Botswana offers authentic, luxury safaris and provides a special level of exclusivity due to its intentionally limited tourist numbers. It is a landlocked country dominated by the Kalahari Desert and the world-renowned Okavango Delta. Most visitors to the country include time on safari in the water paradise of the Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland delta. Chobe National Park is a great place to see wildlife in riverine or savanna environments. And the Kalahari is home to unusual wildlife such as aardwolf, brown hyena and habituated meerkats, as well as a destination where you can spend time with the semi-nomadic Bushmen, drawing adventure seekers interested in exploring its extreme environment.
Botswana sits in the heart of southern Africa and is approximately the size of Texas. About two-thirds of the country is in the tropics, while the enormous salt pans in the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta stand out from the rest of the country’s gentle topography. Its national parks are filled with abundant wildlife, making for incredible safaris, with each season bringing its own special wonders.
Visitors have the chance to see large predators such as lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena, and the country also has parks with robust wild dog populations. Other species include hippo, crocodile, elephant, buffalo and many antelope species including the aquatic red lechwe. Countless bird species thrill travelers and one of the continent’s largest migrations – made up of zebra and wildebeest – is an off-the-beaten-path spectacle.
Botswana is also home to the Tsodilo Hills, an area in the Kalahari known as the ‘Louvre of the Desert,’ famous for its high concentration of rock art that gives a visual chronological account of human activities and environmental changes over at least 100,000 years. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with more than 4,000 original paintings.
Botswana is a landlocked paradise with vast desert and sparkling water. Botswana’s most sought after destination is the Okavango Delta, a pristine natural wonderland made of up of an incredible maze of waterways, channels, lagoons and islands. Home to a huge number of mammals and birds, the Delta is fed by the Okavango River and seasonally ‘floods’ to create the huge, fan-shaped waterway. The broader area is made up of a variety of wildlife ‘concessions,’ offering unique experiences, activities and amenities depending on their location.
Chobe National Park hosts a wide variety of habitats and wildlife with more than 7,000 square miles of floodplains, swamps and woodland. The riverfront is the most frequently visited part of the park and for good reason. Huge herds of elephants and Cape buffalo mass on the river’s edge to drink in the dry season, making for incredible game viewing.
Swinging to the opposite side of the spectrum, the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans National Parks are comprised of a series of vast salt pans that were an inland sea more than 60 million years ago. The landscape appears inhospitable on its surface, yet it hosts a wide variety of wildlife including black-maned lions, brown hyena, meerkats and aardwolf, as well as Africa’s second-largest wildebeest and zebra migration. During the dry season, crystal clear skies twinkle with millions of stars and the expanse of the pans is so vast, you can see the curvature of the earth. A visit with a habituated meerkat group is unforgettable, while night drives reveal fascinating nocturnal species.
One of Botswana’s off-the-beaten-track gems is an area known as the Tuli Block. It is an incredible game viewing area is just north of the Limpopo River across from South Africa. Known as the “land of giants” because it is home to giants of African wildlife including elephant, lion, cheetah, ostrich, giraffe, eland and more.
These are some of Botswana’s many unique and fascinating safari destinations. Contact a Journey Specialist to discuss which areas to include in your customized safari.
You can enjoy game viewing activities on land and in the water, depending on your location. In the Okavango Delta, activities can change seasonally with water levels, and include motorboat safaris, game walks, drives and horseback safaris. One of our favorite activities on the water in a mokoro, silently gliding on the water through the reeds in a dugout canoe. A helicopter flight is a fantastic way to get a sense of the vast wilderness of the Delta.
In Chobe, river cruises are another excellent way to see the area’s abundant wildlife. You can get up close and personal with hippos, crocodiles and water birds. In the Makgadigadi and Nxai Pans, walking with the Bushmen will open your eyes to the abundance of the desolate-seeming land around you, while quad biking (ATV) across the pans (seasonal) is a singular thrill. Horseback safaris are also an option. The Tuli Block offers many special activities not found elsewhere in Botswana including hiking, horse riding and mountain bike safaris making it especially attractive for active travelers.
Let us know your interests so that we can customize a safari that’s just right for you.
The types of accommodations available on a Botswana safari range from mobile camping to luxurious tented lodges and exclusive use properties. Some of our favorite lodges include Zarafa Camp in the private Selinda Reserve linking the Okavango Delta and the Chobe/Savute corridors, Kanana in the southwest Okavango Delta and Stanley’s Camp in a private concession bordering the Moremi Game Reserve. A stay at Jack’s Camp makes for an incredible experience in the Makgadigadi Pans while Mashatu Euphorbia will allow you to experience all of the wonders of the Tuli Block in style.
Talk with your Journey Specialist about the right fit for your safari and visit our Botswana page for inspiration.
Botswana’s dry season runs from around May to November and brings clear blue skies with little to no rain. This can be one of the best times of the year to see wildlife as the vegetation has died and wildlife in some areas need to congregate at water sources to drink. June to August are the coolest months – you will need warm clothes in many areas in the mornings and evenings. Starting in September things heat up, with late October and early November seeing some of the year’s hottest temperatures.
The wet season runs from approximately December to March bringing varied weather and showers. Rains rarely last long enough to interrupt activities. During the wetter seasons, animals will disperse and vegetation becomes lush from the moisture, making game viewing a bit more challenging. One particular highlight of the wet season is the photography – the scenery is beautiful and the light is usually lovely.
Many activities in Botswana are season dependent. Be sure to talk with your Journey Specialist about your interests so you can determine the best time of year to take your safari.
Safaris in Botswana generally involve flying in small airplanes. For most destinations, you will fly to an airstrip near your camp or within the area you are staying. One of our partners will be waiting for you when you arrive and will take you to your accommodation in an open game vehicle. While on safari, you might be in a vehicle, on a boat, in a helicopter, on foot or even a on mountain bike. Let us know what you would like to do!
Reach out to one of our Journey Specialists to start planning your customized Botswana safari and subscribe to our newsletter below for more safari information, stories and trip inspiration.
Photos courtesy AAC Senior Journey Specialist Angie Voigt, AAC Senior Journey Specialist Diana Garcia Hernandez, Nxamaseri Island Lodge, AAC Safari Concierge Ciara Manning, Chobe Chilwero Lodge, Mashatu Lodge, AAC Marketing Director Beth McCabe and Zarafa Camp,