahari Desert.

San Camp sits serenely in a reef of palm at the edge of the world. You can see the curve of the earth here. Turn 360° and nothing crosses the eye but the bowl of the sky. A safari to San Camp is also a complete desert experience focusing on species unique to the area such as aardvark, gemsbuck and springbuck.

This place could not be more different from everywhere else. San Camp is the Stewart Granger Memorial Collection of 1940s safari tents, with bucket showers, flush loos, four-poster beds, mosquito net canopies, percale sheets, and paraffin lamps. There is no electricity at San Camp. Six white canvas tents twinned with a dramatic location, combine to create an oasis of civilization in what can be the harshest of stark environments. The result: One of the most romantic camps in Africa.

Jack's and San Camps are unique in that they are the only permanent camps to offer a chance to explore and understand the Kalahari. The concession adjoins the Makgadikgadi National Park with its endless vistas of rolling golden grasslands. Desert palms line the horizon. A relic of one of the world's largest super-lakes, the Makgadikgadi dried up thousands of years ago as a result of the continued shifting of the earth's crust. When the lake was formed, some five to seven million years ago, its shores were the setting for the mysterious transition from ape to man. Venturing far into the centre of the Makgadikgadi, on 4wd quad bikes, you are able to explore remote archaeological sites, periodically discovering never before documented fossil beds of extinct giant zebra and hippo. The fact that you can travel across the pans at great speed and still arrive nowhere only underlines the pans immensity. There is nothing out there.

The Kalahari desert is its own universe. It is the only place where guests are virtually guaranteed to see the rare and elusive brown hyaena and be able to walk through the Kalahari with a gang of habituated but, wild meerkats!
The Guides at San and its satellite, Jack's Camp, are an erudite breed. Often graduate students who combine research with guiding, they team up with a small group of Zu/'hoasi Bushmen to guide you on walks and game drives. Offering a window into the past, the Bushmen teach you how they have survived in this harshest of environments, using ancient knowledge of plants, animal behaviour and survival skills. The cunning tricks and survival struggles of the feisty inhabitants of the Makgadikgadi are not without drama and, here, the emphasis is on observing the intricacies of a truly unique ecosystem to which Jack's and San Camp have added a few stylish adaptations of their own.

Three nights on a full board basis inclusive of drinks and activities.

Day 13: 22^nd SEPTEMBER 2011 - departure

It is time to go home! We take a private light aircraft flight to Maun in time to connect with the Air Botswana flight BP211 to Johannesburg (15.00/16.40 hours), then onwards with the British Airways' overnight flight BA64 to London, leaving at 20.15 hours.

Day 14: 23^rd SEPTEMBER 2011 - Arrive London

Arrive London Heathrow Terminal 5 at 06.20 hours

OPTIONAL EXTENSION TO CAPE TOWN

Day 13: 22^nd SEPTEMBER 2011 - Cape Town

We take the private light aircraft flight to Maun in time to connect with the Air Botswana flight BP211 to Johannesburg (15.00/16.40 hours), then onwards to Cape Town. We are met on arrival by our agents and transfer to the Victoria & Alfred Hotel on the Waterfront, where we stay for three nights. Dinner in a local restaurant.

Day 14: 23^rd SEPTEMBER 2011 - Cape Town - Table Mountain

After breakfast in the hotel we are met and, along with our guide, driven to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where time has been allowed to explore this world-famous attraction. After an optional lunch we visit Table Mountain the easy way - by cable car! We return to the hotel in time to prepare for dinner in a local restaurant.

Day 15: 24^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - Cape Town - Cape of Good Hope

Our guide joins us again, as we spend the day exploring the magnificent Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. We return via Boulders Beach to see the penguin colony and Simon's Town. There's time for an optional swim, and in the evening we eat in another of Cape Town's excellent local restaurants.

Day 16: 25^th SEPTEMBER 2011 - Cape Town

We have most of the day as free time to explore further in Cape Town, visit Robben Island or do some shopping for souvenirs. Not to be missed is afternoon tea served in traditional Colonial style at the Mount Nelson Hotel. We plan to be there around 4.00pm. From there we are collected by our agents, and return to the hotel for the transfer to the airport.

We depart Cape Town at 2055 hours on the British Airways flight BA58, arriving at London Heathrow (T5) at 0635. For those wishing to travel to Manchester, there is a connecting flight leaving at 0855 and arriving in Manchester at 1000 hours.

The itinerary is based on international flights with British Airways, but if you prefer to arrange your own flights you can also fly with Virgin Atlantic or South African Airways. All three airlines operate a direct and daily service between London and Johannesburg.
The flight time from London to Johannesburg is 11 hours. Botswana is 2 hours ahead of GMT.

Flight times are subject to alteration.