Moremi Game Reserve

Moremi Wildlife

A prime predator country

Moremi wildlife is as diverse as the landscape in which it lives. Its lagoons and rivers are home to hippos and crocodiles; its sparkling floodplains dotted with grazing antelope and wading birds. Elephant and buffalo move through majestic riverside forests and across grasslands covered zebra, giraffe, wildebeest and impala. Such year-round, abundant wildlife means Moremi is excellent predator country and has an international reputation for leopard and wild dog sightings. Depending on your accommodation, game viewing is in the form of morning and afternoon drives, motor boat safaris and mokoro trips (a traditional canoe) as well as guided nature walks. Most Moremi lodges offer a combination of these activities with specialist guides – bird watching for example – available on request.

MOREMI BIG GAME

Permanent water and greenery means Moremi is a year-round home to tens of thousands of Botswana’s big animals. Elephants are especially plentiful – both big bull elephants and female-led breeding herds – and Moremi is a great place to see large herds of buffalo, spending the day in shady forests where you may see shy sable and roan antelope. Savannah animals such as giraffe, impala, zebra and wildebeest are very common as are the smaller cast members: warthog, baboon, bushbuck and vervet monkeys. Wildlife in Moremi is best seen during the dry season when animals concentrate at water sources – the Khwai and Xakanaxa areas are highly recommended.

MOREMI PREDATORS

All the big cats – lion, leopard and cheetah – are well represented in Moremi – as is the spotted hyena, often seen close by when there are big cats around. There are honey badgers and wild cats in Moremi but the black-backed jackal is the most commonly-seen predator in the reserve – keep an eye out for its rarer cousin: the side-striped jackal. Moremi’s thickly vegetated waterside margins make good habitat for seldom-seen hunters like serval cat, mongoose and genet while its water courses are the home of crocodiles, giant, whip-tailed monitor lizards and African pythons.

MOREMI WILD DOGS

Moremi’s unspoilt landscape is one of the last in Africa to support a viable African wild dog population. Several packs have overlapping ranges in the Moremi Game Reserve and its adjoining concessions and although they are often on the move, they also remain in one area while the alpha female is giving birth in an underground den. Best seen in the early morning or late afternoon when they hunt antelope, warthog and zebra, Moremi’s wild dogs can be approached quite closely in a 4X4, giving you unique views of these extraordinary large carnivores, the second rarest in Africa.

MOREMI BIRDLIFE

With its mix of water and land habitats, it goes without saying that Moremi is one of Africa’s top bird watching destinations. The experience begins at camp where a huge range of birds flits around around your tent and the immediate environment – bulbuls, woodpeckers and flycatchers plus fire finches and waxbills. Game drives reveal the depth of the birdlife as you travel through forest and across grassland, while boats take you to remote nesting colonies of herons and storks and lily-covered lagoons with shy pygmy geese and watchful fish-eagles. Superb for casual or serious bird watching all-year round and home to many birds of prey, Moremi is at its birding best in summer when migrant bird species arrive.

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Top Experiences

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN MOREMI

1. Go on a Game Drive

Led by sharp-eyed guides, morning & afternoon drives in open 4X4s are the best way to see the Kalahari’s animals. Lodges on private concessions offer spot-lit night drives too, the best way to spot nocturnal ‘specials’ like brown hyena, aardwolf & porcupine.

2. Take to the Water

Many Moremi Reserve lodges sit next to water & offer excursions by motor boat. It’s a great way to see birds & smaller animals – ask us about the best accommodation for water-based safaris.

3. Track Cats & Wild Dogs

With so many animals around, it is little wonder that Moremi is a predator paradise. Lion, leopard & cheetah are all seen regularly & the reserve is a vital stronghold for the African wild dog.

4. Go Bird Watching

The birdlife along Chobe River is spectacular! Listen to the cry of the fish eagle; see spoonbills and storks on the floodplains; the colourful flash of a kingfisher and flocks of carmine bee-eaters.

5. Go Private

Privately-run concessions adjoin the Moremi Game Reserve. They offer equally good game viewing & the chance to go on spot-lit night drives (not permitted in Moremi) plus guided walks.

6. Visit a Local Community

With guides & staff drawn from nearby villages, several Moremi lodges encourage interaction between their guests & the local community. It’s a great chance to learn about life in big game country.

7. Walk the Wild

Whether it’s a stroll around camp or a morning spent on Chief’s Island, the biggest land mass in the delta, a guided nature walk reveals the intricate details behind Moremi’s giant trees & big game.

8. Book a Spa Treatment

Several Moremi lodges rank among the finest in Botswana, offering unbridled comfort & service. Especially recommended for honeymooners, these camps offer spa treatments, private dining & romantic touches.

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Reviews

Perfect

We are six older but experienced travellers who usually do our own planning. Luck led us to Safari Online and Walter. His ideas proved spot on. Throughout our planning Safari Online have been helpful, always answering emailed questions, no matter how basic, straightaway. We’ve had probably our best ever holiday in years of travel, everything went smoothly. Pickups and transfers were on time. Staff in all the places we stayed were friendly and helpful. I can’t think of one adverse remark except maybe seeing a lion that wasn’t asleep, though I think if it could have been arranged Walter would have done so.

Jennifer
Above expectations

Excellent communications and service. We dealt with Sabrina and she is awesome. The safari tour was amazing, i can highly recommend going to Elephant Plains. Its a very special place run by awesome people.

Werner
Excellent service and support for our Africa vacation

Working with Walter was a great experience. He listened to us and helped us build a vacation that exceeded all of our expectations. We really appreciated his professionalism and attention to detail.

Dan
Professional, patient, efficient and responsive. Met all our travel needs and requirements spot on

Communication was excellent – I asked A LOT of questions and did a ton of research myself and Walter was extremely patient with me and very responsive. he was straight forward and extremely professional.  Tour itself was excellent – an incredible experience and one never to be forgotten. Everything was spot on.

Neena
A great tour operator that was a pleasure to deal with.

We used Safari Online to put together a mid-range Botswana trip for a group of four going to three different camps and then onto Vic Falls. We asked several operators to provide options (through this great safari bookings website) and Walter Kohrs from Safari Online was easily the most responsive and quickest to provide different but realistic options and at good prices. In the end it was a no brainer to go with Safari Online. Walter always responded to my queries quickly, with honest and valuable responses that were clear and made sense. From our perspective he tailored a good mix of places for both our budget and standard of facilities that suited us perfectly, with enough information and links to help us make our decisions. In the end each camp was different and had different aspects and strengths that made each unique. We loved it.

Shane
They kept us fully informed and updated throughout planning, travel, etc.

It was excellent all around. Everything worked out well. An experience of a lifetime! The game viewing rides were fun and very informative.

Karen
Karina was absolutely instrumental to our safari success.

Our experience with Safari Online was excellent. After becoming very frustrated trying to search for a safari destination on our own, we turned to Karina for help and she was a lifesaver. She responded to our requests promptly and gave us several options with links to each option; we ultimately chose Lukimbi. She then coordinated our flights to and from the property, arranged the drivers necessary to get us from the airport to the lodge and back again, and sent the appropriate paperwork to each of us to verify each step of the process. We had an amazing safari adventure at the lodge–the experience of a lifetime–and are so grateful for her help. We literally couldn’t have done it without her!

Chris