20-35 years of age
Review about Kaokoland by Jofie Lamprecht
Fantastic cultural experience visiting the Himba people, desert elephant and black rhino are very rewarding if you can find them.
20-35 years of age
Review about Botswana by QWie
Great wildlife and bush experience but expensive and not as diverse as neighboring countries.
20-35 years of age
Escape to the beach.. without the water
Kgalagadi, pronounced by making a "k" sound followed by 2 successive throat clearings, is the real Kalahari. Real as in the small trees and bush on the nearest town on the map, a town called Hotazel, are replaced by sand. So much sand that Sand Surfing is a local sport. The temps while we were there were just over 40C during the day, a hint of sun, but luckily the nights cooled off to the low 20's- desert living at its finest.
Along with the day drives where all the animals are fast asleep by the watering holes in the rarity that is the shade, the Kgalagadi comes alive in the night time. with only 1 night in the park, to the night drive we went.
The best way to make friends when stuck in a confined space? Beer. Between a dozen people 'stuck' in the moving elevator that was the open topped Land Rover for our night drive, we were the guys dragging a cooler of beer onto the bakkie (bakkie = truck in the SA). 15 minutes in, the whole drive was friends. Sadly this was about the same time we got away from the camp and back into park. While the temperatures fell the animals rose. The bakkie was equipped with a few spotlights, so we took turns spotting the animals. Over the course of the drive, of all the animals we saw, by far the most exciting was an African Wild Cat. More rare than lions, the african wild cat was out hunting alone, had a moment in the spotlight, and was gone.
From the beachless dunes, to the black maned lion, to the beers with paap 'n vleis, the Kgalagadi was an excellent escape from anything resembling a cookie-cutter holiday package and the memories I walked away with won't be found in any other park in Africa.
Klaar
MX
20-35 years of age
great, surrounded with wildlife
We had a great time from beginning to end, we had a couple of rainy days but had a great time, lots of wild life incredible camps great service. this trip really excided our expectacions
Review about Queen Elizabeth National Park by Jess Hoffert
Didn't see too many birds, but saw a lot of everything else: giraffes, hippos, zebras, elephants, etc.
20-35 years of age
Great choice for top end safaris
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 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.
35-50 years of age
NL
35-50 years of age
Review about Mgahinga Gorilla National Park by gipukan
Comparable to bwindi with less accommodation but still interesting to visit
Good person.
I met Richard, the company owner, on my trip in Uganda. He is very committed to help people in need and make a difference for them.
Review about Botswana by giapia
Beautiful earth, nice people, lots of elephants andhyppos, but a few cats (too much water)