Botswana Travel Guide

Botswana was beautiful, wild, warm and true

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 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.

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.

Luxury tenting with delicious food, attentive service and knowledgable and caring guides .

They found all kinds of wildlife, luxury tenting, amazing food and great social interaction. Guides were top notch in Kadizora and Little Machaba. Not a hitch. Ker and Downey planned well for us.

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!

We rode from Vic Falls to Cape Town on motorcycles and the amount and variety of wild life we encountered - often in the middle of the road - was truly incredible. One of our riders had an accident in Botswana and the people at the scene couldn't have been more helpful. Truly good people - many living in awfully modest conditions to say the least.

I loved Botswana, but this was my first safari, so I can't compare it to anything (however, I am planning to return to Botswana). The people are warm and welcoming; it's still wild and beautiful, unspoiled by billboards and commercialization. There is a variety of landscapes and scenery - from the hot dry desert to the cooler Delta.

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.

One of the very best safari destinations in southern Africa

The huge variety of habitats from the unique Okavango Delta to the Central Kalahari Desert, and ultimately the majestic Mkgadikgadi make Botswana one of the most interesting wildlife/nature destinations in the world.

Accommodation varies tremendously from luxury safari camps offered by Wilderness in the Okavango to the most basic camp sites like those in Kwai Community Reserve in Moremi where there are literally no facilities at all, giving the very best bush experience you can imagine for the seasoned explorer. For such places you'll need roof tents as the animals will definitely visit you, especially at night.

The best time to go is in September, before the rainy season makes quite a few places too difficult to get to, and if you are 'going it alone' you'll need a 4 wheel drive vehicle with all the kit, including all camping equipment, water, food (no meat allowed in the reserves), fuel, at least two spare wheels, tools etc, etc.

Africa at its most unspoilt, its most beautiful and most thrilling.

Our experience in Botswana was unforgettable and far too short. One day we will return and see what else this wonderful country has to offer. We travelled with the UK company Explore (they supplied an overland truck with tents on board, a cook,a driver/guide and a UK tour leader) and combined the trip with Namibia. We spent three nights camping at the Xakanaxa site and had guides/drivers and smaller vehicles supplied by the operator Wilderness Dawning. We can not recommend them highly enough-particularly as they found us two leopards in one day, something we shall never forget. The campsite was basic but had a toilet and shower block; not be used at night as the site is completely unfenced and it's a bit of a walk. It is also in a super spot with acess to both Moremi and the delta. Bushbuck and vervet monkey and lots of birds could be spotted even around the campsite. During our stay we did four games drives in the reserve and spent the best part of day on a flat bottomed boat cruising through the delta and stopping to walk across one of the islands. The wildlife in the two areas is totally different. Moremi has the big cats and antelope, whereas on the delta we saw lots of birds, hippos and many more elephant. We travelled in January and hence did experience some very heavy rain showers but the animals were still around in abundance. Combined with Namibia I can say without hesitation this was our best holiday ever.

Safe and quiet country with lots to offer. Absolutely loved it and wished I could have stayed long.

Botswana has so much to offer. From the beauty of its landscape and animals to the genuine nature of its people. Don’t know why it took me so long to get here.