Botswana Travel Guide

Botswana is a lovely, uncrowded, well run, country that feels safer and friendlier than many of its neighbors.

The whole trip included three days in the Okavango delta, a birder's paradise. Everything was perfecly organised and the tour guide very professional and knowledgable. A journey to remember.

The people of Botswana are so friendly and welcoming, and the scenery and wildlife are amazing. It's so different from other parts of Africa I've been to.

I only visited Chobe National Park while in Botswana, hence the same rating as above.

Totally an old style African Safari

After one of our families most exciting safaris, I thought I just have to post our recent trip.

A mobile safari seemed like a good family adventure for two young teenagers, easily bored by museums or treks through old cities. We chose Botswana for our family and on our first three days in Botswana we enjoyed amazing water safaris through the Okavango Delta.

By boat we were able to move around the delta easily while getting amazingly close to the animals, and the huge array of colourful birdlife. The elephants seemed right at home in the marshland and were not disturbed as we approached.

At our accommodation our tents were assembled by a beautiful lagoon, complete with a pod of snorting hippos. On arrival a startled impala bounded through the camp, being chased by wild dogs, then swam across the lagoon. On our walking safari the next day we came across a pack of 15 wild dogs – a rare and wonderful sighting.

After the first three days we swapped the boat for a land cruiser and headed off for three nights in the Moremi National Park. One night, when I got up to use the en-suite (a tarpaulin area at the back of the tent), I peered over to see the moonlit face of an equally startled elephant, just meters away. He moved on to the next tree for a good munch. More elephants offered themselves as a photographic backdrop in the morning as we had breakfast and on the safari drives we were lucky to spot leopard, honey badgers and incredibly, a daytime sighting of a serval.

The following morning we were woken early by the roar of male lions, seemingly close. Our knowledgeable guide woke us to say we were skipping breakfast to board our vehicle and explore. Sure enough 500 metres up the road we came across two kings of the jungle, marking their territory, roaring at another pride. Magic.

After a recovery night at the Maun where the kids got a quick Wi-Fi fix, we headed off to Nxai Pan. This was a total change of scenery with salt pans, majestic baobab trees and an arid open bush environment. The waterhole was the epicentre of our game drives. We watched the passing parade of elephant, giraffe, springbuck, and wildebeest as they took turns to rehydrate.

The African sunsets were spectacular. And on the last night a mother cheetah decided to show off her frisky teenagers for our cameras.

Tour organisers, Rebecca and Anton from Lelobu Safaris in Maun, and our guides, cook and camp assistants all took amazing care of us, ensuring we were safe and comfortable at all times. Botswana is a spectacular country, best seen in the true African style – by a mobile tented safari. A totally magic experience for the whole family. The family from Australia with my niece and nephew, both absolutely loved this experience before we came to Cape Town, Cape Town has also been a great add on to end our trip in Africa.

Bots is a safe and unspoilt country, with lots to do and see and (at least in the low season) few people or tourists to be seen.

Botswana is probably more rugged than South Africa, and more tourist friendly than Zambia.

Outside of the Delta Botswana is a dry country of flat, bush-covered semi-arid terrain. We didn't travel the southern parts of the country that are pure desert, but I expect that the scenery there is equally stark. This kind of country has real beauty but can easily get monotonous because there is little variety.

an experience, an adventure, an awesome time

Botswana is an excellent safari destination, there are easy safari's such as the one in Chobe where the roads are easily passable and the wildlife is plentiful. You can also do more challenging safaris such as the one in Makagadikgadi where there are fewer tourists and the roads are quite sandy. Botswana has a reputation for being expensive and whilst there are many luxury lodges, it is possible to do the holiday on a budget. Our biggest expenses were the flights and car hire.