How to make a booking

• Upon your confirmation that you would like to proceed with a booking your Maplanga consultant will send you a booking form to confirm your holiday.
• We will require the full names of the people travelling as the names appear in the passport in order to book flights. You can either send us passport copies or send us the names by email.
• Please note name changes cannot be made after the tickets have been issued.
• Once a booking is made by you and the travel details confirmed to us we will send you an invoice with our full details indicated.
• The advertised package is based on flights with restrictive rules. The airlines require payment for flights within 24 hours of making the booking and we will require a deposit to cover the payment. Once flights are paid they are non refundable. If you prefer more flexibility a higher class of flight must be used.
• If a deposit is not received within the stipulated period the flights will cancel. We would then have to rebook the flights and this may result in the costed class being no longer available which would affect the cost of the package.
• Final payment is required a month prior to travel or as the terms and conditions of the service provider/s dictate.
• When full payment has been made we will send your e-tickets & travel vouchers to you. If you prefer they can collected from our offices in North Riding Estates.
• Payments can be made by EFT, telegraphic transfer (overseas payments) or via a secure independant online VCS credit card link for Visa and MasterCard that can be sent to you.

Health

• Botswana is a malaria area contact your doctor or travel cinic for suitable medication prior to travel.
• All travellers must have comprehensive travel, medical, emergency evacuation and repatriation cover insurance as a condition of booking at stay at any of the Wilderness Safaris camps. Speak to your Maplanga consultant if you would like further information on the Oojah Travel insurance we offer.

 Passports and visas

• You must have a current passport that is valid for 6 months after travel.
• No emergency passports are accepted in Botswana for holiday travel.
  
• There must be at least two empty pages in your passport
• South African passports require not visas to enter Botswana
  
• If a parent/guardian is travelling alone with a minor child/ren (aged 18 years or younger) to/from South Africa then the parent/guardian must be in possession of a certified letter of consent from the non-accompanying parent or guardian.

Unabridged birth certificates for minors travelling to Botswana

• Effective from the 1st October 2016, minors travelling through Botswana’s borders will be required to produce certified copies of unabridged birth certificates in addition to their valid passports. In the event that one parent is not travelling with the child, the other parent's affidavit consenting to such travel should be availed. However, an affidavit will not be required if the father’s name does not appear on the child’s birth certificate.

To summarise the above, should families be travelling with children below the age of 18 as of 1 October 2016  they will require the following: 

• Valid Passports
• Certified unabridged birth certificates for all minors below the age of 18
• A letter of consent from the other parent should the minor be travelling with one parent

Money, currency and credit cards  

• The currency in Botswana is the Pula made up of 100 Thebe
  
• Botswana banks only accept US Dollars, GBP Sterling, Euro and South African Rand in cash. Any cash payments made to camps for curios, or gratuities to guides or staff, need to be in one of these currencies.
• All credit cards except Diners or Amex accepted at Wilderness for any extras.
• Diners Club is not accepted by the banks in Botswana and therefore not at any lodges in Botswana
  

Weather

The Okavango Delta lies in a summer rainfall area. Winter (May, June, July to about mid August) weather is mild in the day but can be below freezing at night in some areas. Summer is from October the end of March and weather during this time can be warm  to hot . All the other months (April/early May and late August/early September) the days are cooler than in summer and the nights are warmer than in winter. October is traditionally the hottest month of the year when temperatures rise to the late 30's (Celsius) before the start of the summer rains.

Clothing

Casual comfortable clothing in neutral colours bearing in mind the time of year you are travelling. Shorts, T-shirts and light shorts for summer and light layers for winter that can be removed as the day gets hotter. Winter nights are cool to cold and will require a fleece jacket, beanie and scarf.

Power supplied at Wilderness Safaris camps

• All Wilderness Camps are situated in remote areas and have to generate their own electricity. Each camp has a generator which runs for about 6 to 7 hours per day, when guests are out on activities. In most camps, these generators charge a bank of batteries known as an inverter system which then provides 220V power in each tented room for lighting and ceiling fans.
• The following camps are solar powered: Banoka Bush Camp, Kalahari Plains Camp, Mombo Camp, Little Mombo Camp, Little Tubu, Pelo Camp, Xigera Camp, DumaTau Camp and Kings Pool Camp.
• Most Wilderness camps in Botswana have 220V plug points in the rooms which can be used to charge batteries and sleep apnoea machines, however, are not suitable for hairdryers and electric shavers, although charging shavers is possible.
  

References

If you would like an impartial reference on Malanga Africa please step by the South African consumer website Hello Peter - www.hellopeter.com