Game drives in the Okavango Delta

Patrol the fringes of the floodplains, hold your breath as your vehicle grinds its way across a shallow channel and inch your way towards a leopard on its kill in the fork of a thick-boughed riverine tree...

Nearly all lodges in the Delta offer game drives in open 4x4 vehicles, a superb platform from which you can watch the action. The terrain is rough and uncompromising but the rewards enormous: the Delta is an area of almost unparalleled wildlife diversity and in a vehicle you can cover a wide range of habitats to ensure a variety of species and experiences.

Game drives times are set to coincide with animal activity. You may initially be horrified at the thought of a pre-dawn start to your drive but this is the time when the predators are still moving and hunting. During the heat of the day most animals move into the shade and rest, so it's best to follow suit and save your energy for the afternoon drive when thirsty animals will be coming down to the water to drink. The predators take advantage of the concentration of prey at the water sources and the fading light by using this time to hunt.

There are few things that can beat finishing your day in the Okavango Delta than accompanying the sun sinking over a glassy lagoon with an ice cold drink and then beginning a slow drive back to camp through the dusk, on the lookout for the unusual. Indeed, the lodges that are located in private reserves or concessions offer night drives, one of the best ways to spot predators on the move or the smaller, shyer mammals of the Delta: serval, porcupine, honeybadgers, genets, aardwolf and the highly sought-after pangolin and aardvark.

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