Whether arriving by air or road, the first glimpse of the Chobe River is always breath-taking. It appears as a swathe of bright, blue ribbon, winding its way through the tiny town of Kasane and out into the Chobe National Park's wilderness. One of Africa's most beautiful rivers, the Chobe, supports a diversity and concentration of wildlife unmatched in Botswana.

Established in 1968, Chobe National Park covers approximately 11,700 sq km, encompassing floodplains, swamps and woodland. The Chobe River forms the park's northern boundary, which includes four distinct geographical areas: the Chobe Riverfront: the Ngwezumba pans; Savuté; and Linyanti.

The most accessible and frequently visited of Botswana's big game country, the Chobe Riverfront, is most famous for the large herds of elephants and Cape Buffalo that converge on the riverbank to drink during the dry winter months.

Nothing can prepare a visitor for the sheer size and immensity of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), nor its wild, mysterious beauty. There is the immediate impression of unending space, which gives the impression of having the entire reserve to yourself.

Waist-high golden grasses stretch to the horizon, punctuated by dwarfed trees and scrub bushes. Wide and empty pans appear as vast white stretches of pancake-flat earth, meeting a soft, blue-white sky. At night the stars are genuinely awe-inspiring, utterly dominating the land with their brilliance and immediacy.

The CKGR is the largest, most remotely situated reserve in Southern Africa and the second largest wildlife reserve in the world, encompassing 52,800 sq. km.

During and shortly after good summer rains, the flat grasslands of the reserve's northern reaches teem with wildlife, which gathers at the best grazing areas. These include large herds of springbok and gemsbok and wildebeest, hartebeest, eland and giraffe. Silver Terminalia sand veldt, Kalahari sand acacias, and Kalahari apple leaf dominate the landscape, interspersed with grasslands and dotted with occasional dunes, pans and shallow fossil river valleys.

In 2008, Moremi Game Reserve was voted 'best game reserve in Africa' by the prestigious African Travel and Tourism Association at South Africa's premier tourism fair, Indaba.

It is the first reserve in Africa to be established by local residents. Concerned about the rapid depletion of wildlife in their ancestral lands – due to uncontrolled hunting and cattle encroachment – the Batawana people of Ngamiland, under the leadership of the deceased Chief Moremi III's wife, Mrs Moremi, took the bold initiative to proclaim Moremi a game reserve in 1963. It is the only officially protected area of the Okavango Delta. As such, it holds tremendous scientific, environmental and conservation importance. To this day, Moremi ranks as one of the most beautiful reserves in Africa, possibly in the world.