Oh, sorry, two more things:

We have flexibility on when to travel. Would you suggest that we are choosing a good time of year, temperature wise and wildlife wise? We will travel at the beginning of September, perhaps even late August.

Secondly, it was quite hard to choose against Duba Plains, but feel that we made the right choice. Any input? We are limited with budget and felt that the above gave us a good all round experience.

When I say wildlife, we are interested in everything from the small stuff to the big stuff to just the ambiance of the wild.

You can see from the weather link that Sept is hot and dry. August not quite so hot.

http://www.uyaphi.com/botswana/weather.htm

These are great months for wildlife.

Check the 2011 air fares for Aug and Sept to get an idea for your 2012 dates. Late into Aug and then Sept, the fares go down.

For a good all round experience if you have one week for Botswana, I think you chose very well.

Duba--concentrates mostly on lion-buffalo interaction. I'd stay at least 4 nts there in case the lions go to an inaccessible area for a couple of days.

LV will give you the delta water experience. Your transport to/from the lodge is a 10- minute boat ride and you can add a mekoro trip too. The water experience you will get at Savuti Camp is to remain on the banks to view the Savute Channel and the wildlife it attracts. I'm assuming the channel will still be flowing in 2012. The floods this year are continuing with the heavy trend.

It will be interesting indeed to see if the Savute Channel is still flowing. When I was at Savuti Camp a couple of years ago, the channel was filling with water for the first time in 30 years or so. At the time, the lodge itself was a terrific place to watch wildlife -- regular visits by ellies and plenty of others in what was then a waterhole.Is that waterhole now just part of the Channel?

Even if the Savute Channel is not flowing, the area is great. Like DonTopaz, I visited when the channel was merely dust. Nearby the Linyanti Swamps provide water, though. Sometimes Linyanti is called the Little Okavango; it is a beautiful region and an area you'd be traversing on game drives if you stay at Savuti Camp. Flow or no flow for the channel would not make a difference in my decision to go to Savuti in Sept.

That reminds me, we did do a motor boat around the Linyanti region. Lovely scenery but not much of a wildlife viewing on that activity. You could probably arrange something like that to be IN the water when staying at Savute Camp, if you wanted.

For any water activity, the wildlife viewing is less and different--for example reed frogs can be seen and photographed better in the water but there is less opportunity for other animals. The mekoro is the more authentic way and a very relaxing eco way to experience the delta. A motor boat gives you more maneuverability for photos and it is steadier for photos.

For most water activities I have tried to do them during down time midday so as not to take away from prime time game drives. Sometimes you can leave an hour earlier in the afternoon and tack on the water time. Of course it is hotter then, especially in Sept. Better yet at LV, you might want to ask about extending the return trip by boat to LV after the morning drive to include a water safari.