A boat cruise runs on the wider water of the Chobe and the Okavango, usually in the late afternoon when elephant, buffalo and hippo come down to drink. You sit in an open boat with a guide, close to the bank but clear of the pods, and watch herds cross or feed along the floodplain.

On the Chobe riverfront the cruise is the classic view: elephants in the shallows, crocodile on the sandbanks, fish eagles in the jackalberry trees, and in the dry season one of the largest elephant concentrations in Africa. Kasane is the usual start. A Delta cruise is quieter and greener, along channels too deep for a mokoro, with lechwe, waterbirds and the odd hippo surfacing ahead of the bow.

Most cruises last two to three hours. Morning trips are cooler and better for birds; sundowner trips catch the light and the game at the water’s edge. The boat is private to your group unless you ask to share.