Tour itinerary
Day 1 Arrive Livingstone
Arrive in Livingstone at anytime.Livingstone is a historic colonial city and present capital of the Southern Province of Zambia. It is situated 8km from Victoria Falls and 10 km south on the Zambezi River. It is also a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls.The town of Livingstone used to be called ?Old Drift? but was on 5 February 1905 that it was named after missionary David Livingstone, the man who brought the mighty Mosi-oa-tunya to the world and gave the falls their more internationally recognized name, Victoria Falls (named after Queen Victoria). The Victoria Falls:Rising in Northern Zambia, the Zambezi River flows in a southwesterly direction passing through Angola and winding its way through the Barotse Plain in Zambia before entering the Caprivi Swamps where the Chobe River joins it. From this point the Zambezi takes an easterly course creating the boundary between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Here the river plunges 108 metres into the gorge below, forming the Victoria Falls, named in 1855 by David Livingstone in honour of his Queen, also known as ?mosi-oa-tunya? - the smoke that thunders. In the season of floods - March to June - the river swells greatly, but the shallow valley contains it and the movement of the water is still slow. Only a few minor rapids high up the valley, and the small Gonye falls, give it a flurry of speed. Along the full width of its course the river tumbled into a deep trench only about 200m wide. The Falls measures 1708 meters across and has a mean maximum flow of 700 000 cubic meters per minute. The river has eroded the soft earth filled cracks in the original volcanic basalt plateau and has, during the past half million years, cut back a deep zigzag path forming a gorge 100 kilometers in length. The falls are divided into the Devil?s Cataract (27m wide and 60 m high), the main falls, which in turn are divided by a projecting rock (524m + 297m wide and 83m high) and the Eastern Cataract 304m wide and 96m high. In 1960 the flow of the Zambezi was constrained by a massive wall, Kariba, the then largest dam ever built, and backed up a lake 220 km long and in places 30 km wide. After escaping the confines of Kariba Dam, the Zambezi continues flowing on through Cabora Bassa Dam in Mozambique, finally reaching the Indian Ocean.The Zambezi River:The mighty Zambezi River, 2700 kilometres in length is Africa?s 4th longest river. This river is one of the largest and most impressive rivers in Southern Africa. It crosses southern Africa from west to east flowing through six countries. The river rises in the far northwestern corner of Zambia and flows briefly through Angola before entering Zambia again and further down becomes the border between Zambia and Namibia and briefly Botswana and then plummets over the Victoria Falls. It then acts as a border between Zim and Zambia and forces its way down the Batoka Gorge and enters Lake Kariba. Beyond the lake the Kafue adds to the flow of the Zambezi as it runs through Mana Pools and Lower Zambezi National Park. The Luangwa River then joins it and then the Zambezi enters Mozambique and creates the Cahora Bassa dam. Downstream from here the river slows and broadens and the Shire River, which drains Lake Malawi, joins it as the Zambezi flows over coastal plains, finally flowing into the Indian Ocean at a vast delta north of Beira.
Day 2-6 Community Volunteer Project (5B,5L,5D)
We will spend 5 days participating in the Livingstone community volunteer program. During our stay we will have the opportunity to interact with children and other community members while assisting in schools, building/refurbishment projects and local sports development initiatives. No experience necessary. Guided Tour of Victoria Falls included.G.A.P Adventures has partnered with African Encounter, an African based facilitator of volunteer projects, as a way to provide travellers with an opportunity to volunteer and have a true cultural experience by helping out the local community in Livingstone. During the volunteer portion of this tour we are able to make a real and sustainable contribution to the development and refurbishment of local schools. We will also have free time to entertain and interact with children by playing sports with them through a Sports Development program. Volunteers will be guided and supported by professional builders, as well as by an African Encounter representative. No building experience is required, just the desire to help.On the volunteer portion of the Project Zambia tour, we will be assisting with one of the following projects, and activities will depend on the stage of the project when we arrive.Building/Refurbishment at local Schools Schools in Livingstone deal with a great lack of facilities. Having too many children to accommodate and not enough classrooms, they usually run two or even three school sessions a day. To help provide children with the full days of classes they desire and deserve, our aim is to assist with the refurbishment and building of new classrooms for as many primary schools as possible in Livingstone.Volunteer activities on the project Zambia tour may include the following:Painting walls and muralsCarrying water and bricksBuilding wallsClearing the gardenHelping make cementLaying bricksPlastering wallsAssisting with re-roofing of run down buildingsReading classes (Working with kids 1 on 1 who so seldom get individual attention, we're finding this to be an extremely successful program)We will also have the opportunity to play sports with the children through organised Sports Clinics. Disadvantaged children throughout the local community greatly enjoy playing sports. Unfortunately, there is a lack of both facilities and sports coaches. By providing balls and playing grounds, African Encounter will set up sports games and allow volunteers to assist with coaching and play matches against the often very talented children. This will give the children the practice they love and need, and it will relax the volunteers after their work at the building projects!
Day 7,8 Chobe National Park (2B, 2L, 2D)
Chobe National Park is one of Africa?s greatest elephant sanctuaries. En Route we will cross the mighty Zambezi River at the unique meeting point of four countries (Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana). Activities include a Chobe Game Drive and River Cruise.Chobe National Park, situated at the Northwest of Botswana, is one of the largest games concentration in all the Africa continent and one of the world's last remaining sizeable wilderness area. By size, this is the third largest park (11 ooo sq km)of the country, after the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Gemsbok National Park, but definitively the most diverse and spectacular. This is also the country's first national park.The park is probably best known for its spectacular elephant population: 120'000 elephants today, it is actually the highest elephant concentration of Africa. Moreover, most of them are probably part of the largest continuous surviving elephant population on Earth. The elephant population seems to have solidly built up since 1990, from the few initial thousands. By chance, they have not been affected by the massive illicit exploitation of the 1970's and 1980's. Elephants living here are Kalahari elephants, the largest in size of all known elephant species. Yet they are characterized by rather brittle ivory and short tusks. Damage caused by the high numbers of elephants is rife in some areas. In fact[1], concentration is so high throughout Chobe that culls have been considered, but are too controversial and have thus far been rejected. At dry season, these elephants sojourn in Chobe River and the Linyanti River areas. At rain season, they make a 200-km migration to the Southeast stretch of the park. Their distribution zone however outreaches the park and spreads to northwestern Zimbabwe.
Day 9 Nata (B,L,D)
We continue South to Nata home to the unusual salt pans which are known to attract a huge variety of exotic birds. Optional activities include quad biking on the moonscape like environment. Nata is on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the largest expanse of 'nothingness' on earth, an area the size of Switzerland clearly visible from outer-space, Makgadikgadi devoid of anything but salt and shimmering horizon. This 80,000 sq-km salt pan is split into two major parts: Sowa and Ntwewe. The area was once the centre of a great lake but now it is one of the most spectacular landscapes on earth. When the rain comes the pans spring to life, dormant fish and aquatic shrimp wake from the mud and the herds of wildebeests, antelopes and zebras cover the surrounding grasslands.
Days 10-13 Maun /Okavango Delta (4B, 4L, 4D)
Today we travel to Maun, gateway to the world famous Okavango Delta. We will enjoy a two night Okavango Delta Safari. Boarding dugout canoes we make our way deep into the delta on the lookout for animals while navigating the many channels and sand bars of this wilderness water wonderland. At night we will camp on one of the many islands, sleeping under the stars. Maun - although officially still a village - is the fifth largest town in Botswana. It is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts. Maun is the "tourism capital" of Botswana and the administrative centre of Ngamiland district. It is also the headquarters of numerous safari and air-charter operations who run trips into the world-famous Okavango Delta. Maun has developed rapidly from a rural frontier town and has spread along the Thamalakane River. It now boasts good shopping centres, hotels and lodges as well as car and 4-wheel drive vehicle hire. It still retains a rural atmosphere and local tribesmen continue to bring their cattle to Maun to sell. This community is now distributed along the wide banks of the Thamalakane River where red lechwe can still be seen grazing next to local donkeys, goats and cattle.Okavango Delta:The Okavango delta is one of the world?s largest inland water systems. It's headwaters start in Angola?s western highlands, with numerous tributaries joining to form the Cubango River, which then flows through Namibia (called the Kavango) and finally enters Botswana, where it is then called the Okavango. Millions of years ago the Okavango River use to flow into a large inland lake called Lake Makgadikgadi (now Makgadikgadi Pans). Tectonic activity and faulting interrupted the flow of the river causing it to backup and form what is now the Okavango delta. This has created a unique system of waterways that now supports a vast array of animal and plant life that would have otherwise been a dry Kalahari savanna. The delta?s floods are fed from the Angolan rains, which start in October and finish sometime in April. The floods only cross the border between Botswana and Namibia in December and will only reach the bottom end of the delta (Maun) sometime in July, taking almost nine months from the source to the bottom. This slow meandering pace of the flood is due to the lack of drop in elevation, which drops a little more than 60 metres over a distance of 450 kilometres. The delta?s water dead-ends in the Kalahari ? via the Botetle River, with over 95 per cent of the water eventually evaporating. During the peak of the flooding the delta?s area can expand to over 16,000 square kilometres, shrinking to less than 9,000 square kilometres in the low period. As the water travels through the delta, the wildlife starts to move back into the region. The areas surrounding the delta are beginning to try out (the rains in Botswana occur approximately the same time as in Angola) and the wildlife starts to congregate on the edge of the newly flooded areas, May through October. The delta environment has large numbers of animal populations that are otherwise rare, such as crocodile, red lechwe, Sitatunga, elephant, wild dogs, buffalo, wattled crane as well as the other more common mammals and bird life. The best time for game viewing in the delta is during the May-October period, as the animal life is concentrated along the flooded areas and the vegetation has dried out. The best time for birding and vegetation is during the rainy season (Nov.- April) as the migrant bird populations are returning and the plants are flowering and green.
Day 14 Palapye (B, L, D)
Today we travel overland to Palapye. This camp in Palapye is a popular overnight stop where we can sit around the fire and exchange stories of Africa deep into the night.
Day 15 Johannesburg (B, L)
Making an early start we cross into South Africa to Johannesburg for our farewell dinner.Johannesburg is the largest and most populous city in South Africa. The city is affectionately known as Jo'burg, Joeys Jozi and JHB by South Africans. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, and which has the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa. The city is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and Africa's only officially designated global city. While often assumed to be South Africa's capital, Johannesburg does not form one of South Africa's three capital cities. Johannesburg does, however, house the South African Constitutional Court - South Africa's highest court.Johannesburg is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is also served by O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa.Johannesburg's land area of 1,644 square kilometres (635 sq mi) is very large when compared to other cities, resulting in a population density of only 1,962 inhabitants per square kilometre (5,082/sq mi). The population of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area is almost eight million. Johannesburg also encompasses Soweto to the south west, a township that the apartheid government established to accommodate the large number of migrant workers.
Day 16 Depart Johannesburg (B)