The Ultimate in Overseas Adventure Travel!

“Introducing the Incomparable Okavango Delta, but Affordable”

Now You can Discover the Fast Vanishing Authentic Africa as the First Explorers did

Dear Adventurer:

Yours is the last generation that would be able to experience pristine Africa and the abundant game of the Okavango Delta.

Ø Watch huge herds of African Buffalo graze the savannah.

Ø Go on walks with your River Bushman Guide and watch herds of inquisitive zebra, tsessebe, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, lechwe, and warthogs watching you.

Ø Go on a drive and see lions scheming to hunt a buffalo calf.

Ø Watch hippos graze in broad daylight on the opposite bank of the channel from your camp.

Ø Spot the various clusters of elephants foraging as far as your eye can see.

Ø Listen to the call of the Fish Eagle. And at night, the abundant sounds of the African bush.

Ø Experience that African Sunset that you only saw in pictures.

Ø Breathe the clean air. Drink the clear water. Listen to the absence of human-made sounds. And write down the stories you want to tell your grandchildren.

Or what are you going to tell your grandchildren? “In my time it was still possible to experience the authentic, pristine, Africa and the Okavango Delta, but somehow I never got to it.”

Progress is good for the Botswana people. Where 18 years ago only tracks led to the Botswana Parks, you now have tarred roads. Authentic African villages like Maun and Nata became modern cities. Electricity is supplied to more and more remote villages.

But progress has its cost. The good roads and infrastructure brought more visitors. Too many visitors to the Botswana Parks needed to be controlled by high entrance and camping fees. Packed camping sites inevitably brought pollution. And worse, wild animals lost their natural fear of man. Baboons pester and wreck your camp. Hyena roam through your camp – while you are still sitting round your campfire. And the large herds of wild animals pulled away - to more natural surroundings.

The good news is that I found a secret destination in the Delta that few people know.

In 1987 we stayed for a magical week in the hart of the Okavango Delta at a hunting camp operated by one of the largest hunting operations in Botswana. Outside of the hunting season, in those days, the operators offered affordable packages for “Photographic Safaris”. This hunter told us about one of his hunting camps much further west in the Delta where the savannah was teeming with game. The only problem was that it was too remote to operate for Photographic Safaris as their cost of operation would blow the price out of proportion.

Our first visit to the Delta was a self-drive safari in 1985. Since then we went with friends several time to hunting camps, on organised safaris, or to commercial lodges, but the cost was rising steadily to the unaffordable level.

In September 2002 our Dutch friends indicated that they would like to visit the Okavango Delta together with their three children aged between 18 and 21 years. On investigation, it was quite clear that a fly-in, staying-in-lodges safari would be unaffordable. We then looked at a self-drive 4x4 safari camping in the Botswana Parks, but the entrance and camping fees – for crowded camps with no facilities whatsoever – are exorbitant. Furthermore, we wanted to take some of our children and grandchildren along and entrance and camping fees became a factor.

After many hours of research, lots of luck, and consulting with contacts built up over twenty years, a vague plan was in place for finding that remote hunting camp. A plan for the ultimate in 4wd adventure trips.

Hunting in the Delta was outlawed in 1996, and this hunting camp was broken up. More accessible hunting camps were converted to tourist camps. Since then very, very few people visited our target area.

In July 2003 we undertook this safari. We were 5 vehicles and 21 people. The youngest were 2, 4, 7, and 11 years old. Duration for the entire trip was 15 days. With modern 4x4 vehicles and camping equipment it’s actually easy! Two of the families in two of the vehicles were completely inexperienced as far as 4x4 trips are concerned. And they did very well and enjoyed it thoroughly!

I compiled a detailed report, Incomparable Okavango Delta Affordable, to enable you and your family and friends to discover the “Lost World” of the Okavango Delta. The total distance covered in the 4x4s is just short of 4000 km. Diesel cost amounted to about US$420 for the trip. Actual camping, entrance, and guide fees for the entire trip came to less than US$120 per person! This is incredible because one night in an inexpensive lodge in the Delta costs at least US$200 per person!

But before I tell you how to get hold of this report, let me quote from The Lost World of the Kalahari by Laurens van der Post. His expedition took place in 1957 and he spent some time in this same area:

“I remember only a kind of exultation at witnessing so truly wild and privileged a sight!”

That would be your re-action too when you see a herd of hundreds of buffalo near your camp.

The report is detailed in every respect:

Ø It describes your destination in detail with directions and GPS co-ordinates.

Ø It introduces you to bush protocol and good manners in this remote part of Africa.

Ø It warns you of the risks involved and pre-caution actions to take.

Ø It gives you a preview of the challenges you can expect on this expedition and how to handle and prepare for them.

Ø It tells you where to hire a fully equipped 4x4 at the best deal in Southern Africa – already researched. However, it enumerates every equipment check you need to do yourself.

Ø It tells you what extra equipment is required and where to get it at the best price.

Ø It gives you tips around the purchasing of food and drinks for the trip, and where to stock up – including how to solve the problem of carrying meat into Botswana, legally.

Ø How and where to get your Botswana Pula and where you can use a credit card.

Ø It gives you your daily route with detailed directions and GPS co-ordinates. It takes you to magnificent Kubu Island in the Makgadigadi Pans and the mystic Tsodilo Hills with its ancient Bushman Paintings, a World Heritage Site, as training and build-up of your convoy’s camping and off-road driving skills.

Ø It tells you where to take a river cruise on the Delta, where to camp, where to take your all-day mokoro (dug-out canoe) outing.

Ø It takes you to the River Bushman village and tells you how to find your guides. One of them a skilled tracker who worked at the hunting camp – today an esteemed member of the board of trustees of the village’s Community Trust. And don’t worry if tour operators tell you that it’s illegal to enter these concession areas. The Community Trust of this village owns the right to this concession. And they actually asked us to spread the word – they need the income it could generate.

Ø It tells you how to negotiate the sand tracks, the water-channel crossing, the engine suffocating seeds, and the tyre ripping thorns.South African Safaris

Ø It even tries to suggest to you how to enjoy your destination in this authentic African setting. This pristine grandeur and beauty. As a discoverer on expedition. Not as a pampered guest of a tour operator.

Ø It takes you back to “civilisation”. It tells you how to visit the Victoria Falls if you want to, and the best place to camp there.

Our Dutch friend’s email when he got back to Holland says it all: “It will not be easy to resume the normal life again, after this wonderful trip!” For them it was the ultimate in overseas adventure travel.

We are dreaming of preserving this find, this gem, by sharing the knowledge with many of you at a small fee and eventually involve the River Bushman Community in the project.

Update 2007: Sadly this venture didn't fly. You can download this knowledge, this report, now for FREE.

Ø Common mistakes are revealed. Avoid the myths, disinformation, and hype, heaped onto you by travel advisors.

Ø Little known facts and secrets are revealed. None of the camp operators that we consulted thought it possible.

Ø You get a step-by-step blueprint for planning and executing the safari. Saving you months of research and uncertainty.

Download the report Incomparable Okavango Delta Affordable now by clicking here.

In a few years’ time it would be too late.

Kind regards.

Philip de Bruin

P.S.   To impress on you how quickly progress is changing the Okavango Delta, I include a copy of an article I wrote in 1985, that was published in Caravan and Outdoor Life of February 1986. Click here to download your copy now.