Gay Group Trip: Cape Town to Botswana Safari

A morning flight north brings you to Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya: The Smoke That Thunders. One night at The Victoria Falls Hotel, the Edwardian colonial property that opened in June 1904 and has held its place as the region’s grand hotel for over a century. The afternoon high tea on the terrace, with the spray from the Falls visible in the middle distance, is a tradition worth holding to.

A private guided morning at the Falls covers the Zimbabwean-side viewpoints: the Main Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Rainbow Falls, and the gorges below. Expect to get misted; bring a light waterproof.

The afternoon is a private sunset cruise on the Zambezi aboard the Ra-Ikane, a luxury boat named after one of the local guides who first led David Livingstone to the Falls in 1855. Period decor, high tea, drinks served on board, and the riverbanks are reliably busy with hippos, crocodiles, elephants and birdlife as the light drops.

A short drive across the Botswana border brings you to Chobe National Park, the country’s first national park and home to around 120,000 elephants, the largest concentration anywhere in Africa. You’ll stay for two nights at Chobe Safari Lodge on the banks of the Chobe River, in a river-facing room placed front and center for the wildlife along the bank.

The setting allows for both land and water safaris on the same day. Mornings are typically game drives in the park (elephant, buffalo, lion, giraffe, hippo, crocodile and a long bird list). Afternoons are boat safaris along the river, when the elephants come down to drink and bathe in numbers that justify every safari cliché. The sunset river safari is the headline experience here and one of the iconic scenes in African travel.

We can also build in fishing, guided walks, or a quiet afternoon at the pool with sundowners if you’d rather not be on a vehicle every minute of every day. Botswana decriminalized same-sex relationships in 2019, and the safari industry across the country is professional, internationally trained and accustomed to welcoming LGBTQ+ travelers.

A light aircraft flight from Kasane delivers you into the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site accessible only by air. Unlike any other delta, the Okavango flows inland rather than to the ocean, fanning across the Kalahari sands into a labyrinth of lagoons, channels and palm-fringed islands. By any measure, this is the most distinctive landscape on the trip.

You’ll stay two nights at Mapula Lodge, set on a private island in the northern Delta. The lodge has just reopened in March 2027 following a full restoration: twelve safari suites, each with a private viewing deck and en suite bathroom, a pool, fire pit and an elevated bar. The concession balances wetland and woodland in equal measure, which gives the wildlife experience a diversity most Delta camps cannot match.

Activities run morning and afternoon: motorized boat safaris, mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) excursions through the channels, guided walks and game drives. Elephants, lions, leopards, wild dogs and the full Delta bird list are all in play. The flight out to Maun on the morning of day nine connects to your international flight home.