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User Reviews of Botswana (385 Reviews)

Botswana Safaris Botswana
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Average User Rating

4.8208 / 5 4.8 /5
4.8027 / 5 4.6756 / 5 4.6548 / 5 4.6254 / 5

Rating Breakdown

5 star 326 / 10 326
4 star 51 / 10 51
3 star 7 / 10 7
2 star 0 / 10 0
1 star 1 / 10 1
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Female avatar icon kateboydell United States flag US       Visited: September 2007 Reviewed: Mar 17, 2012

35-50 years of age

Botswana was beautiful, wild, warm and true

5 / 5 5 /5
5 / 5 5 / 5 5 / 5 5 / 5
Camping our way through several Botswanan and Zimbabwean parks was one of the most transformative journeys I have ever made. (And I have traveled). The land has a sense of immensity that is humbling and awe-inspiring. The camping was very basic, with no modern amenities or fences, so the feeling of being in the wild, versus watching a performance of the wild, was complete. The guide was truly learned and local: A dedicated naturalist not a tour guide. And the camp hands were amazing. Warm, knowledgeable, friendly, and excellent cooks given one pot and a fire. The wildlife. What can you say? I was perpetually transfixed, even when rooted to the spot with terror (a face-off with a Bull elephant and hyenas raiding the cool box in our truck come to mind). The cats (the big drawcard for me) were astounding. Many lions, a close-up with a leopard in a tree above us, and a dusk sighting of two cooperating cheetahs hunting. At night we saw a serval, so incredibly hard to spot and very high on my
Read more list. Crossing into Victoria Falls was wonderful: despite the woes of its country, a town and a people so warm, funny, smart and welcoming. And I was surprised by the quality of the wildlife there, too (as well as the white water rafting and nightlife). Botswana and Zimbabwe are countries that will sear images onto your retina and memories into your mind, and and these things conspire over the years to produce a kind of soul-magic not easily found in other places. They call you back to Africa.
Female avatar icon M Howard United Kingdom flag GB       Visited: May 2019 Reviewed: Jun 13, 2019

Email M Howard  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

The review below is the personal opinion of M Howard and not that of SafariBookings.

Amazing but now the government has reinstated elephant killing - tragic

3 / 5 3 /5
5 / 5 5 / 5 5 / 5 5 / 5


We chose Botswana as a destination worthy of the additional expense due to their conservation and reputation. Safari Bookings and Desert and Delta were both top notch with excellent service. Tragically however the government has just reinstated elephant killings. These are smart and emotionally intelligent animals that understand who is attacking them. This is a safety issue in addition to the vulnerable status of African elephants. We will not return or support the decision to reinstate elephant killing.

Male avatar icon Bruceontour New Zealand flag NZ       Visited: July 2009 Reviewed: Jul 6, 2011

50-65 years of age

The review below is the personal opinion of Bruceontour and not that of SafariBookings.

Being "poled along" like a gondola, the thousands of stars & evening constant animal noises (frogs).

3 / 5 3 /5
2 / 5 2 / 5 3 / 5 2 / 5
After a month travelling overland with Acacia Africa from Nairobi on route to Capetown, we hit Botswana. I was expecting more animals as the travellers we met heading north who had just left here had reported plenty to see. But alas not for us. But this is Africa (TIA). It is not a zoo as we humans are privileged to be in the animals natural habit. While a disappointment, I will remember Botswana for:

- lying in and being poled along in a mokoro, a dug out canoe. Listening to the bird and insect life with the reeds being brushed aside. Thank goodness we had a modern fiberglass mokoro as the wooden ones made out of single sausage tree that takes 80 years to grow, but only last 5 - 6 years leak! We had to take everything in and then take out again everything including all of our rubbish. The sky was blue, few clouds and the sun was rising. It was a simply a magic feeling moving along at a gentle pace. So different to the truck travel.

- On the bush walks saw more
Read more homo sapiens from other overland groups moving across the open plain than the few animals - zebras, buffaloes plus bird life.

- The evening will be remembered for the brilliant display of stars with a little light spillage plus hearing the hundreds of frogs croaking away ...

- To cap off our visit, the flight over just a small part of the 16,000 sq km Okavango Delta where the 360 degree vista from above rewarded me with my pictures of "textures and colours". We saw elephants and wildebeests from above. It was well worth the US$60 cost. To cap it off, as we left on the last flight, it was sunset as we headed back to Maun airport.

So ... yes, I was a bit disappointed with both Chobe National Park and Okavango Delta re seeing animals living in their natural environment, but I still have many wonderful memories to take away with me: being "poled along" like a gondola - the thousands of stars and evening animal noises.

Read and see my Botswana photoblog at:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bruceontour/2/1268479817/tpod.html
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bruceontour/2/1268480129/tpod.html
Female avatar icon M.Cristina Basili Italy flag IT       Visited: August 2019 Reviewed: Aug 30, 2019

Email M.Cristina Basili  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

The review below is the personal opinion of M.Cristina Basili and not that of SafariBookings.

Excellent

3 / 5 3 /5
5 / 5 4 / 5 5 / 5 3 / 5

We had appreciate very much all regarding our trip, nature, landscape, wilde animals ecc. We would like is better for tourist more restaurant when enjoy dinner. Our guide ( Gomez) was also an excellent driver other a very good guide.

Female avatar icon C.D Tjan Netherlands flag NL       Visited: June 2019 Reviewed: Jul 15, 2019

Email C.D Tjan  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

The review below is the personal opinion of C.D Tjan and not that of SafariBookings.

Great Safari but not in every places , SAVUTI are for us The Best for Lions and Killing !

3 / 5 3 /5
3 / 5 4 / 5 4 / 5 0 / 5

Wild life is Chobe at that time we are there ( 12 of June 2019 ) the animals are not so many and Cats we don't see , well many Elephants.

The rest of our Safari at Moremi , Sable Aley and Linyanthi ...it's many elephants , but the cats you must looking for them and some times are not that easy , because of the very thick bushes.

For us if we are favourite of the Big Cats ...exspecialy the Lions we like more SAVUTI ...as this place grear for Lions and Killing elephants !

KENYA and TANZANIA - are for us still The Best for Wild Life , and the p[rices for the accomodations are not so high as in Botswana !

Female avatar icon Catherine United States flag US       Visited: October 2018 Reviewed: Nov 21, 2018

Email Catherine  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

The review below is the personal opinion of Catherine and not that of SafariBookings.

One lodge was more than expected but the other was less.

3 / 5 3 /5
3 / 5 4 / 5 4 / 5 4 / 5
I have seen much more wildlife in the Serengeti and Masaai Mara and even Kruger. I was extremely surprised at that because I thought Botswana was going to have many more animals. My one lodge Mapula was terrific. Great food, staff, amazing tracker/guide, beautiful room. It was 41 degrees on one day and 39-40 on the others and the was little to help the heat. The fans in the room were over the seating area only. That could be improved, but otherwise lovely place.

The second place (crocodile teeth? in the local language) was much lower level. On our orientation in this semiarid place we were told that there were a number of big scorpions seen in the camp and that we were to be careful because they were extremely poisonous. I understand we are in Africa, but I would have thought there would be more responsibility on the camp staff to be watchful to rid the camp proper of scorpions. The tracker/guides were not great; the least knowledgeable and least excited guides/trackers
Read more of any safari I have been on. (An I have been on a good number throughout Africa). The food was not very tasty at all, edible but nothing exciting. We had to travel 2 hours from the airport and 2 + hours each way to get to the animals. That was a lot of driving. Also, we had lunch in a place that turned out to have ants in the sand and many of us had many ant bites with very itchy feet that swelled from the number of bites. I expected much more from Botswana given the hype and the cost in comparison to other great safari experiences.
Female avatar icon Barbara Bergfield United States flag US       Visited: September 2018 Reviewed: Oct 16, 2018

Email Barbara Bergfield  |  65+ years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

The review below is the personal opinion of Barbara Bergfield and not that of SafariBookings.

too basic for my taste.

3 / 5 3 /5
4 / 5 3 / 5 4 / 5 5 / 5

My guide and the staff at the camp were lovely and very accommodating. The highlight of the trip was visiting the local village where many of the staff live. It was primitive (no running water or electricity to the individual huts) but the women of the community was very cordial, everything was orderly and the children were quite happy. The Delta had the most amazing array of beautiful birds i’ve ever seen. It was fun to see elephants and rhinos peacefully roaming so close to the camp.
However, the accommodations were basically fixed, elevated tents. The cold running spicket and toilet were outside of the sleeping area. It had a gravity feed shower that was impossible to work, so I bathed under a faucet. There was no electricity in the tent! A small solar lamp and lantern were the only sources of lightly night.

Avatar icon Danuta Poland flag PL       Visited: August 2018 Reviewed: Oct 6, 2018

Email Danuta

The review below is the personal opinion of Danuta and not that of SafariBookings.

Beautiful country and very bad people

3 / 5 3 /5
4 / 5 2 / 5 2 / 5 1 / 5
This is a formal complaint concerning the service provided by Waterlime Mobile Safaris during my trip "6 Days of Moremi Game Reserve" which took place between 29.August - 3 September (programme provided by the organiser of the safari).
The service performed by Waterlime Mobile Safaris employees selected by Ms Mosa: Frank and Katee was below proper standards and did not meet my expectations at all.
The most serious was that they: Katee and Frank lied to us telling that we cannot reach Xakanaka because the road was flooded by the Okavango, and without our consent they changed the programme of the 4th day of the trip and drove us to the south end of Moremi, 1.5 h from Maun.
Other offences in service include:
I. Waterlime Mobile Safaris guide/driver Frank:
1. Offered me to spend nights with me in my tent (“either me or Katee can sleep with you”) which I consider as personal offence. He never apologized for this.
2. As our guide, he never
Read more informed us about daily plans and never gave us any information about the area or animals we saw on the way and -in fact- was very bad at tracking them. I personally learnt more during 1 hour mokoro safari from a contracted guide than during the whole trip from our guide Frank
3. Instead of driving along the paths for vehicles in the National Park, Frank drove across the bush chasing animals, including a female elephant with a baby causing stress to me and the animals
4. Repeatedly refused me to use his telephone to call either Ms Mosa from Waterlime Mobile Safaris or my Botswanan friend from Maun when I needed contact, consultation and support (I offered to pay for the calls). Since our mobiles did not work at all we were totally dependent on their good will and cooperation. It did not take place.
5. Was arrogant and aggressive towards us. For example:
-When I asked if we were going to the camp because it was getting late, his reaction was: “who do you think you are to tell me what to do”
-Almost always he did not answer any questions and did what he wanted to do. Even in situations when me and my companions were asking him eg. to stop the car.
II. Waterlime Mobile Safaris guide/cook Katee:
6. During two last days of the trip, he did not provide us with proper food. On day 5 of the trip, for breakfast we got rice and a slice of beef, no lunch at all, and in the evening spaghetti with potatoes, onion and carrots. On the last day of the trip we only got black coffee for breakfast.
7. He refused to give us fresh water and insisted that we drink the plastic smelling water which was bought 6 days ago. He also refused to make fire on the last night saying that he had no more money left for buying wood. I had to give them some money to buy us water and/or wood.

When communicating with Ms Mosa from Waterlime Mobile Safaris they never spoke English so we did not know what they were telling to Ms Mosa and could not react.

My request sent to Ms Mosa from Waterlime Mobile Safaris to compensate financially such bad service was never answered.
Sincerely yours, Danuta
Male avatar icon John Carthy United Kingdom flag GB       Visited: August 2008 Reviewed: Jan 29, 2012

Email John Carthy  |  20-35 years of age

Great choice for top end safaris

4 / 5 4 /5
5 / 5 4 / 5 4 / 5 4 / 5
We drove through Botswana coming from Namibia via the north west border crossing, down the west of the Okavango panhandle to Maun, and then up to Chobe before heading into Zimbabwe.
Botswana is great. It has the flat, empty expanses of wilderness that most of us associate with Africa, but which are so hard to find nowadays with the vast population growth and land shortages which affect most African states. Driving from Namibia towards Maun it is pretty mindblowing to think that to the right of the road there is almost nothing but untouched wilderness stretching all the way to South Africa, whilst to the left of the road are the wetlands of the Okavango Delta followed by the Moremi Game Reserve, with its packs of African Wild Dogs.
Unfortunately, we were in a Honda Jazz. Small hatchbacks are not designed for Moremi, the Okagango or the Makgadikgadi Pans, so we stopped in Maun to consider our options. After two days searching in vain for a low-budget, organised camping
Read more trip into any one of the nearby parks, which involved me getting the car stuck in sand in the entrance to a hotel and having to be pushed out by local children, we gave up and drove to Chobe. The last hundred or so kilometres were done very slowly on a space saver spare tyre after we were eaten by a large pothole north of Francistown.
My only criticism of Botswana therefore is that there is very little infrastructure for the independent tourist; the entire tourism sector is geared towards high end fly-in safaris. Having said that, it will be the first country in Southern Africa that I return to - purely because I didn't have the money to see everything the first time around. To be truthful, I spent more on petrol than on seeing animals.
The only real exception to the rule is Chobe National Park. It is readily accessible from Victoria Falls and makes a great add on if you are visiting Livingstone or the Zimbabwean side. There are hotels in every price range, and you can park your small Japanese car outside the Avis office at the airport and leave it there. While you are spotting beasts, some poor Botswanan has the unenviable task of driving it the thousand and odd kilometers back to Johannesburg on a space saver as spare tyres of that size are not available anywhere further north.
Several hotels along the road in Chobe have boat and safari vehicle trips into the park, which is great. The boat trips get you close up to elephants, hippos, various antelopes and lots of birds, whilst the jeep safaris are great for lion and all the more common species - we saw a porcupine (the only one I have ever seen), and only just missed some wild dogs. Chobe is easily comparable to good National Parks in neighbouring countries, and it is something of a shame that it gets overshadowed by Botswana's star attractions further West.
If I come into money, I'll be straight back onto the plane to Botswana to do all the things I couldn't afford to do last time around. If you're on a budget, you'll do much better to stick to South Africa or Namibia, where your money will go much further.
Avatar icon Cesar Visited: July 2013 Reviewed: Jun 10, 2014

5 / 5 5 /5
5 / 5 5 / 5 5 / 5 / 5

You feel very well, nice people, very safe and amazed of such wild animal richness and beauty of Okavango Delta, Moremi, Savuti and Chobe. Tourism is quite well under control, so no crowded places which could make this experience more dangerous and less natural. I returned with 3000 photos of great memories of this nice and peaceful country. I hope disputes with bushmen could be resolved nicely for both sides. There are an old tribe and they have the right to live peacefully in its country. Such things also have a very positive side for respectful tourism which could be nicely used to benefit such community. I appreciate hunting has been finally banned in order to keep safe such great natural richness, which should not be for thirsty killers and 'macho men' feeling superior to others because of a huge prey. Nice country I hope to visit again soon.