27 Mar 2015 - Big game sightings in 2015: It’s going to be ‘a bloodbath’, comments guide

Expert Africa, the UK’s leading safari specialist, is reporting unusually low levels of rain across Botswana this year, with the country’s ‘rainy season’ (November – April) already drawing to a close. This means that game viewing - in particular in the Okavango Delta, in the Kwando-Linyanti area and in the north of Chobe National Park - is going to be even more exciting, with game-viewing opportunities galore arising earlier in the year than is usual.

With water levels very low, and with most of the non-perennial water sources already drying up, the game is hastening to any remaining water sites. Lucy Copson, one of Expert Africa’s Botswana specialists, has just returned from the region having witnessed this. “Animals were already moving out of the woodlands and heading to the permanent water channels”, she says. “Our game viewing was much better than is usually expected at this time of year – and our guides all concurred.” One guide commented that in the weeks to come the situation will be ‘a bloodbath’. As the plains game concentrates and therefore becomes easy prey, predators are in for a field day, as are visitors seeking big game and predator sightings.

News from locals in the little town of Maun – Botswana’s safari capital and gateway to the Okavango Delta - is that the Thamalakane River, running through Maun, is almost dry and they suspect it will be completely dry before the floods come. If this happens, it will be for the first time since 2007.

The eight-day Black-backed Jackal Safari covers Chobe, Savute and the Okavango Delta with stays at three top safari game camps. Quite unlike any typical ‘camping’ experience, guests are treated to butler service, crisp cotton sheets, en suite bathrooms, hot bucket showers, flushing loos, tasty pan-African cuisine and traditional bush dinners. Surprisingly affordable given what’s involved, the trip costs from £3,374 pp (two sharing) in April including flights from London, all accommodation with full board and activities, expert guiding, all transfers, park fees, and most drinks. Call *AITO member Expert Africa on 020 8232 9777 (www.expertafrica.com).

Expert Africa (020 8232 9777, www.expertafrica.com) also covers Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, the Seychelles, the Cape of South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ends / 27 March 2015

Press: For further information call Mischa Mack or Sarah Belcher at Travel PR on 020 8891 4440 or email m.mack@travelpr.co.uk / s.belcher@travelpr.co.uk.

Read more >

LET THEM PREY: BOTSWANA'S BUMPER YEAR