ENCOUNTERSAFRICA
7-Day Okavango & Salt Pans Safari

Botswana - Fly-in safari

7-Day Okavango & Salt Pans Safari

Duration
7 days
Countries
Botswana
Suited to
2-8 guests
Pricing
From USD 25,480

The journey

Updated on 23 August 2026

This is a study in contrast, and Botswana does contrast better than anywhere. The first half is Mombo, the celebrated camp on Chief's Island whose floodplains carry the delta's heaviest concentrations of game: lion prides in daylight territories, resident leopard, and plains that never empty. Three nights is enough to see why guides put this ground first among Botswana sightings. Then the country changes state. An hour and a quarter south by light aircraft, the Okavango's green gives way to the white of the Makgadikgadi, the bed of a lake that died fifty thousand years ago. Jack's Camp stands in a palm grove on its edge, nine Persian-carpeted tents around a private natural-history museum. The safari changes state with it: habituated meerkats at sunrise, walks with Zu/'hoasi San trackers, quad bikes on the dry pans, and between December and March the zebra migration on sudden green grass. Water then salt, abundance then emptiness. One week, both extremes.

Your camps, day by day

Stay 1

Straight to Mombo

Maun, then a 25 minute Cessna hop onto Chief's Island. Mombo's nine suites stand on raised walkways over a floodplain that works around the clock: lechwe, impala, baboon, warthog and their predators. The afternoon drive leaves as soon as you have eaten, because this ground does not need warming up.

Stay 2

The Famous Floodplains

A full Mombo day: out before sunrise to catch the pride while the cold still holds them together, back for brunch while elephant feed under the walkways, out again as the light turns. The island's leopard are the most photographed in Botswana and the guides know each by name and temperament.

Stay 3

Deep in the Concession

The last full delta day goes long: breakfast packed, a slow circuit of the western plains where wild dog den in winter, and time to sit with whatever the morning offers rather than chase the radio. The evening ends with sundowners on open ground, the floodplain going pink and the hippo starting up.

Stay 4

Green to White

The 1 hour 15 minute flight south is the trip's hinge: delta channels thin, the mopane dries, and then the horizon simply whitens. Jack's Camp waits in its palm grove, tents lined with Persian carpets and cabinets of desert archaeology. In the evening you drive onto the pan's edge and watch the sun set over pure emptiness.

Stay 5

Meerkats and Trackers

Before sunrise you sit with the habituated meerkat colony as it wakes, sentries climbing whoever is tallest. The rest of the morning walks with Zu/'hoasi San trackers, reading spoor and digging water tubers, a masterclass in the oldest profession there is. After dark a spotlight drive looks for brown hyena and aardvark.

Stay 6

Onto the Makgadikgadi

Dry season sends you out by quad bike onto the pan itself, a white disc where distance stops meaning anything, with Chapman's Baobab on the route and a sleep-out under the stars on offer. In the green months the same ground carries the zebra migration in its tens of thousands. Either version ends with dinner in the palm grove.

Stay 7

Desert Out

A final early walk or a last hour with the meerkats, then the 40 minute flight to Maun and the afternoon Johannesburg connection, landing in time for evening international departures. Seven days from the busiest floodplain in Africa to a horizon with nothing on it at all.

Safari highlights

  • Three nights at Mombo, the delta's most decorated camp
  • The predator floodplains of Chief's Island
  • Three nights at Jack's Camp on the Makgadikgadi
  • Sunrise with a habituated meerkat colony
  • Walks with Zu/'hoasi San trackers
  • Quad biking on the pans in the dry season

What is included

Included

  • 6 nights accommodation, per person sharing
  • Return regional flights Johannesburg-Maun in economy class
  • Light-aircraft sectors Maun-Mombo, Mombo-Jack's Camp and Jack's Camp-Maun, with airstrip taxes
  • All meals, house wines, local spirits, beers and soft drinks
  • Twice-daily activities at both camps, including desert excursions
  • Moremi Game Reserve and private concession fees, government levies and VAT
  • Botswana Tourism Development Levy of USD 30 per person
  • Laundry and emergency medical evacuation cover

Not included

  • International flights to and from Africa
  • Visas and entry permits
  • Comprehensive travel and medical insurance
  • Premium spirits, champagne and imported wines
  • Gratuities for guides, trackers and camp staff
  • Items of a personal nature, curios and telephone calls

Frequently asked questions

How much does a 7-day Okavango and Makgadikgadi safari cost?

From USD 25,480 per person sharing, rising to about USD 31,980 in peak season. That covers six nights at Mombo Camp and Jack's Camp, all meals and house drinks, park and concession fees, three light-aircraft sectors and the return Johannesburg-Maun regional flights. International flights to Africa are excluded and quoted separately.

Why combine the delta with the salt pans?

Because each makes the other bigger. Mombo is Africa at its most crowded with life; the Makgadikgadi is the opposite, a horizon with nothing on it. After three days of lion and lechwe, the silence of the pans lands with real force, and the desert's small dramas, meerkats, brown hyena, San tracking, read differently than they would first. The contrast is the product.

When should you do this trip?

May to October suits Mombo best: dry season, flood water high, game concentrated. The same months give dry pans for quad biking and sleep-outs at Jack's. December to March flips the equation, when the pans green over and hold tens of thousands of migrating zebra. April and November are the hinges between the two. Every month works; the emphasis just shifts.

What are the meerkats like at Jack's Camp?

The colony is habituated to people but wild and unfed. You arrive before sunrise, sit quietly on the sand, and the clan emerges to warm up around you; a sentry will often use a shoulder or a head as a lookout post. You are their furniture, not their friends, which is exactly why it works. Photographers should bring the widest lens they own.

Are international flights included?

No. International flights to and from Africa are booked separately, normally via Johannesburg. This price includes the return Johannesburg-Maun flights of about 1 hour 40 minutes each way and all three light-aircraft sectors. Light aircraft limit luggage to 20 kg per person in soft bags, and the pans are cold on winter nights, so pack one warm layer.

Is this safari malarial?

The Okavango Delta is a malaria area, with the highest risk from November to April; the Makgadikgadi is lower risk but not zero. Prophylaxis covering the whole trip is recommended, arranged with a travel clinic about six weeks out. Both camps screen their tents and provide repellent. Yellow fever certificates apply only if you arrive from a transmission-risk country.