Journeys · Botswana
The Delta & the Bookend Round
The greatest water wilderness on earth, explored by mokoro canoe, boat and on foot — with a round at Phakalane Golf Estate as the honest bookend. In Botswana the wild is the headline; we'll always tell you that.
Highlights
- The Okavango Delta by mokoro dugout canoe, boat and on foot
- Chobe National Park's riverfront elephant herds at dusk
- Phakalane Golf Estate — Botswana's only championship course
- Intimate camps with fewer than twelve tents
Best months
May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Drifting at water level past a breeding herd of elephants drinking — close enough to hear them swallow.
What's on the card — and where you'll sleep
Where you'll stay
- Phakalane Estates Hotel, Gaborone — Gaborone, 1 night
- Mombo Camp, Okavango — The Okavango Delta, 4 nights
- Chobe Chilwero, Chobe River — Chobe National Park, 3 nights
Every property is hand-picked from our register of fifty-two — none paid for, none reciprocated. See the options for this region →
Where you go, and why
Gaborone
Botswana's capital makes a civilised first night, and Phakalane Golf Estate — the country's only championship course, with fifteen dams and seventy-five bunkers fifteen minutes from town — makes an honest warm-up. We'll say it plainly: in Botswana the golf is the bookend and the wilderness is the book. That honesty is part of how we plan.
STAY Phakalane Estates Hotel, Gaborone
The Okavango Delta
Fly north into the jewel of Africa: a vast inland delta where crystal channels braid between palm islands. Your camp has under a dozen tents and three ways to explore — poled silently by mokoro dugout canoe past reed frogs and bathing elephants, by boat into the hippo-guarded lagoons, and on foot with a guide who reads tracks like headlines. Lion, leopard and wild dog all live here; so does a silence you can hear.
STAY Mombo Camp, Okavango
Chobe National Park
Finish on the Chobe River, where the largest elephant population on the continent gathers. The signature experience is the dusk boat safari: hundreds of elephants coming down to drink and swim, trunks periscoping, calves shoved up the bank by patient mothers — all watched from water level with something cold in hand. There is no better last page to an African book.
STAY Chobe Chilwero, Chobe River
Every journey is a starting shape, not a fixed product — add nights, swap lodges, bring the Gallery. Guide price per person sharing, excluding international flights; confirmed precisely in writing before you commit.
Asked before you booked
How much does The Delta & the Bookend Round cost?
Guide price is from US$12,400 per person sharing, excluding international flights. For an exact figure, use the Price a Private Version tool — adjust the nights, rounds and experiences and our quoting engine returns your private price, checked by a specialist, usually within one working day.
How many rounds of golf are on this journey?
1 round are built in — Phakalane Golf Estate. Every round can be kept, swapped or dropped when you price your private version.
Can my non-golfing partner come?
Absolutely — this is the heart of how we design. While the golfers play, the Gallery programme runs parallel experiences (game drives, spas, wine, walks, markets), and everyone reunites for lunch or sundowners. Non-golfers never sit out a day.
When is the best time to take this journey?
Best months are May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep. We will be honest about the trade-offs of any month you are considering — every season has its version of this trip.
Where will we stay?
Exact, named properties at every stop — on this journey: Phakalane Estates Hotel, Gaborone, Mombo Camp, Okavango, Chobe Chilwero, Chobe River. Every property is hand-picked from our register; none paid for, none reciprocated.
Do I need a visa for Botswana?
Most UK, US, EU and Commonwealth passports enter Botswana visa-free for up to 90 days. We confirm your nationality's rules at booking.
Why is Botswana safari more expensive?
Botswana deliberately keeps visitor numbers low — small camps of under a dozen tents, reached by light aircraft, in vast private concessions. You are paying for exclusivity and wilderness, and it shows the moment you land.
Is there really only one championship course?
Yes — Phakalane Golf Estate outside Gaborone. We say it plainly on every Botswana journey: here the golf is the bookend and the wilderness is the book.
Tell us how you want to feel when you come home.
We'll build the wild, and the golf, around that — and nothing else.
Design your safari Speak to us