Botswana Travel Guide

I was a bit frustrated by the National Park rules on off roading and night drives.Using private concessions would get over this but they seem phenomenally expensive.

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

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.

We were unable to see many cats during our visit. The meerkats in Makgadikgadi brought the best out in all of us. We were also lucky enough to see an African Lynx while we were there. We prefer private drivers and moving from camp to camp with different guides was not as special as East Africa. Drivers seemed to give the same schpiel.

Best time to visit Botswana

Botswana is a beautiful country. If it's wildlife spotting you're after, try the Chobe National Park - it's the country's second-largest national park. Summer lasts between November and March so I would recommend going outside of those months as it can get extremely hot. Have a look here for more advice on the best time to visit - http://www.safaribookings.com/botswana/best-time

Deep in the Heart of the Chobi Reserve

I had to good fortune to spend two weeks in the Chobe National Park & the adjacent game reserve, and have never seen so many elephants in my life. It is a beautiful park, and is teeming with wildlife. It was also a nice respite to not have as many tsetse flies following you around. The local guides we were with were elephant experts, and had even names certain ones based on the tracks they left, and could tell elaborate stories of how they spent their days based on their comings and going. The weather was very mild for Africa standards, and the abundance of water at the time made for some great game viewing. I highly recommend this area, especially for people who don't have a lot of experience on safari, as this would be a great entry level safari. You're definitely going to see lots of wildlife.

Botswana is expensive but you see game.

Fully recommended especially for the better situated tourists, less for "backpackers" may be. Ample opportunity for watching and photographing, adventurous and much variation.

Great wildlife and bush experience but expensive and not as diverse as neighboring countries.