We commence this superbly crafted air safari—which averages two eye-popping hours of flying time a day—with a restful overnight in Windhoek, Namibia, then meet our pilot-guide and board our private aircraft for a suitably spectacular flight to the celebrated dunes of Sossusvlei. Another quick flight takes us to the Namib Rand and the amazing Wolwedans Dune Lodge in time for a sundowner overlooking the softly glowing dunes. The next day, a sunrise flight takes us over the entire Namib Desert and up the Skeleton Coast, a gorgeous experience, and back to Windhoek and on to Maun, gateway to the Okavango Delta, where the river of the same name seeps slowly into the sands of the Kalahari, creating a vast oasis, the world’s largest inland delta (see page 41). At our sundowner in Kwetsani Camp, looking out at the Delta’s rampant lushness, we can contemplate the fact that we awoke that morning on top of a sand dune.

After two days exploring the Delta and encountering its wildlife by canoe, we fly north to Livingstone, Zambia, where our lovely hotel, the Royal Livingstone, is only a matter of minutes by private walkway from Victoria Falls, the mammoth “Smoke That Roars.” Then, flying northeast, we settle in for a couple of nights in the Luangwa Valley National Park, one of Africa’s wildest wildernesses and home to a huge concentration of game (and more than 400 bird species). Now a short hop east takes us to Lake Malawi, the last of the continent’s tectonically theatrical rift lakes, to the island of Likoma’s gracious Kaya Mawa Resort.

We end our extra-eventful transcontinental safari by flying farther east, once again spectacularly, zigzagging gently to catch views of the marvelous, multicolored coral islands of Mozambique’s Quirimbas Archipelago; this is a magnificent sight, the very essence of why small aircraft flying in Africa is such a deeply rewarding thing to do. We land on one of those little islands and head to our 12-chalet Vamizi Island Resort for three days of utterly re-creational leisure before hopping over to the legendary Spice Island of Zanzibar, and the Serena Inn, located in the old Stone Town, facing the sea.

Day 1: arrive in Windhoek • Day 2: fly to Sossusvlei, Namib Rand • Day 3: morning flight over Sossusvlei Dunes • Day 4: scenic flight over Skeleton Coast, fly to Okavango Delta, Botswana • Day 5: explore Okavango Delta • Day 6: fly to Victoria Falls • Day 7: fly to South Luangwa Valley, Zambia • Day 8: explore South Luangwa • Day 9: fly to Lake Malawi, Malawi • Day 10: fly to Quirimbas Archipelago, Mozambique • Days 11 & 12: explore the Quirimbas • Day 13: fly to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania • Day 14: fly to Dar es Salaam; board homeward flights.

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