A bicycle safari in Botswana
Explore the Okavango Delta on wheels during a multi-day safari experience

Most safari operators offer the comfort and security of vehicles that keep you at one remove from the animals you have come to see. Head out into the wilds on a bicycle, however, and you're "just another creature in the bush", said James Stewart in the Financial Times. On one of Aardvark Safaris' multi-day trips in Botswana's Okavango Delta, guests stay in simple, temporary camps, with tin buckets on pulleys for showers, and fires for heat. The route follows hardened elephant trails near the Moremi Game Reserve, on communal land where few other tourists venture. And it takes you to remote places, including waterholes that are inaccessible to 4x4s and too far-flung for most walkers.
The Okavango is one of the world's few inland deltas. From November each year, rain in the Angolan highlands floods south to fill its plains, producing up to 15,000sq km of wetland. Cyclists can explore it in the dry season, from June to October, riding through a wilderness of lagoons, mopane forest and grassy plains, home to lions, leopards, wild dogs and a huge population of elephants. On Aardvark's trips, small groups are accompanied by three guides armed with rifles. There's no "banter" en route – communication is by hand signal, with a raised fist meaning stop, a pinched hand "twirled like a trunk" indicating a nearby elephant, and so on, but guests are given whistles to use if they get lost.
Rather-too-close encounters with wildlife are not unknown: we surprised a bull buffalo ("800kg of muscle and bad temper") on the track, and one of our guides told of being charged by a lion. At such times, "the great drama of safari – hunt or flee – assumes a bell-clanging clarity". But there's plenty of time for calm reflection, too, as when watching zebra rumbling across the plains "beneath a vibrating sky", and guests round off the trip with a two-night stay at a luxury lodge, the Khwai Private Reserve.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A six-night trip costs from £5,450pp, excluding flights; aardvarksafaris.com
Sign up for The Week’s Travel newsletter for destination inspiration and the latest news and trends.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Could U.S. Tomahawk missiles help Ukraine end the war?
Today's Big Question Or is Trump bluffing?
-
Political cartoons for October 17
Cartoons Friday's editorial cartoons include Tomahawk missile talk, the price of red meat, and the bestest boy reports from the Pentagon press room
-
The ‘swag gap’: are you better than your partner?
In The Spotlight The viral terminology sheds light on power dynamics in modern relationships
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobility
The Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
6 sporty homes with tennis courts
Feature Featuring a clay tennis court in New York and a viewing deck in California
-
Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlight
Feature An experimental chef, a newspaper-worthy newcomer, and a dining titan’s fresh spin-off
-
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl: Much glitter, little gold
Feature Swift’s new album has broken records, but critics say she may have gotten herself creatively stuck
-
Theater review: Masquerade
218 W. 57th St., New York City 218 W. 57th St., New York City
-
Film reviews: Roofman and Kiss of the Spider Woman
Feature An escaped felon’s heart threatens to give him away and a prisoner escapes into daydreams of J.Lo.
-
Cyrano de Bergerac: a ‘huge-hearted’ production
The Week Recommends This ‘playful’ and ‘poignant’ rendition brings new life to the ‘gilet-sporting, verse-spouting’ titular soldier
-
I Swear: a ‘warm-hearted’ comedy-drama
The Week Recommends While ‘inescapably hilarious’, the drama also lifts the lid on John Davidson’s experiences with Tourette syndrome