Botswana Travel Guide

Great fauna and flora on River Chobe and Okavango Delta in spite of the drought.

My wife and I had a really wonderful trip at an easy pace, experiencing good accomodation, friendly and informative hosts, especiallty the bush walks in the delta at Oddballs Camp. The game viewing was excellent, and the bushcraft and skills of our guides was first class.
Whilst staying at Kasane on the River Chobe we watched an elephant frolicking in the river and at times being completely submerged; we saw a pride of lions with some cubs devouring a kill before they came down to the river edge to drink. The following day, we saw the same pride totally relaxed and sleeping off their meal in the shade of the bushes. Fantastic

Fantastic place for a safari

I'd been to South Africa 3 times before. The reason why I kept going back is because I absolutely loved my experiences there, especially, in Kruger National Park. Thus, I was a bit reluctant to step out of my comfort zone. I am so glad I went to Botswana. Before choosing to visit the Okavango Delta, I did fair bit of research and everyone seemed to say that Botswana is beautiful and it gives a true experience of African wilderness and wildlife; they were not wrong.

The Okavango Delta, it seems, is run in a way which limits visitors, thereby limiting the impact on the environment. There are strict limits that are imposed on how many people can be in any given concession, and it's not possible for casual guests to just show up and stay in the Delta. I stayed in three different camps: Footsteps across the Delta, Duba Explorers Camp, and Chitabe Lediba. Footsteps specializes in bush walks, which is an activity which I enjoyed immensely while in Kruger Park. The walking experience in Shinde concession in which Footsteps is located, was absolutely amazing. We got to see some lions while on foot -- this this generally quite difficult to do since lions take off the moment the sense human presence on foot. We also got to follow a large pack of wild dogs for a while as they tried to hunt. Duba Explorers Camp was quite a bit more luxurious than Footsteps. It had running hot water and electricity. The game viewing was quite incredible, too. We got to stalk a mid-sized elephant herd for about 3 hours whom we followed for about 2 miles to the river. We stayed about 60-70 meters from them, and when the elephants stopped, we approached to about 30 meters. We took a bunch of photos of them. Due to the skillful guide, the elephants were never aware of us stalking them. Later, we also followed a small pack of wild dogs on a hunt, who cornered a reed buck. It was quite a gruesome sight watching the dogs rip the poor buck to pieces while it was still alive, but I guess that's how dogs scrounge a living. We saw quite a few other predators, too, including lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyena. At Chitabe, I spent 3 nights. The area was quite dry and was rich in predators. There was a lion pride that'd specialized in hunting the abundant giraffes in the area; they'd killed one just a day before I'd arrived. There's an area called "the river" which is about an hour's drive from the camp, bordering the Moremi Game Reserve. The area is so rich in game that no matter where I looked, I could see 7-8 species of large game in large numbers!

I found Botswanans to be such friendly and peaceful people. I've travelled a lot but have never come across a people who have such a strong sense of national pride. I am sad that my trip only lasted 10 days. I can't wait to go back there!

I HIGHLY recommend booking a safari experience with African Bush Lovers!

My sisters and I booked a 5 night/6 day safari in Botswana with African Bush Lovers (for a party of 6 people). The entire experience from inquiry, to booking, to arriving, to game driving was magically organized and perfectly executed!

Before we committed to booking with African Bush Lovers, we were in touch with Kenewang (goes by Kenny), the co-owner of the company. From the moment of first contact, we knew we found the PERFECT safari company. African Bush Lovers is locally owned and operated by Kenny and her husband, Stanza (more to come on this GEM of a human!). Both Kenny and Stanza are natives of Botswana and they are super helpful and very friendly.

In late May, our party of 6 flew into Maun to meet up with the African Bush Lovers team. The moment we got through customs, we were greeted by our fearless Professional Nature Guide, Stanza. Stanza is a veteran nature guide with over 10 years of safari experience. Our group wholeheartedly agreed, Stanza was the BEST guide and we trusted him with our lives.

During our safari experience, we went to the Moremi Game Reserve, Savuti and Chobe National Park. Stanza’s safari vehicle (lovingly named the “Gods Must Be Crazy”) was incredibly comfortable and spacious. In addition, Stanza’s off-road driving skills were impressively good!

Stanza WOWED us daily with his knowledge about all of the nature and wildlife. The volume of wildlife we saw during our game drives exceeded ALL of our expectations. Some highlights include: 1 male leopard, 4 male lions, a pride of female lions (on a hunt!!), a handful of crocodiles, dozens of giraffes, a couple herds of zebras, at least 50 hippos, and at least 500 elephants. By the end of the safari, we were all convinced that Stanza was part eagle due to his amazing long-distance eye sight. Also, his ability to identify tracks/dung/bird calls was next level! In addition to the wildlife, Stanza shared a lot of information and great stories about the history, culture and people of Botswana. Such a treat!

Stanza and his team were quick to accommodate every need and desire we had while on safari. We had great camp sites, comfortable camping equipment (we opted for the semi-luxury accommodations), AND plenty of drinks and delicious food. Stanza and his team even included a tea time during our game drives! They planned for EVERYTHING. For meals, our chef Moffatt and his sous chef, Simba, prepared delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. Every dinner was a decadent multi-course meal. It seemed like Moffatt was on a mission to make us gain weight

Real life Lion King experience

Best Safari experience ever! Cannot believe some of the things we saw. food, guide and transport was all perfect! no complaints

Best trip we have ever had.

Everything exceeded my expectations. The wildlife was everything that I had hoped for. The accommodations, food and service was first rate.

I fell that I was filming a marvelous Botswana film

Botswana was marvelous. Everything: transportation, accomodations, the guides ( excellents ), wildlife ( very exciting ), the staff ( really with a big warm heart ), only the weather is a litlle bit unpredictable !

Once-in a lifetime- experience

My friend and I had an amazing time basking in nature and learning from Thosu, our guide, and Russell, our chef.

We saw so much wildlife within the 4 nights/5 days we stayed camping in Moremi/Savuti/Chobe. Thosu and Russell made sure we felt comfortable and safe. They were accommodating about our vegetarian/vegan diet, as well. I was in awe at their breadth of knowledge and being able to tell what bird we just spotted only by looking at its flight pattern—even without binoculars!

The highlight was being in the quiet of nature and waking up to the sounds of elephants eating leaves off trees around us and seeing hippos in a nearby stream. Our guides always made our safety of the utmost priority.

I highly recommend this Safari and the services of Thosu and Russell.

A country , its people and its wildlife that exceeded my expectations

My experience was awesome. Wildlife was abundant and some great sightings and experiences. Nice variety of birds. All guides were knowledgeable,experienced and very pleasant. Weather was a expected cool in evening warm to hot in day. Some accommodation and food was 5 star while others was great and acceptable. Local flights between concessions were done by experienced pilots.
All in all a fantastic trip in wonderful country with very pleasant people

Amazing First Experience in Africa

We did both the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve and they were both spectacular. The delta had more birds while the reserve had more mammals. The two really complement each other, but, if I had to pick, I would pick the Game Reserve. Accommodations were great in both places. Keep in mind that the camps have tents. High end tents, but still tents. That means that it can get really cold at night, so bring a hat for sleeping. Flying the small airplanes between camps and landing on dirt airstrips was a blast (unless you're afraid of flying). The guides were super knowledgeable and some had great driving skills. The sunsets were amazing. The best part was the people of Botswana. Probably some of the friendliest I've met throughout the world.

Great for safari - having been to safari over 11 countries, botswana provided us with a true sense of wilderness, great bush vibe and the viewing of wildlife (predators or plains animals) was awesome - the animals had great space and as a result we were able to see behaviors every day rather than once or twice in the whole safari.

With fewer vehicles, the predator sightings were great with no overcrowding, jostling and intrusion into the wildlife movements