One of the most frequent questions we are asked is what clothing should we pack, so I shall attempt to address this question at the beginning of each season. Given that it’s our Autumn (late April to May), lets look at autumn packing.

The shoulder months are always a tricky one as far as packing is concerned and South Africa is no exception. Temperatures vary wildly within an average two week holiday period so the motto is be prepared.

Bring plenty of hot weather clothing – t-shirts, short-sleeved tops, pedal pushers, swim gear – especially if you are spending time in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal but also be ready for temperatures to change quite suddenly.

Night time temperatures will start getting noticeably cooler so have a warmer jacket for the evenings, pashminas for women work well.

If you are spending some time on safari, be prepared for a sudden downturn in temperature once the sun has set, and also in the early morning. It would not be uncommon to start a game drive at 4.30pm feeling distinctly hot and end it three hours later feeling freezing. You may feel vaguely silly bring hats and warm jackets to the game vehicle when it’s so hot, but you won’t regret it especially in May.

The Okavango Delta, the jewel in the middle of the Kalahari Desert of    Botswana, is Africa’s largest and most beautiful oasis - an isolated, lush green paradise with some of the richest wildlife in the world. This exceedingly beautiful maze of waterways, lagoons, vast grassy plains and palm-fringed and wooded islands is home to crocodile, hippo, elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, giraffe, wild dog, rare antelope and around 400 bird species. We are often asked about the seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta in Botswana – Why does it happen? When does it happen? Why do some lodges have water all year and others only during the flood? So I thought I’d try to address this issue in more depth…

Where does the source of the Okavango come from?
The source of the Okavango Delta lies in the extremely wet highlands of Angola to the north. From here the Cubango River flows south, through Namibia, away from the sea, gathering ever more water until it finally reaches Botswana, where the river becomes known as the Okavango. Here, the fate of the river is determined by a series of fault lines deep below the desert surface. Once the river passes over the first fault line, it splits into several channels forming a vast, fan-shaped, astonishingly luxuriant wilderness of flood plain and forest, stream and lagoon, the ideal breeding ground for an incredible diversity of wildlife. When the water meets the final two fault lines, the water is literally dammed and cannot go further. (Before the fault lines, the river flowed through the area which is now the Okavango Delta and the Makgadikgadi pans, and probably on to the Indian Ocean by flowing into the Limpopo river.)

When does it happen?
Something that often confuses people is that Botswana and the Okavango Delta has a summer rainfall and yet the flood occurs in the dry winter months. The rain falls during the summer and first seeps into the parched ground before the rivers start flowing. It takes months for the river flow to reach the Okavango Delta. (The flood travels very slowly at only a kilometre a day, partly because of the shallow gradient and because the swamp vegetation slows the water.) The flood starts coming into the northern reaches of the Okavango Delta in late April and makes its way steadily down reaching many camps sometime in June or possibly early July, depending on their precise location, and peaking in August. As it is the dry season, gradually the flood waters evaporate over the next few months, leaving their valuable salts and minerals in the ground, and the waters recede through October and November.

The evocative mokoro trips - a traditional dugout canoe made from an ebony or sausage tree - largely take place in these shallow waters and seasonal flood plains of the Okavango Delta. Gliding along in a mokoro, in total harmony with nature is an experience not to be missed.

Why do some lodges have water all year, others only during the flood and others not at all?
In the south-eastern part of the Delta lies a slightly higher area of land, known as Chiefs Island. This forms part of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve and the higher ground means that the waters never flood this area. The lodges here are predominantly land camps offering  game drives. If they’re on the edges of the Moremi, they may offer some water-based activities during July to September but this would be secondary to the main focus which is game drives. Prime examples would be Mombo Camp, Chief’s Camp and Khwai River Lodge.

To the north of the Moremi lie some deep river channels which are fed through the summer rains and then by the Okavango Delta. The camps in this area such as Kwara Camp, Vumburu Plains and Shinde are what is called ‘multi-activity’ camps (for want of a more elegant term) in that they offer a choice of water or land based game-viewing activities throughout the year because of the presence of these deep river channels.

Broadly speaking, to the south of the Moremi are the seasonal camps which focus on game drives in the green season and offer a mix of activities as the flood comes in. As the Okavango Delta flood varies from year to year, no-one can say precisely when the flood waters will arrive so if you are booking early on in the season, in June for example, there may be an element of luck (but the price usually reflects this). Depending on the camp’s exact location, land-based activities can be quite limited in the full flood so the camps literally become surrounded by water. The advantage is that the animals also get restricted to limited island areas making for excellent game-viewing on foot, by mokoro or by boat. Excellent examples would be Nxabega, Jao and Baines Camps.

Finally further towards the northern and western stretches of the Delta are the permanent water camps, which as their name suggests, offer boat-based game-viewing and game walks on the surrounding islands. The game-viewing is more limited here but the birding is excellent. It’s worth noting that mokoro trips are not usually on offer here as the water is too deep to pole. Examples would be Jacana and Eagle Island Camp. 

Point for the Safari Visitor
Change is the essence of the Okavango Delta. The delta changes from year to year depending on flood levels and rains and the flood constantly forges new channels which prevents the delta becoming silted up. This dynamic nature leads to great diversity of water depth, soils, vegetation and animal distribution. The exact location of each camp dictates what activities are available and when and this can vary within a short distance. Assuming you are booking well in advance, we’ll be able to match a particular camp to your needs.

It also follows that staying at two different camps in different habitats will give you the best feel for the dynamic mood of the Okavango Delta.

Most of our clients now stay on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls and so view the falls from the Zambian side. However in the last few months the new Zambian power plant has taken a fair bit of water from the Zambian Falls. Though this is a proverbial drop in the ocean during the high water months of February to August when the Falls are at their most impressive, it does make an impact as the dry season progresses as the volume of water over the Falls continues to drop until the end of the year.

Clients heading to the Falls between late September and December need to be aware that viewing the Falls from the traditional viewpoints  may not be as awe-inspiring as they might have hoped.

What should clients do?
If seeing Victoria Falls is one of the key highlights of your Southern African safari, then I would recommend planning your safari to co-incide with the best time for Victoria Falls which is generally May to August. At this time the rains have stopped which means that the Falls are not hidden behind clouds of mist and spray. But the volume of water over Victoria Falls remains high and your photographs will be spectacular. This time of year is also the best time of the year for game-viewing in the rest of Zambia and neighbouring Botswana.

However game-viewing remains superb and even improves into September and October and so many people choose to visit Victoria Falls later into the dry season. What advice do I have in this case? I recommend three options

1) Supplement your visit to the viewpoints of Victoria Falls with either a helicopter flight, the so called Flight of Angels, or even a microlite flight for the more intrepid. You will fly over the whole breadth of the Falls, over 1km in length.
2) Consider staying at one of the country lodges which lie a little upstream from Victoria Falls. The advantage of these lodges is that they offer a fully inclusive experience with a tour of Victoria Falls, sunset boat cruises, game drives in the National Park, canoeing, village visits all included in the price. What this means in practice is that you enjoy all of the many aspects of the Zambezi River including, but not limited to, Victoria Falls itself. Personally I enjoyed canoeing on the Zambezi River as much as viewing the actual Falls.
3) Finally you can visit the Falls from the Zimbabwean side. You can either stay in Victoria Falls town at one of their excellent hotels or you can purchase a Zimbabwean visa and walk across the border to view the Falls from the other side of the Zambezi. This is a relatively expensive exercise especially if you are from the UK (as the visa costs more for certain nationalities) but worth considering.
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