We just did a 2 day/1 night kayak trip with Kayaktive Adventure Safaris up the Okavango Delta and it was one of the best safari experiences we've ever had. We did this mini-safari before beginning a 10 day traditional mobile safari with Penduka Safaris.

If you're the adventurous or want something different than the usual tourist-bus style Mokoro or aluminum boat trips up the Okavango then Kayaktive is for you. Make sure you can swim and aren't too afraid of animals before you do this trip as it's essential to your survival. We were picked up at our hotel in Maun and drove about an hour to where our boat was docked. From there we began our kayaking and we did about 20-25km our first day. The support boat follows the kayaks but stays behind enough that you don't really hear it so it doesn't bother you but it's there for safety in case hippos or crocs try to cause some problems.

Our guide the first day was Jardus and he's a really cool South African guy that's the only known person to have kayaked the entire (north to south) Okavango Delta solo with no support boat. A truly awesome accomplishment especially since there's so many more crocs and hippos up north. Anyway, we had a couple hippos try and scare us off the first day and one scared my wife pretty badly, enough that she didn't kayak the second day (she was also exhausted). We camped overnight on a small island that makes up part of Chief's island and that night was absolutely brilliant and the best camping experience of my life. The tents that Kayaktive uses are made by a S. African company and they allow you to see through the whole tent so we could see the stars as we laid there. We had a couple elephants walk about 15 meters away from us in the night breaking branches and one slipped into the water for a swim. Hippos were grunting and something (a warthog maybe) came by and sniffed our tent.

The next day we had a nice breakfast cooked by Jardus and then went on a game walk around the island. Didn't see much but it's so nice to be on foot and that's something you can't do in the major game parks like Moremi, Chobe, and Savuti. For that reason alone it's worth going out to the Delta and especially do it by kayak. Day two I kayaked about 15km before calling it a day and putting the kayak back in the boat (always an option. kayak or cruise it's your choice) and heading back to Maun. I highly recommend Kayaktive Adventure Safaris if you want something extra special in Botswana in addition to the usual land safaris.