We are partnering with the eminent (and charming) wildlife ecologist and conservationist, Dr. Karen Ross, in offering 2 trips to the Okavango Delta in Botswana in 2020 (May and September).  Karen is THE expert in the region and will lead the trips.  After 25 years of research and conservation work in the region, she was approached by the government of Botswana to lead their effort in preparing the Okavango Delta's application for World Heritage status (for further details, see the end of this news item).  

We met Karen during the time we were living in Nairobi.   We became friends and have kept in touch.  We asked her to put together the elements of what she considers would be the best way to experience the Okavango and surrounding region.  We asked her to suggest the best time of year to go there.   This trip is a result of her work.  Though Galapagos has always been our only destination (because we know the islands intimately), we are comfortable offering this unique trip only because it has been designed and will be led by someone who knows the area extremely well - it has been Karen's "backyard" for nearly 30 years.  Anyone can visit the Okavango, but very few will visit in the company of Karen Ross.  

This 14 day itinerary will have you start at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, head over to the Okavango panhandle (where the rainy season waters flow through), to the Tsodilo Hills World Heritage site, into the heart of the Okavango - a vast floodplain that attracts wildlife from far away, to the Kalahari desert, with a final stay in Cape Town (South Africa).    

We will be using very comfortable lodgings in all stays - including luxury tent camps while in wilderness areas.  The trip will combine some rugged outdoor exploration with very relaxing down time after the day's activities.  Though the price is still being finalized, it should come to about US$11,800 / person, double occupancy, starting in Victoria Falls, and ending in Cape Town.    

We are now setting up a list of tentatively interested participants (16 per trip).   If you'd like to receive advance notice when the trip details are finalized and when we will be ready to accept deposits, please let us know:  hblenkiron@cnhtours.com 

 

KAREN ROSS BIO:

Karen was born and raised in Africa. She has a doctorate in wildlife ecology from Edinburgh University and has spent most of her career working in Africa, mainly in the Okavango Delta. She is author of Okavango: Jewel of the Kalahari, which was first published as a companion to a BBC three part documentary of the same title. Karen’s subsequent work in the Okavango Delta was part of some critical conservation activities in Botswana, including the protection of the Okavango Delta from mining threats and upstream water withdrawals from Namibia... She led the NGO pressure to curtail the proliferation of fences in the Okavango region and was co-founder of the ad hoc Committee on Fences which was the first time Botswana created a forum between different government Ministries and between government and civil society.

From 2007 she collaborated with the government of Botswana, Okavango communities and numerous stakeholders and some authorities in Namibia and Angola, to motivate for the listing of the Okavango Delta as a UNESCO World Heritage site. She was chief editor of the Nomination Dossier and in 2014 the Okavango Delta was inscribed by UNESCO as the 1,000th World Heritage Site.  You would be hard pressed to find a better travel companion to the Okavango and Kalahari regions.