The Okavango Family Water World

Nights

12

Party

4–6 guests

Countries

South Africa · Botswana · Zimbabwe

From

Price on application

Best season

May–October (Delta flood season)

The Okavango is a river that never reaches the sea. It spills into the Kalahari and spreads into channels, lagoons and palm islands, and the only sensible way in is by light aircraft. For a family that has one big advantage: nobody spends half the day on a road. You fly in, you drive the floodplains at Mombo, you go out on the water at Jao, and the children spend the hot middle of the day on a deck watching elephants walk past.

We start in Cape Town so everyone can sleep off the long flight, then fly north to two Wilderness camps on different sides of the Delta and finish above the Zambezi at Victoria Falls. It is built for families of four to six, up to three generations. One aircraft, one guide who soon learns what each of you likes, and a second vehicle on request for the mornings when the grandparents and the children want different things. Jao takes children from six, so this one suits families whose youngest is six or older.

Highlights

• Mombo, on Chief's Island in the Moremi Game Reserve, for lion, leopard and long drives on open floodplain
• Mokoro through the lily channels at Jao for those 13 and over, one poler standing at the back of each canoe
• A light aircraft in the Delta that flies your family and nobody else
• Table Mountain and the penguins at Boulders Beach before the bush
• A helicopter flight over Victoria Falls and a private boat on the Zambezi at sunset

1. Day 1–2

   Cape Town · One&Only

   Family suites at the One&Only on the V&A Waterfront, which runs a children's programme. Day one: Table Mountain by cable car, then the Two Oceans Aquarium. Day two: your own vehicle and guide down the Peninsula to Cape Point and the penguins at Boulders Beach, with a picnic on the way back.

2. Day 3

   Cape Town → Maun → Mombo

   Light jet to Maun, where you clear into Botswana. From there a Cessna Caravan, kept for your family, to the Mombo strip. Soft bags only on Delta flights. From here to the end you are in a malaria area.

3. Day 3–6

   Wilderness Mombo · 4 nights

   Adjacent suites on raised decks; elephants often walk through camp. Mombo is a land camp, so the days are game drives on Chief's Island, timed around the family. Mombo asks that children 12 and under go out in a private vehicle, and the journey includes one. One morning, a helicopter flight over the Delta for whoever wants it.

4. Day 7

   Mombo → Jao

   A short hop across the Delta in the same aircraft. Jao sits on an island in the Jao concession in the northern Delta.

5. Day 7–9

   Wilderness Jao · 3 nights

   Jao Villa, two bedrooms for four guests, for your family alone. Families of five or six add a family suite in the main camp alongside. Mokoro at first light through the lily channels for anyone 13 and over; younger children go out by motorboat and vehicle. A full day by motorboat into the outer channels, and drives on the island when the family wants land under its feet. Jao asks families with children under 12 to take private activities, and the journey includes them.

6. Day 10

   Jao → Victoria Falls

   Caravan back to Maun, then the jet to Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls River Lodge has tented suites on decks in the trees above the Zambezi, upstream of the Falls.

7. Day 10–12

   Victoria Falls · 3 nights

   A helicopter flight over the Falls. Anyone who would rather stay on the ground walks the rainforest path on the Zimbabwe side with the guide, at their own pace, with the spray on their faces. Last evening: a private boat on the river as elephants come down to drink.

8. Day 13

   Home

   Road to Victoria Falls airport for your onward flights.

Flown by turboprop, light and super-light jet and helicopter. How we choose the aircraft