botswana safari area

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Safari in Botswana

An expert guide to botswana's best safari reserves, camps and experiences.

Anthony Ham

• In this guide

Okavango Delta

Chobe national park, central kalahari game reserve, makgadikgadi pans national park.

• Need to know
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• How it works

Of all the places I’ve been on safari in Africa, I think Botswana tops the list. There is so much to enjoy and, unlike in bigger safari destinations, in Botswana you’ll see a lot more wildlife than other travellers.

Botswana is where I went on my first self-drive safari, and, to this day, it remains my pick as the best place to drive yourself out into the wild in Africa. All but the inner reaches of the Okavango Delta are accessible in your own 4WD, and the experience of driving out into, and sleeping overnight in, lion country, or the amazing world of elephants, or miles from the nearest human being, remains my favourite way of going on safari.

At the heart of Botswana’s appeal are its signature wildlife destinations whose names – the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Central Kalahari Game Reserve – read like a roll-call of storied wildlife kingdoms. And it’s not just the wildlife. From the deep greens and blues of the Delta in flood to the yellows and reds of the Kalahari, or the blinding whites of the salt pans, there is something elemental about Botswana’s call to the wild. In the following pages I’ll explain some of my Botswana safari highlights, and how you can see them for yourself.

featured botswana safaris

Popular Botswana Safari Through the Delta

Discover Botswana

Explore the okavango delta, kwando, the kalahari and chobe.

Best of Botswana Lodge Safari

Makgadikgadi Pans & Okavango Delta Safari Adventure

Botswana's Northern Highlights

10 day small group tour.

Okavango Delta horse riding safari

Discover botswana's amazing wildlife.

Affordable Victoria Falls & Chobe Safari

Chobe Camping Safaris

Okavango Kayaking Expedition

Unique camp-to-camp safari adventure.

Botswana Wildlife Camping Safari

Botswana's hidden gems.

Unlike Africa’s safari giants like Kenya , Tanzania , and South Africa , Botswana remains blissfully under the radar. Yet, it too faces the travel industry's irritating habit of focusing on the popular easy sellers at the expense of everywhere else. There's much more to Botswana than the Okavango Delta. In this guide I'll show you some of my favourite lesser-known Botswana safari spots.

Aerial view of the vast Okavango Delta, one of the best safari destinations in Africa

The best safaris in Botswana

Popular highlights & hidden gems, kgalagadi transfrontier park, tsodilo hills, northern tuli game reserve, okavango panhandle, nxai pan national park, kwando reserve.

Okavango kayaking expedition

Pretty much every Okavango tour itinerary will include a paddle on a traditional mokoro canoe. For something very different, set out on a multi-day, camp-to-camp kayaking expedition through the Delta. Paddle the gentle water spotting the planet's greatest wildlife and camp each night under the stars. Truly unique.

See elephants and more in Chobe National Park

Chobe incorporates two distinct regions: Chobe River (close to the Zimbabwe and Zambia borders), famous for its large elephant herds; and Savute (in the west), where a juxtaposition of contrasting habitats and handful of pumped water holes sustain a melting pot of species.

Chobe in general, but especially the riverfront, has one of the highest elephant densities in Africa and close-up sightings are almost guaranteed. Lions and leopards are also possible here, with giraffe, zebra, buffalo, hippo and crocodiles all commonly seen.

Game drives are the order of the day in Savute where wildlife-viewing is good year-round. Savute is known for its predators – I’ve always had luck with lion, leopard and cheetah here, and on my last trip I spent an afternoon watching a highly active den of African wild dogs. As with the rest of Chobe, elephants are everywhere in Savute.

Explore water world in the Okavango Delta

This is a world without fences and, because of the water levels, human settlements are mostly restricted to the Delta’s perimeter, leaving the rest to wildlife.

In the southern part of the Delta, including in Moremi Game Reserve and Khwai Community Concession, expect a mix of luxury tented camps and budget campsites catering mostly to those on self-drive safaris. The deeper you go into the Delta, the more the crowds thin, with entire concessions given over to the exclusive lodges and tented camps that are such a feature of a safari in Botswana. For most of the tourist season, many of these camps and lodges can only be reached by small plane. Out here, I’ve had the wildlife entirely to myself.

Taste true wilderness in the Central Kalahari

Measuring 52,000 square kilometres, I think this vast wilderness is a signature Botswana safari experience. Known for its golden grasslands, salt pans, sand dunes covered in vegetation and wide former river valleys, it’s a soulful experience that’s custom-made for a self-drive safari.

The mammal density and diversity are not quite a match for the northern parks making it less well-suited to first-time safari travellers but for the feel of a true African wilderness, CKGR is tough to beat.

Hugging the park’s northern boundary, the Hainaveld consists of a handful of compact, segregated, privately-owned reserves. The denser habitat means the landscape is less scenic than inside the park, but pumped waterholes concentrate the game in the dry season. Several of the lodges employ local Kalahari bushmen with legendary tracking skills, who will also teach you about their way of life on a guided walk.

Off the beaten path in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

In the far south of Botswana, this transfrontier park spills over into South Africa. The Botswana side of the park receives far fewer visitors than the South African sections across the border.

The scenery here consists of a dense scrubland and some of the loveliest salt-pan scenery anywhere in Botswana. With a number of hills overlooking these pans, they’re spectacular places, especially at sunset, and many of the self-drive campsites take full advantage of these hilltop positions.

Kgalagadi is known for its classic Kalahari wildlife, and aside from the usual oryx (gemsbok), giraffe and wide range of antelope species, I’ve always had luck with the extravagantly horned greater kudu, lion, cheetah and even a fleeting glimpse of meerkats.

The park provides habitat for nearly 300 different bird species, and I was particularly thrilled when the elusive Kalahari scrub robin and the vivid violet-eared waxbill visited my campsite one evening.

Ancient history in the Tsodilo Hills

Rising from the barren, sandy plains of the Kalahari in a remote corner of north-western Botswana, these four hills project a certain kind of magic. Sacred to the indigenous San people and reputed to possess mystical powers (as Laurens van der Post found in the 1950s on a visit that formed the centrepiece of his classic The Lost World of the Kalahari), the Tsodilo Hills are best known as one of the world’s finest galleries of ancient rock art. More than 4,500 artworks – mostly paintings, but engravings, too – adorn the rock walls of the range, and some date back thousands of years.

Walking trails lead past the artworks that range in subject matter from whales and penguins (despite Tsodilo Hills being more than 1000 km from the ocean) to lions and human figures. I highly recommend you visit with a local guide to greatly enhance your visit.

Unless you’re self-driving and staying at one of the campsites in the shadow of the Tsodilo Hills, there is no accommodation nearby.

Explore Northern Tuli Game Reserve

In the far southeastern corner of the country and formerly divided into a number of segregated farms alongside the Limpopo River, NTGR is now one of the largest privately-owned conservation areas in southern Africa. The spectacular landscape, featuring rolling hills, basalt cliffs, ancient riverbeds and towering granite kopjes , is unlike anywhere else in Botswana. In fact, when combined with its impressive portfolio of wildlife, it remains a mystery to me why more people don’t visit this remarkable place.

Expect regular sightings of elephant, giraffe, lion, leopard and cheetah as well as less common species like eland and klipspringer, and over 350 bird species. Ground-level photographic hides, ancient archaeological ruins and a choice of horse-riding, walking or even cycling safaris complete a chocolate box-assortment of activities.

Spot the flamingoes of Makgadikgadi Pans

Makgadikgadi Pans is famous for hosting one of the largest zebra migrations in Africa. Every year, tens of thousands of zebra migrate east-west through the park, between the pans in the east and the Boteti River out west. From high on the riverbank at the latter, I’ve watched zebras swarm down to the water’s edge in a haze of raised dust, dizzying stripes and distinctive zebra barks.

I’ve also seen flamingos away on the eastern pans in flocks so vast that they seem to move as a single entity. And I’ve drawn near to habituated meerkats just outside the park, and seen brown hyenas and aardvarks close to sunset.

Birding in the Okavango Panhandle

Although not a big game destination, the broad and meandering Okavango River in the northwest of the country is a birder’s paradise, with over 350 recorded species including several iconic Okavango specialties. It is also popular among anglers, particularly around September, when the receding flood waters concentrate huge shoals of baitfish, attracting a melee of catfish, tiger fish, bream and birds. Activities are mostly by boat or on foot.

Other wildlife is far less common, and you’d be lucky to see much more than a crocodile or hippo in the river’s waters.

Zebra migration in Nxai Pan National Park

I’ve always loved Nxai Pan – it’s never busy, my sightings of lion, elephant and cheetah seem perfectly framed by these big horizons, and the baobabs by the salt pans here are a striking presence. With a handful of campsites (including at remote Baines’ Baobabs, a remarkable cluster of seven ancient baobabs (named after explorer and painter, Thomas Baines) and just one upmarket lodge, there’s rarely more than a couple of other vehicles at any sighting.

As well as plenty of elephant, and a good chance of seeing lion and cheetah, Nxai Pan has a couple of other wildlife highlights to draw you here. After the rains, thousands of zebra migrate here from the Chobe and Linyanti rivers after the rains forming part of Africa’s longest zebra migration. And for reasons unknown, Nxai Pan is the only place in Botswana where you can see springbok and impala in the same place.

Linyanti, Kwando and Selinda Reserves

Scattered along the northern waterways of the perennial Linyanti and Kwando rivers, and the seasonal Selinda spillway, the camps in these three neighbouring private concessions operate in a similar manner to those inside the Okavango Delta.

Game-viewing is as good as in the Okavango, with predator-tracking a particular specialty of the Kwando camps. Most camps offer game or wildlife drives, mokoro boat trips, and sunset boat excursions.

What you see in these parts depends very much on the time of year you visit. In Linyanti, for example, from May to October, expect to see lots of elephants, while zebras migrate through the area, usually from February to April. At other times, wildlife can be very scarce, although the November-to-April wet season is excellent for birding in all three concessions, with migrants from Europe and North Africa here en masse.

Chitabe & Qorokwe concessions

In 25 years of African travel, I’ve never seen as much high-quality wildlife as I have in these fabulous Okavango concessions. Over two recent days, I saw leopards, nearly 30 lions, dozens of elephants, a pack of 20 wild dogs, and a cheetah mother with six sub-adult cubs.

Splash Camp

Rory Sheldon

Splash Camp is a small camp in the private Kwara Reserve. Operated by Kwando Safaris who have better responsible travel credentials than most: locally based, no greenwashing, and supporting valuable community projects.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Botswana doesn’t have many rhinos but most of them are here in this small, little-known sanctuary, in Paje, east of Central Kalahari Game Reserve. On a recent visit, I was waylaid for nearly an hour by two male black rhinos fighting for dominance right along the main track.

See the baobabs of Kubu Island

For the best of the pans, Kubu Island is a glorious ‘island’ of baobabs south of Makgadikgadi. This was the first place I ever camped in Botswana, and the magic has never left me.

Camp out in Khutse Game Reserve

The southern extension of the CKGR, Khutse gets very few visitors (except on weekends). I love its remote campsites (I once slept here, 40 km from the nearest person), its classic Kalahari scenery, and its lions, leopards and so much more.

Nata Bird Sanctuary

Out in the east of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the pans of this rarely visited community sanctuary draw up to 250,000 flamingos and other waterbirds from November or December until March or April.

Planet Baobab

A budget-friendly option with self-drive access, offering all the activities of its more expensive sister camps on the edge of the pans.

Savute Under Canvas

Easily the pick of the mobile camps in Chobe, &Beyond’s tented camp moves around the park almost weekly and captures the spirit of a mobile camp at its best.

Botswana Camping Safaris

Into Botswana & Zimbabwe

15 day small group tour, botswana safaris: need to know, everything you wish you'd known before you booked, inside tip: self-drive safaris.

Much is made of Botswana aiming for high-end, low-density safari tourism and it’s not uncommon for a luxury camp in the Delta to cost well over US$1,000 per person per night in high season. But it’s actually the mid-range, rather than budget, traveller that finds it difficult to build a reasonably priced safari in Botswana.

Much as the Botswana government prefers not to publicise the fact, it has a fantastic network of campsites around the country. Some are privately run, others are run by the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP). Standard camping fees are USD $50/25 per adult/child. You can book directly through the park authorities or the private operators of the campsites, but you're better off booking through an agent. Renting a 4WD camper can seem expensive, but a two-week self-drive safari could end up costing the same for two people as one day on a fly-in, fly-out safari.

The best times for safari in Botswana

My favourite time to visit Botswana is during the dry season, June to September. During this time, most 4WD tracks are open, water levels in the Delta are ideal for mokoro trips and wildlife watching.

This period also corresponds with the high tourism season (which usually starts in June or July), so it’s also the busiest (and most expensive) time of year. During these months, it can also get extremely cold overnight and early morning throughout much of the Kalahari.

May or October can be a good compromise, although there’s a risk that the rains could linger or arrive early.

Access to the Delta may be limited, but the best months for birding are from November to March or April, when hundreds of migratory species arrive from Europe and North Africa.

Getting there & around

Although Gaborone is the capital of Botswana, the overwhelming majority of safari visitors to Botswana fly into Maun, in the country’s north-west. Maun is right alongside the Okavango Delta and not far from the Kalahari, and it has lots of safari companies, hotels, camps and restaurants and places to stock up on supplies making it the ideal gateway town.

Those heading to Chobe National Park may fly into Kasane, in the north-east. Kasane receives fewer international flights than Maun, but its proximity to Victoria Falls (84 km away by road, across the border in Zimbabwe) makes it well worth considering.

How a Botswana safari works

There are two main ways to go on safari in Botswana. One is to fly into Maun or Kasane (perhaps stay overnight, perhaps not) and then fly into one of the airstrips of the Okavango Delta or Chobe National Park. There you’ll be picked up by your accommodation, and then fly in and out of however many tented camps you’ll be staying in.

You can book all of this yourself, but most international visitors tend to book it via a tour operator.

The other option is a self-drive trip. You can fly into Maun or Kasane (or even Johannesburg) and pick up a 4WD, which will usually have a rooftop tent or other camping equipment. You’ll then drive yourself from one campsite to the next. Road and driving conditions in Botswana are significantly better than elsewhere in Southern Africa, but you’ll need to take obvious precautions such as driving during the day time and ensuring you’ve got sufficient supplies for long journeys.

Safari in the Okavango Delta

About the author.

Anthony is a renowned travel journalist and guidebook author and is one of the world's leading authorities on Africa safari, wildlife and conservation. He has been travelling to Africa for more than two decades to research Africa safari guidebooks for Lonely Planet. He is widely published in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR), National Geographic Traveler, BBC Wildlife, Lonely Planet Traveller, Africa Geographic, The Independent, Travel Africa, among many others.

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Botswana Safaris

Botswana safari guide – where & when to go, and what to see.

Botswana safaris are truly special. The country doesn’t see as many tourists as most other countries in Southern and East Africa, but this in no way diminishes the quality of the game viewing and safari experience Botswana has to offer – and in many ways, it’s a bonus. Rural Botswana is an inhospitable place for humans, but a country that manages to support an incredible diversity and density of animals. Botswana wildlife is hands down some of the best anywhere in the world.

Botswana is a large, wild country (approximately the size of France) with a decent – but very limited – road network where only the major roads are tarmacked. This makes Botswana a safari destination for the intrepid. If you’re planning on doing an independent, self-drive safari in Botswana a high-clearance 4WD vehicle and spirit of self-reliance are essential to get the most out of your visits to the national parks. The country is easily accessed from South Africa, with the capital Gabaronne just a few hours’ drive from Johannesburg.

Self-drive safaris are a big thing in Botswana and are popular with overland tours and independent travellers alike. You’ll need a rugged 4WD to access all areas, and be confident that you’re totally self-sufficient if camping on your own in the bush. If this safari-style doesn’t appeal then browse our guide to  safari companies in Botswana to speak to a professional.

Geographically Botswana is covered in scrub brush and savannah grasslands, with the occasional impressive geographic feature such as the Okavango Delta and adjoining Chobe National Park, huge salt pans, and the brutally picturesque Kalahari Desert. The country is landlocked and lies at a fairly consistent average elevation of 1,000m. The windswept and sand-based Kalahari Desert covers over 80% of the country in the south, west, and centre. To the north lies 15,000 km sq of the Okavango Delta, fed by the Okavango River and forming the northern border with Namibia .  To the east lie the great salt and clay desert of the Makgadikgadi Pans and occasional deciduous forests towards the Zimbabwe border.

One of the most impressive African rivers for wildlife, Okavango River supplies year-round water to much of northern Botswana, and ends in the inland Okavango Delta, support a vast array of Southern African mammal species. These include the big five , wild dogs , hippos , hyenas , honey badgers , and a broad range of gazelles and hoofed mammals.

Each year Botswana is home to one of Africa’s largest annual migrations , featuring huge herds of wildebeest, zebra, and other wild animals as they move from their winter ranges in the Makgadikgadi plains to the summer feeding grounds of the Nxai Pan region. Not as large in scale as the East African ‘ great migration ‘, but there are also far fewer tourists around to take away from the experience. This lack of tourists, the sheer scale of the wilderness and the abundance of game in Botswana’s national parks come together to make Botswana a safari destination that’s hard to better, wherever you visit in Africa.

Useful resources

Book a Botswana safari

Botswana wildlife

Botswana Tourist Board

Bostwana guidebooks

Botswana safari highlights

Okavango delta botswana, fly-in safari.

Safaris don’t come much better or more luxurious than an all-inclusive fly-in safari deep in the Okavango Delta . Take a four-seater flight over the wetlands, wildlife spotting as you’re flown to an exclusive, out-of-the-way lodge for a few days of game drives, safari walks , and boat trips .

Big five spotting

Go big game spotting at Chobe National Park – perhaps Botswana’s most famous national park . Boat safaris are a big draw here, with a waterfront teeming with wildlife… but you’ll have to be very lucky to see all big five from a boat – game drives in a 4X4 jeep are more the order of the day.

Leopard spotting in Moremi

The east side of the Okavango Delta Moremi Game Reserve is regarded as one of the top African leopard hangouts. On the fringes of the delta where water collects in small lagoons and fills grassy floodplains, antelope (and all sorts of other wildlife) are plentiful. Perfect leopard country.

Mokoro safaris on the water

The Okavango Delta offers ample opportunities to get out on to the water for some top-class wildlife viewing. Traditional wooden mokoros are a fun and eco-friendly way to head out on a canoe safari , though propeller boats are on offer too, and can easily be combined with superb walking safaris .

Best time to safari in Botswana

May to August is the best time to organize a safari in Botswana, as during this winter season the days are cool and sunny, and the lack of water drives the wildlife to congregate around permanent water sources. At this time getting around the country is fairly straightforward, with dust rather than water being the main obstacle. During winter months wildlife spotting is easy – simply find a river or watering hole and dig in to wait for the action. Bear in mind is that July and August is school holiday time, meaning more tourists than usual, higher prices for safari accommodation and tours, and busier national parks.

October to April is summer season in Botswana but brings with it severe heat and the rains – occasionally in extreme amounts. Getting around the country by road during summer can be disrupted by flooding, as many of the secondary roads are not tarmacked. Wildlife is also more dispersed and harder to spot, hidden by lush vegetation. An exception to this is in parts of the Okavango Delta where there’s so much flooding that many islands form, trapping wildlife which can be viewed from a boat – though vegetation still causes a problem.

Flights To Botswana

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Botswana Accommodation

Find safari accommodation in Botswana – from budget campsites to luxury lodges.

Botswana Car Hire

Considering a self-drive safari? Research and book car hire in Botswana.

Activities in Botswana

Search and book things to do in Botswana – tours, excursions and activities.

National parks in Botswana

All national parks in Botswana are run by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), based in Gaborone, who enforce a strict no driving after dark rule in the parks. ( See this great article on driving in Botswana .)

Whilst not actually a national park or reserve, Botswana is renowned worldwide for the Okavango Delta region in the north of the country, providing water and supporting an incredible array of African wildlife.

Top Botswana national park picks

• Moremi Game Reserve

The only part of the Okavango Delta that’s officially a national park, Moremi covers almost one-third of the delta, and is packed with wildlife. There’s no public transport so you’ll have to get yourself there, but the trade-off is fewer tourists to share the plethora of wildlife with.

• Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park was Botswana’s first national park at an impressive 11,000 km sq. There’s easy access for spectacular game viewing from a boat on the Chobe river and the network of dirt and gravel roads. The Savuti area in south west Chobe is recognised as having one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Africa.

Makagadikgadi Nzai Pan National Park

Feel the unfettered freedom of driving through the never-ending parched-white salt pans, or plan your trip for the when the rains come and bird life and herd animals abound, including one of Africa’s largest migrations .

Central Kalahari National Park

One of Africa’s largest protected area at a whopping 52,000 km sq. Braving the tough conditions of Central Kalahari National Park in your own 4WD may reward you with viewings of hyena packs and prides of lions in the unforgiving desert.

All national parks in Botswana

Use the map to locate all national parks in Botswana. Click the icons for more info.

Get Directions

• Central Kalahari Game Reserve
• Makgadikgadu National Park
• Nxai Pan National Park
• Okavango Delta

Botswana safari resources

Botswana safari companies.

Though Botswana has a relatively low number of inbound tourists each year, a very high proportion of these come for the wildlife. Around the capital Gabarone and also Maun – the de-facto capital of the Okavango Delta – there are numerous safari tour companies to suit all budgets. Check out our reviews of safari tour companies in Botswana .

Botswana safari lodges

Botswana has a focus on low-impact, high-end safaris, and the accommodation on offer reflects this. Luxury safari lodges are the primary accommodation in Botswana, though there are also mid-range accommodation in the tourist enclaves of Maun and Gabarone. If you have your own tent most safari lodges have an area where you can pitch up for the night, along with decent washing and BBQ facilities as standard. Search and book safari lodges in Botswana , or find all accommodation in Botswana below.

Search all Botswana accommodation

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Top countries for safaris

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Safari basics

• Safari animals
• How to find the right safari company
• When to go on safari
• What to take on safari
• Safari clothing – what to wear
• Safari rules & etiquette
• Wildlife spotting tips

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Africa’s best game reserves

• Chobe National Park, Botswana
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• Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
• Okavango Delta, Botswana
• Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

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How to Plan a Safari in Botswana, According to Experts

A beginner's guide to safari vacations in Botswana.

Marc Stickler Photography/Courtesy of Natural Selection

An African safari ranks high on the wish list of many a world traveler. Of the millions of adventurers who make the trek here annually, the (ahem) lion’s share will end up in the game reserves of Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania — enduringly popular destinations for wildlife viewing in Africa. But in recent years, Botswana has been nipping at the heels of those countries. 

Botswana is home to diverse landscapes that span delta to desert, and the local culture is vibrant and inviting. The Botswana bush is teeming with majestic fauna, including Africa’s largest population of elephants — they are protected by a government focused on conservation, and tour operators committed to the same. And a safari here means you get to enjoy all of the above with far fewer humans than in its aforementioned continental counterparts.  

“Botswana is an anomaly in Africa,” said Ian Proctor, president and managing director of Ultimate Africa Safaris . “It is considered one of the safest and most stable democracies on the continent.” 

Proctor has been preparing customized itineraries for safari-going clients since 1996, and during that time he estimates he’s personally enjoyed more than 250 experiences across the African continent. Botswana has become his go-to destination, and in no small part because of the modernization of its government.

“Citizens receive free universal health care, and LGBTQ+ communities are legally recognized,” he cited as examples. “And with a very small population, its wilderness areas are unparalleled — and, importantly, uncrowded.”

Ready to pack your bags? Here’s how to plan your Botswana safari, along with insight from experts on what you can expect along the way.

Courtesy of Natural Selection

How to Get to Botswana 

The most common way to get to the Botswana bush is by way of Safarilink flights out of Maun National Airport (MUB), in the northwestern part of the country. Midsized runways here can’t accommodate jumbo jets, so you won’t find direct service from the U.S. That’s a blessing in disguise, though. The added stop you’ll need — in either Johannesburg or Cape Town — weeds out those tourists who aren’t willing to brave nearly 16 hours of total flight time. 

Really, it’s not nearly as arduous as it seems. American carriers now offer multiple direct options per day into South Africa from New York and Atlanta. And if you work with an outfitter like Ultimate Africa Safaris, you can bookend your safari with well-curated layovers in those connecting cities. 

Best Times to Go to Botswana

Weather-wise, Botswana is at its most inviting from early May through the end of September. Temperatures are more moderate during these winter months, and malaria is less prevalent. Things start to get somewhat wet come mid-October, but if birding is your thing, the rainy season is precisely when you want to arrive. The Nata Bird Sanctuary along the northeastern edge of the massive Makgadikgadi Salt Pans is the world’s largest breeding ground for Lesser and Greater Flamingo. This ancient, Switzerland-sized lakebed is a shrimp-infested food source for the birds, which pass through by the hundreds of thousands from November through March. 

Best Places to Stay  

When it comes to world-class safari camps, this part of Africa is chockablock with options. They run the gamut from rugged to ultra-luxe and are scattered across every corner of the country’s dynamic terrain. You’ll want to allot ample time to explore the Okavango Delta. This massive marshland in northern Botswana boasts a footprint of nearly 8,000 square miles and is regarded as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa. From there, you can transfer by bush plane to the outskirts of the Kalahari Desert to enjoy a wholly different landscape. 

“Botswana dedicates so much space for wildlife — we are actually in the top 10 percent in the world for wildlife conservation,” said Super Sande, a native of Botswana who has been a guide in the country for 32 years. “Between the wet and dry parts of our country, the diversity of game that you see is like nowhere else. You can be surrounded by thousands of zebra and wildebeest and be the only car there. It’s so special.”

Logistically, it’s easiest to take all of these wonders in by booking an all-inclusive package with a tour operator. One such example is Natural Selection's “Botswana Explorer” package, which covers multitudes of terrain over 10 days, including an overnight on a Delta houseboat and luxe stays in private game reserves. The program starts at $8,235 per person, which includes a guide, transfers, and meals along the way. 

As for individual standouts, Jack’s Camp is king of the desert. The legendary outpost along the edge of the salt pan underwent a full rebuild in 2021, and it now boasts rooms with private plunge pools and bedside air conditioning. Its common area is the aesthetic equivalent of stepping into the late 19th century, anchored by a Persian tea tent and a full bar with a comprehensive collection of cultural artifacts. Prices at the year-round lodge range from $1,450 to $2,495 per night, depending on room size and time of year. 

In the Delta, a similar level of luxury can be found at Tuludi . The seven-room property sits on the Khwai Private Reserve — 772 square miles of floodplain awash with wildlife. Suites feature outdoor baths and plunge pools. Don’t be surprised if you’re visited in the evening hours by the local herd of elephants who enjoy feeding on foliage here once the sun has set. 

Later this year, Tawana Camp will become the newest option in the Okavango, and the only camp located within the protected Moremi Game Reserve. This exclusivity is owed to a first-of-its-kind partnership between Natural Selection and the BaTawana nation — who have stewarded the land since the late 18th century (the camp takes its name from the nation's current ruler). It will feature all the trappings of five-star living, including butler service and its own gym. The whole camp is positioned alongside a gently rolling river crowded with hippos, lions, and zebra.

What You’ll See in Botswana

Peter & Beverly Pickford Wildlife Photography/Courtesy of Natural Selection

If you stay on a riverfront camp such as Duke’s , you can head out into the water on traditional canoe-like vessels known as mokorom, and from this vantage point, you’ll spy African fish eagles and saddle-billed storks along the shore. You’ll also likely paddle past hippos, whose eyes hover menacingly just above the waterline. Back on dry land, lions prowl in outsized prides, leopards carry slain impala into the trees, and baboons scamper across the plains by the dozen. 

Elephant fans will want to book a stay at Hyena Pan , hidden among the thick mopane forests of Khwai Private Reserve. A short game drive brings you to a repurposed shipping container abutting a watering hole. This is the Elephant Hide, and it affords an intimate spectacle of the largest living land animal, which congregate just a few inches from a narrow viewing slot fashioned into the side of a steel wall. 

In the salt pan, you can marvel at colorful creatures of all shapes, sizes, and speeds. The edge of the ancient lakebed is inundated with meerkats, Cape hares, aardwolves, hyenas, and cheetahs, to name but a small cross section of species.

“I see the most interesting things here at night, especially,” Sande said. “I just recently saw two honey badgers fighting off some jackals. No two game drives are ever the same.”

A lot of a safari experience depends on good fortune, of course. But luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, and the difference between a good guide and a great guide is careful planning, according to Kagisano Bapute, who steers guests toward unforgettable game viewing in and around Tuludi Camp. 

“You have to stay up to date with everything going on from day to day, and from season to season,” Bapute added. “You’re always checking in with a network of trackers, and you have to be working around the clock, so you’re not just going out there blindly once you have guests with you.” 

What You’ll Eat and Drink 

While staying at any high-end safari camp, you can expect robust meals that rotate regularly, often featuring staples of Western cuisine. At Tuludi, for example, elegant pasta dishes are mainstays on the menu. Sable Alley has its own pizza station. 

While it’s easy to gravitate toward the familiar — and there are certainly some great hamburgers to be enjoyed in the bush — if you’ve come all this way, do as the locals do and save room for seswaa . The flavorful beef stew is frequently served for supper along with local bread, phapatha . Vegetarians can keep an eye out for morogo , a spinach dish studded with onions and tomatoes. 

When it comes to cocktails, gin is king here, and Okavango even has its very own. The award-winning eponymous offering is distilled with local botanicals, including the mopane seed. At Sable Alley, the bar staff is working it into the Bluebird: two parts gin, one part blue curaçao, and a splash of simple syrup, garnished with a slice of lemon. 

Alternatively, book a stay at San Camp and you’ll drive into the heart of the Kalahiri for cocktail hour. A makeshift bar is set up atop the pale, crusted earth, just in time for sunset. Once it gets dark, a multi-course feast is prepared by campfire, with nary another soul in sight. For dessert, gaze up at the most dazzling star-scape you’ll ever see.

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The Top 25 Best Safari Lodges and Camps in Botswana

Author: Matthys van Aswegen - 16 February 2023

Last Update: 16 February 2024

Part of the Safaris Tours In Botswana & Botswana Tourism & African Safari Collection

Botswana is consistently rated as one of the best places in Africa to go on a safari. It’s home to the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park , as well as the hidden gems of the Kalahari and Linyanti. You’ll find ample opportunities to spot the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) as well as a wide assortment of other exciting wildlife. 

Planning to go on a safari in Botswana? Get inspired with this round-up of the top 25 best safari lodges and camps in Botswana.

Mombo camp delivers authentic tented safari camping at its most luxurious in the world-renowned Okavango Delta floodplains. The camp puts a strong focus on customer experience and your every need is anticipated. Friendly and experienced guides make every game drive a trip worth remembering. 

Devotion to your satisfaction is a part of every experience at Mombo, and the deeply personalized service will leave you feeling pampered and cared for from every angle.

Highlights include:

• A photography hide
• Reliable Big Five sightings
• Scenic helicopter flights

Ideal for: Photographic safaris

Savute Safari Lodge

Nestled within Chobe National Park, Savute Safari Lodge is celebrated for its elegant accommodation and exceptional viewing of Africa’s largest elephant herds. The lodge’s strategic location offers a luxurious gateway to the wild, providing a serene backdrop for an unforgettable safari experience.

• A well-stocked library with views of watering holes
• Elevated decks for uninterrupted game viewing
• A refreshing swimming pool overlooking the Savute Channel
• Evening bonfires in a traditional boma setting

Ideal for: Birding safaris

Delightfully isolated San Camp is a must-go for anyone wanting to escape to the middle of nowhere and be immersed in the miracles of the African bush. Ensconced in the rolling golden grasslands and salt pans of the Kalahari desert, billowing white tents shaded by palm trees deliver a sense of the romantic.

This seasonal camp (November to March) is dedicated to making the most of the dry season in Makgadikgadi Pans and places a strong focus on the striking views of the salt pans and a game-loaded savannah, all of which can be scouted by horseback and quad bike (ATV).

• Delicious and innovative cuisine
• Meerkat interactions
• Bushman walks
• Tented yoga and meditation deck

Ideal for: Honeymoon safari

Tuludi Camp

Tucked away in the famous Khwai Private Concession and constructed in partnership with the local community, Tuludi camp is the ideal base if you’re looking to explore the fascinating Okavango Delta. When you’re done spotting elephants, hippos, lions, and leopards, settle into the stylish and polished camp to admire the breathtaking views of the spectacular wilderness in the shade of acacia trees.

• Private vehicle and guide with the family suite
• Mokoro safaris
• Night drives
• Excellent big game viewing

Ideal for: Family safaris

Jack’s Camp

Jack’s Camp is an iconic destination, offering a glimpse into an ancient landscape untouched by time. Set against the vastness of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, this camp is a sanctuary for those looking to step off the beaten path and into a world of exploration and wonder.

• Opulent safari tents with indoor and outdoor showers
• A plush, Persian rug-adorned mess tent for communal dining
• A refreshing pool pavilion for relaxation in the desert heat
• Private, guided walks to ancient baobab groves
• A specialist spa tent offering traditional treatments

Ideal for: Luxury safaris

Chobe Chilwero

Overlooking the sparkling Chobe river and limitless bushveld, Chobe Chilwero is a dreamy riverside retreat on the edge of the Chobe National Park. Whether you choose to explore the plains on a game drive or make your way along the waters in a boat, you can look forward to incredible wildlife encounters with lions, leopards, hippos, wild dogs, and buffalo.

Of course, no trip is complete without spotting the majestic elephants the area is famous for. A stay at Chobe Chilwero is everything you could hope for from a Botswana safari.

• Spa treatments in a treetop room
• A kids’ safari program
• Reliable elephant sightings
• Boat cruises on the Chobe river
• A tour of Victoria Falls in neighboring Zimbabwe

Ideal for: Family safari

Xugana Island Lodge

Xugana Island Lodge is a jewel within the Okavango Delta, offering an intimate setting for those wishing to connect with nature. Surrounded by water, this lodge is a haven for bird enthusiasts and those seeking tranquility in a lush, aquatic environment.

• Overwater chalets with panoramic delta views
• An elegant dining area set on a wooden deck above the water
• Sundowner cruises on the Xugana Lagoon
• A private bird hide for ornithology enthusiasts
• An open-air boma for atmospheric dining under the stars

Ideal for: Water-based safari

Situated in the heart of the Moremi Game Reserve, Okuti camp’s one-of-a-kind domed suites are built using wood, reeds, and canvas. Beneath the exterior of these masasas (houses of reeds) lies a lush interior with comfy furnishings. Each suite is raised on a wooden deck with rooms overlooking the tranquil Maunachira channel and Moremi’s flourishing wetlands. Expect views guaranteed to instill a sense of wonder and inner peace.

• Exploring the Delta by motorboat
• Custom safari vehicles for unparalleled game viewing
• Abundant birdlife

Ideal for: Birding safari

Sanctuary Baines’ Camp

The elegant and stylish Baines’ Camp delivers the classical African safari experience with a twist of romance. Perfectly suited to couples, the camp offers a range of intimate activities from candle-lit dinners under the Milky Way to languid sunset mokoro rides on the Delta, dips in the star bath, and peaceful nights in a star bed where you can drift off counting shooting stars.

• Eco-friendly camp
• Boat cruises

Ideal for: Romantic safari

Leroo La Tau

Perched above the western bank of the Boteti River, Leroo La Tau offers a panoramic vista of the Makgadikgadi Pans. This lodge is a sanctuary during the dry season, as herds of zebra and wildebeest congregate at the river, offering an unparalleled wildlife spectacle.

• Cliff-edge chalets offering expansive views of the Boteti River
• A floodlit waterhole attracting nocturnal wildlife
• A serene infinity pool with panoramic wilderness views
• Themed cultural evenings with traditional music and dance
• An observatory deck for stargazing sessions

Ideal for: Zebra migration safari

Vumbura Plains

Somewhere between a beach house and a log cabin, each Vumbura Plains suite tucked away in the African wilderness delivers a light and airy escape from it all. The camp exudes a relaxing and tranquil atmosphere with an elevated deck that lets you take in the awe-inspiring views of the Delta’s floodplain. Guaranteed to have you soaking up the magic of the African bush with every breath.

• Walks safaris
• Hot-air balloon rides (April to September)

Ideal for: Mokoro safari

Moremi Crossing

Moremi Crossing, a pioneer in eco-friendly camping, stands on a palm island, offering a sustainable way to experience the heart of the Okavango Delta. Emphasizing conservation and community involvement, this camp invites guests to immerse themselves in the natural beauty of the delta.

• A lounge and dining area built around ancient trees
• Spectacular sunset views from the elevated deck
• A variety of dining settings, including private bush dinners
• Nature walks led by experienced guides focusing on conservation

Ideal for: Affordable Okavango Delta safari

Xigera Safari Lodge

Be pampered at Xigera safari lodge, where comfort and style are the name of the game. Enveloped in the tranquil waters of the Okavango Delta and its riverine forests, this 5-star destination will have you relaxing in the lap of luxury. From gourmet dining to top-class spa treatments, every aspect of your stay is designed to maximize well-being and deliver an unforgettable safari experience.

• Wellness center
• Fine dining
• Photographic safaris

Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp

Rustic meets elegant at this spellbinding destination, where you have uninterrupted views of lush mopane woodlands and flooded grasslands. Nxabega is everything you’d expect from a 5-star hotel, from its opulent comfort to personalized service. Enjoy gourmet dishes or grab a coffee from the in-house barista before you retreat to your hanging daybed to soak up the wonders of the bush.

• Catch-and-release fishing trips
• WILDchild activities for kids

Ideal for: Kid friendly safari

Nestled on a remote island in the heart of the Okavango Delta, Jao Camp oozes opulence and is only accessible by air. Built on a couple of levels rising into the tree canopy, this awe-inspiring safari destination incorporates natural materials and unique construction to deliver an out-of-this-world setting.

With floor-to-ceiling glass panels, you’re guaranteed awe-inspiring views of the verdant bush, while contemporary furnishings blend with local art and carvings for a sophisticated feel.

• Seasonal star-beds for nights under the Milky Way
• A one-of-a-kind spa
• Exclusivity in a private concession

Ideal for: Luxury Okavango Delta safari

Eagle Island Lodge

Positioned in the Delta’s stunning Xaxaba Island, Eagle Island lodge delivers a safari experience quite unlike any other. Here, timeless luxury meets Africa’s unique water-based experiences, skipping the rumbling 4×4 vehicles in favor of mokoro rides and barge cruises. Expect up-close sightings of wildlife like hippos, elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, and all the big cats at this one-of-a-kind destination.

• Horseback riding
• Fish Eagle Bar on the water

Ideal for: Horseback safari

Selinda Camp

Located on the banks of the Selinda Spillway, Selinda Camp incorporates traditional African materials of wood, thatch, and canvas to blend in with its pristine surroundings. Unique and contemporary design meets the highest levels of luxury, with jaw-dropping views of the Selinda Reserve’s endless wilderness.

Keen photographers will be blown away by the resident hide’s spectacular views of wildlife and the custom-built safari vehicles that make sure you can capture those amazing shots.

• Reliable sightings of African wild dogs and lions
• One-of-a-kind architecture
• Walking safaris
• Boat cruise

Ideal for: Walking safaris

Chobe Game Lodge

Moorish architecture and mind blowing decor make a stay at Chobe Game Lodge an unforgettable experience. As one of Africa’s premier safari destinations, this remarkable feat of design delivers the ultimate in luxury stays. Outstanding views of the wildlife-packed Chobe River are coupled with excellent levels of service, fine dining, and opulent accommodations. With such an upscale experience, you’ll be forgiven for forgetting you’re in the middle of the wilderness!

• Eco-friendly electric safari boats

Ideal for: Chobe river safari

Camp Moremi

Go off-grid without leaving behind the creature comforts of the modern world. Camp Moremi delivers the classic African safari experience with classy thatch and canvas safari tents, guaranteed seclusion, and opulent levels of service. Moremi Game Reserve plays host to daily game drives, sunset cruises on the Xakanaxa Lagoon, and leopard-spotting excursions.

• Privacy and hyper exclusivity
• Boating safaris
• Incredible views of the Xakanaxa Lagoon

Ideal for: Xakanaxa safari

Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge

Tucked away in the depths of the Okavango Delta, Sandibe is ensconced in the forest canopy and tranquil waterways. The ultra-luxurious setting, unmatched levels of service, and awe-inspiring views combine to deliver a safari experience you’ll remember forever. Cool off in the plunge pool between game drives spotting wildlife like elephants and lions while the friendly staff anticipates your every need.

• Distinctive architecture
• WILDchild kids’ program
• An interactive kitchen

Ideal for: Luxury safari

Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp

Taking its inspiration from the plentiful water lilies of the Delta, Xaranna’s blend of chic yellows, lily pinks, and olive greens creates a calming atmosphere that will have you feeling at one with nature in no time. Unwind in comfort and soak up your time away from society while the staff takes care of your every need. Xaranna is the perfect place for couples and families looking to escape the hustle and bustle and reconnect with the miracles of the wilderness.

• Kids’ activities

Ideal for: Family safari in the Okavango Delta

Tucked away in a verdant riverine forest surrounded on all sides by open floodplains, Abu camp focuses on heart-stopping encounters with its resident population of African elephants. This ultra-luxury camp gets its name from a local bull elephant and the camp’s light grey color palette goes even further to entrench the aesthetic. If you’re looking for a completely unique getaway, Abu Camp won’t disappoint.

• Star-bed sleepouts under the African sky
• Water-based safaris
• Elephant experiences

Tubu Tree Camp, situated on the remote Hunda Island in the Okavango Delta, offers guests a unique blend of water and land-based safari experiences. With its diverse habitats, the camp is renowned for its leopard sightings and varied wildlife. Each of the eight luxurious tents provide stunning views of the floodplains. 

• Wildlife viewing hide

Ideal for: Photographic safari

King’s Pool Camp

With breathtaking views of the King’s Pool Lagoon and the wildlife-packed Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, you’ll feel like royalty at this idyllic destination. 5-star accommodations and service meet the quintessential African safari experience, and spacious, elegantly decorated suites will have you unwinding in no time. Extensive use of thatch and wood blend in seamlessly with the wonders of the bush, creating an atmosphere of sublime relaxation.

• Reliable predator sightings
• Opulent suites

Chief’s Camp

Safari chic meets tranquil luxury at Chief’s Camp. Situated in the heart of the Delta’s Moremi Game Reserve, here you’ll experience the very finest of what Botswana has to offer. Enjoy incredible views of the Piajio floodplain and all the creature comforts you’d expect from a 5-star hotel. Reliable predator sightings and Big Five game viewing combine to deliver a safari experience you’ll remember forever while unmatched levels of service anticipate your every need.

• A children’s play area
• Reliable rhino sightings

Ideal for: Big cat safari

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Sub regions inside

Broader region.

Botswana is a fascinating world that is defined by its diverse landscape of desert, grasslands, and waterways. Botswana offers an unforgettable safari experience in some of Africa’s most pristine and remote game areas. It’s renowned for its migrating mammals, endangered wild dog and rhino, and some unique species of antelope. The Okavango Delta affords travelers the opportunity to experience unparalleled game viewing in a hot air balloon, motorized boat and mokoro (traditional dugout canoe). From a water wonderland to the sand dunes of the Kalahari, one can view century-old Baobabs, interact with San Bushmen to discover incredible survival secrets, and turn into a land post for a family of habituated meerkats that are scouting the area for predators.

Botswana promises a safari unlike anything else you could have imagined.  

The best time to travel to Botswana depends on what you wish to experience.

The cooler, drier winter months from May to October are excellent for game-viewing as herds of animals flock to decreasing water sources and the vegetation thins out. Days are warm; nights can be cold, especially in the desert. This is also the period when floodwaters reach the Delta making for excellent water-based activities such as boating and mokoro rides.

The hot, wet summer months from November to March are good for bird watching when migrants abound. Although game viewing is more challenging, these months draw fewer crowds and have plenty to offer. Many reserves are at their most beautiful, as the vegetation is lush and green, providing an ideal background for wildlife photography. This is also the animals’ calving season, so it’s perfect for seeing gamboling babies.

Chobe National Park

This is an integral part of the Botswana safari experience. Chobe National Park takes its name from the Chobe River which forms the northern boundary of the park and a river safari - or cruise - is one of the best options to explore the area.  It's known for its large herds of elephants and Cape buffalo, which converge along the Chobe Riverfront in the dry months. Lions, antelopes, and hippos inhabit the woods and lagoons around the Linyanti Marsh. The floodable grasslands of the Savuti Marsh attract numerous bird species, plus migrating zebras.

Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland river delta located in northern Botswana. It's known for its sprawling grassy plains, which flood seasonally, becoming a lush animal habitat. The Moremi Game Reserve occupies the east and central areas of the region. Here, dugout canoes are used to navigate past hippos, elephants and crocodiles. On dry land, game drives allow you to explore the pristine wilderness and experience Africa’s wildlife, including lions, leopards, giraffes and rhinos.

Linyanti, Selinda & Kwando

The vast open plains of northern Botswana teem with predators, elephants and buffalos and with very few lodges in the large private concessions of Linyanti, Selinda and Kwando – the result is an extremely private safari experience. The area is fed by the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers, which converge into the Selinda Spillway.

Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for 900,000 square kilometers (350,000 square miles), covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and regions of South Africa. Activities in the Kalahari Desert includes game drives, Kalahari Desert walking safaris, cultural tours and much more.

Tsodilo Hills

The Tsodilo Hills has a special significance to the Bushmen who have been living there for thousands of years. The Tsodilo Hills consist of four large pieces of rock, rising unexpectedly from the dry expanse of desert. The Bushmen referred to the bigger rock as the 'male', the smaller one was known as the 'female', and the smallest one was the 'child'. There is a small Bushmen habitat nearby as well as a village inhabited by the Hambukushu people. The thousands of rock paintings can be found by following different trails leading to over 350 sites.

Makgadikgadi Salt Pans

With an area of 3 900 sq. km, Makgadikgadi is situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana. It is one of the largest salt flats in the world. Among the many things to do in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park are safari rides, game drives, bird watching, a tour of the Gweta, and bush walks. Wildlife includes eland, lions, zebras, cheetah, gemsbok, springbok, red hartebeest, bushbuck, giraffe, steenbok, elephants and many more.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a vast wildlife preserve in the Kalahari Desert region of Botswana and South Africa, bordering Namibia to the west. It’s characterized by red dunes and dry rivers. Wildlife includes migrating herds of wildebeest and springbok, plus predators like raptors and black-maned Kalahari lions. Various lodges and wilderness camps offer game-viewing drives and guided walks with park rangers.

Known as “the land of the giants”, the 12 000 hectare Tuli Block is a narrow fringe of land at Botswana's eastern border. Tuli Block is set in a landscape of enormous trees on the banks of the Limpopo River, beautiful riverine forests of lime-green fever trees, and rocky landscapes carved from ancient granite and basalt rocks over millions of years. A variety of activities offer an all-rounded experience including fantastic game viewing opportunities, spectacular bird watching, and the famous leopards of Tuli.

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Apr 11, 2024

Shann is a great professional

Shann immediately demonstrated pleasant professionalism, competence, experience and patience. She advised and accompanied me in organizing the trip. She listened to all my needs and the suggestions were very fruitful for me. he was very kind and always available even during the holidays. thank you Shann

It was easy

It was easy, it all worked as planned, our expectations were exceeded. Anja was easy to communicate with through Whatsapp and always responded promptly to any questions.

Apr 10, 2024

She made it so easy to book

She made it so easy to book - Leigh-Ann was great to deal with . She made it so easy and worked with the dates I gave her . I appreciate it so much and when I book my next safari - I hope to have the same experience - which was awesome !!!!

Botswana Experience

Anja, our agent, was very kind and helpful all the time to organize the perfect trip. She did it quickly and efficiently. The amount of days we spent in every place was perfect to really enjoy the hotels and the different activities they proposed (in general the hotels are very nice but we don’t have the time to really experience the place but here we did). Also the selections of hotels was very very nice. Nice infrastructure, excellent service (very professional) and outstanding places to visit (all the parks were great). We had a wonderful experience with the company in Botswana.

Thank you Heleen for great service and…

Thank you Heleen for great service and always very helpful with all the changes we made. highly recommended

Keith was extremely helpful during the…

Keith was extremely helpful during the booking process. He is the only reason I continued the booking process with your firm. There were issues with your website among other things that had me feeling uncomfortable. Keith has great energy which eased my concerns. I feel the package Keith put together is great and I expect to have a wonderful trip.

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Botswana safari: an insider's guide to the adventure of a lifetime

By Jane Broughton

Not many places in Africa still feel completely wild, which accounts for Botswana ’s ongoing allure as an exceptional safari destination. Regarded as one of Africa’s most expensive game-viewing destinations, Botswana represents the sharp edge of adventurous, transformative travel to pristine, remote places with a timeless appeal. All the best safari operators have a solid presence here, from AndBeyond and Wilderness to Great Plains Conservation and Natural Selection. In their shared mission to fund the conservation of wild places through sustainable , positive-impact travel, old camps in prime locations have been rebuilt to more exacting earth-friendly standards, while expedition-style camps and authentic mobile operations in increasingly far-flung concessions are all the rage – privacy and access to space being the ultimate luxuries.

Botswana’s main attraction is the Okavango Delta, a lush wilderness of grassy floodplains, islands and a complex network of water channels shaped by hippo and elephant activity in one of the most nutrient-rich ecosystems in the world. The Okavango Delta is known for exceptional wildlife viewing, unparalleled predator populations, and excellent birding, particularly in the breeding season. Like walking, exploration by boat and mokoro (dug-out canoe) adds an exciting, more immersive dimension to game viewing. Further north, the private reserves of the Selinda, Kwando and Linyanti are vast wilderness areas with equally rich river systems. With only a handful of stylish bush camps, guests enjoy exclusive access to all this space and prime game viewing. Enormous elephant herds are synonymous with the ever-popular Chobe National Park, which stretches from the Chobe River to the fringes of the Okavango in the south. In particular, the Savute marsh area offers some of Botswana’s most dramatic predator-prey interactions. The semi-desert Kalahari dominates most of Botswana and offers surprisingly diverse game viewing, from black-maned lions, brown hyenas and wild dogs to typically elusive species, like aardwolf, pangolin, wild cat, and meerkat. And then there is the other-worldly Makgadikgadi salt pans where arid savannah grasslands provide lush grazing for thousands of plains zebra during the green season. Interpretative walks with the Kalahari’s San people offer a fascinating insight into their traditional hunter-gatherer culture.

Where to go on a Botswana safari

Much of the Okavango Delta, a  UNESCO World Heritage Site , is protected by the Moremi Game Reserve. Surrounding this are privately managed conservation concessions, many previously given to hunting. Granted by lease from local communities, expansion in these small concessions has been kept in check by strict environmental standards and visitor number restrictions. Many Insta-worthy, eco-luxe, sustainably run  safari camps  are located in this low-footprint, game-rich private concessions that benefit local communities.

A fine example is Natural Selection’s partnership with local, land-owning communities in the Khwai reserve, a 200,000-hectare privately protected area where proceeds from eco-friendly camps, like Sable Alley and Tuludi, are ploughed straight back into conservation and empowerment projects.

Unlike the national parks and reserves, private concessions offer the flexibility and freedom of guided walking safaris, night drives and off-roading for up-close animal sightings and photography. It is unusual to see vehicles on game drives other than those from the same camp. Many of the best camps are only accessible by air, a perfect opportunity to appreciate the delta’s patchwork of islands, floodplains, crystal-clear channels, and lagoons from above. Helicopter transfers between camps or into remote areas, like the Kweene Trails concession where Beagle Expeditions operates exclusive-use mobile camps, reveal the diversity and amount of wildlife from the air: pods of hippos, elephants feeding on the water’s edge, and fleet-footed red lechwe leaping through the shallows.

The Linyanti region, between the  Okavango Delta ,  Chobe National Park and Namibia’s  Caprivi Strip , has permanent rivers and sprawling floodplains supporting prolific wildlife, in particular hippos and crocodiles, big cats, large buffalo and elephant herds, and reliable wild dog sightings. Boat cruises and walks are also excellent for birding. During the dry winter season, the Linyanti, Selinda and Kwando reserves really come into their own as safari destinations when animals migrate to the Linyanti wetlands from the woodlands and high concentrations of game are seen along the waterways.

The wide, open spaces of the semi-arid Kalahari and lunar-like Makgadikgadi salt flats offer a completely different perspective of the country after the lushness of the wetlands. The Bousfield family’s Jack’s Camp put the Makgadikgadi salt pans on the safari circuit. Marooned on a grassy island on the edge of 10,000 kilometres of salt flats, it remains the only safari operation for 160 kilometres. (100 miles). From combing the pans for fossils and elusive brown hyenas to sleeping under the stars on nearby Kubu Island, this is a place to be humbled by the deafening silence of such extraordinary vastness, broken only by the rustle of mokolwane palm leaves on the islands.

Sophie Heawood

Sophie Prideaux

CNT Editors

Connor Sturges

When to go on a Botswana safari

Given the popularity of Botswana’s small camps, ‘whenever you can get a booking’ is the best time to go. It also depends on what interests you and where you are going. The best time to visit the Okavango Delta is during the dry winter season from June to September when the delta floods and rising water levels attract animals from the dry interior. This is also the best time for water activities, like mokoro trips, boating and fishing. The water levels are usually at their highest in August , promising excellent game viewing along the waterways. Nothing beats being in Botswana when the life-giving first rains arrive in November , triggering the calving season for impala and other antelope species. For birders, the summer months offer the dual attraction of resident and migratory birds. Elsewhere, to witness dramatic predator-prey encounters, the dry months are also considered prime as animals are concentrated at water sources. Wildlife disperses during the rainy summer months, from January to April, and can be trickier to find. The best time to visit Chobe National Park is between June and October, when enormous elephant herds congregate on the riverbanks. The Makgadikgadi experiences dramatic seasonal changes, which dictate activities. The dry winter season is for zooming across the salt pans on fat bikes or quads, hanging out with habituated meerkats and camping out under the stars; summer’s lush grasses are a magnet for thousands of migrating zebras and flamingoes.

Where to stay on a Botswana Safari

Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge, Chitabe Concession, Okavango Delta

This designer off-grid lodge is on the edge of game-rich Chief’s Island in the private Chitabe concession. Twelve guest suites, clad in timber to resemble weaver’s nests, hang like giant baskets in the tree canopy, creating a sense of being cocooned in nature. During the day, iridescent dragonflies and jewel-bright birds dart in and out of the reed-filled Sandibe River in front of the camp while grunting hippos and a chorus of painted reed frogs lull you to sleep at night. Twice-daily game drives are good for regular sightings of lion, cheetah, wild dog, red lechwe and elephant.

Best for: Giddily romantic getaways for two include taking a plunge in your private pool after dark while fireflies flash in and out of the reeds and a hyena yelps somewhere out there in the wilderness. Luxurious sheets feel much more decadent in pared-down interiors, not overwhelmed by gratuitous detail.  andbeyond.com

Xigera Safari Lodge

The most ambitious African art collection ever commissioned – during lockdown, no less – is the USP of this glamorous safari camp, accessed by boat when the delta floods. Red Carnation’s Tollman family collaborated with Southern Guild, a contemporary design gallery in Cape Town, to commission 80 artists, artisans, crafters and designers across Africa to produce a living gallery in the Moremi Game Reserve. It includes furniture sculpted on-site from fallen trees and bespoke crockery collections by some of the continent’s edgiest ceramicists. Design inspiration came from the natural surroundings, like the lily pad design of the bronze-cast shower floors. Menus tempt with lamb rogan josh, a nod to the Oyster Box in South Africa, but there is also plant-based wholesomeness. Despite its lavish footprint, the entire property is off-grid – the latest in Tesla solar-hybrid energy technology powers the staff village too.

Best for: Drift along in a glass-bottomed mokoro, then sleep in the triple-storey, an off-grid treehouse with an open-air rooftop bed. This star bed doubles as a monumental baobab sculpture. And don’t miss the shop for exquisite homeware and objects by Bronze Age, Chuma Maweni, Madoda Fani, and Stanislaw Trzebinksi, as well as African-made jewellery, clothing, bags, purses and linen. xigera.com

Jack’s Camp, Makgadikgadi

One of just three camps within a private 400,000-hectare wildlife reserve on the edge of the Makgadikgadi salt pans, the iconic Jack’s Camp has been reinvented for the next generation with the latest in Tesla-tech solar energy. While still paying homage to the much-loved 1940s campaign style embellished with rich fabrics worldwide, the nine dreamy 270-square-metre tents (two for families) now have private pools, wood-burning stoves, and indoor-outdoor showers. The beautiful pool pavilion is the spot for sinking into a stripy deck chair to admire the endless views.

Best for: Activities unique to the area. Head out after an English breakfast or decadent high tea to quad bike across the pans, walk with bushmen, track brown hyenas, or hang out with habituated meerkats. naturalselection.travel

Sable Alley

It’s all about location at this low-key camp. Twelve 55-square metre elevated tents overlook a tranquil lagoon filled with resident hippos in northern Botswana’s Khwai Private Reserve. Referred to in safari circles as a wildlife’ hot spot’, the reserve is located where the dry Chobe game reserve to the east meets the lush wetlands of the Moremi game reserve and the Okavango Delta in the south. Eco-chic in design and ambience, two of the 12 tents are double tents for families , and a honeymoon suite has a private outdoor tub and shower. While herds of elephants and buffalo are easy to spot from the pool deck, access to over 200,000 hectares of floodplains, rivers and lagoons typical, and open savannah and woodland thickets is a reason to get up and get out early. Game viewing is as diverse as the landscapes, which means that sightings of leopard, lion, cheetah, the resident wild dog pack and sable antelope (after which the camp is named) are common. Birding is also excellent, especially on walks, mokoro rides or a sunset boat cruise. Book a night in one of three open-air ‘sky beds’ perched high above a waterhole where elephants, buffalo and big cats come to drink.

Best for: Travel to make a difference, as Natural Selection are experts in sustainable, nature-based tourism, partnering with local, land-owning communities in the Khwai private wildlife concession and channelling funds back into conservation. naturalselection.com

Safari Eden from Kalahari Desert to Okavango Delta

Botswana Sample Safaris

Bushman’s Botswana

Return to the origins of humanity as you head deep into the heart of Botswana and the world-famous Okavango Delta and Kalahari Desert. Experience the Old Way of the Bushmen - the indigenous people of southern Africa.

Into the Botswana Wild with Victoria Falls

Experience the best of Northern Botswana in the Okavango Delta, Kwando Concession and Chobe River, plus the majestic "smoke that thunders" in Victoria Falls.

Big Five of Southern Africa

Southern Africa is an incredibly diverse region with varying weather, landscapes, cultures, and wildlife. This itinerary covers three major highlights of Southern Africa: The Greater Kruger National Park, Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta.

Botswana Elephant Safari

This elephant-focused safari takes you to some of the best locations in all of Africa for seeing and interacting with elephants.

Botswana Desert and Delta Safari: Outstanding Value, Top Wildlife and Diverse Landscapes

This safari is customized to take advantage of the best opportunities for the green season in Botswana to observe diverse wildlife.

Ultimate Predators of Botswana

This safari includes our favorite private concession areas which have proven to provide exceptional opportunities to view Botswana's iconic predator species including lion, leopard, cheetah, and wild dog.

Botswana Exquisite Expedition: Luxury for Less

Explore the great variety of habitats and species Botswana offers. You will likely see between 30 and 35 different mammal species along with a spectacular array of birds and other wildlife.

Top Botswana Safari Locations

• Central Kalahari Game Reserve Diverse habitat, desert-adapted species and home of the Kalahari Bushmen
• Chobe National Park Famous river and boat-based safaris with dense populations of elephants
• Linyanti / Selinda / Kwando Private concessions known for high-quality, exclusive wildlife viewing
• Makgadikgadi Pans One of the largest salt flats in the world, with desert species and adventure activities
• Moremi Game Reserve The major public land area within the Okavango Delta, known for predator viewing
• Nxai Pan National Park Ancient lakebed in the Kalahari Desert that welcomes large herds of migratory zebra
• Okavango Delta The world's largest inland delta and a one-of-a-kind wilderness of wetland channels
• Savute A remote and wild corner of Chobe National Park

Botswana Safari Regions

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Best times to go, chobe national park, linyanti / selinda, makgadikgadi pans, moremi game reserve, okavango delta, savuti / chobe.

Botswana is the richest, best governed, fairest and least corrupt country in Africa and one of the sunniest and most crime-free places in the world.

The country has a very strong conservation ethos, with over 30% of the total land area under full protection.

The landscapes are dominated by the vast and arid Kalahari Desert ...

... with wildlife tending to congregate around the few precious pans, rivers and floodplains.

The highest quality safari in Africa

Botswana is home to some of the finest wilderness areas, containing some of the greatest wildlife viewing and some of the finest safari camps on the continent, of that there is little doubt.

The luxury lodges of the Kruger Private Reserves in South Africa may be more convenient to access, offer greater levels of conventional comforts and be able to deliver up the big five before breakfast, but their landscapes are not so beautiful or anywhere near as vast and truly wild as those of northern Botswana.

Similarly an overland safari through Northern Tanzania may offer a much greater breadth of experience in terms of landscape, culture and wildlife viewing, but the core wilderness experience is nowhere near as pure as it is here.

Quite apart from the beauty of the landscape and the richness and diversity of the wildlife, the one thing that makes safari in northern Botswana so wonderful is the way the land has been divided up into private concessions. 

In a nutshell, the government grants safari operators exclusive use of vast private concession areas and strictly limits the number of guests that they are able to entertain there. This has leads to a pioneering type of high-value, low-volume low-impact tourism which is able to deliver amazing wilderness experiences to those lucky few who are able to afford it.

There are very few parts of Africa where such prime safari areas remain so pristine and untrodden.

Water-based safari in the Okavango Delta

The best known Botswana safari area is the Okavango Delta, arguably Africa's greatest wetland area.

Okavango is naturally famous for its water-based safari.

Drifting by mokoro canoe through the reed beds, taking in the bird, reptile and amphibian fauna is remarkably tranquil and hypnotic. The quintessential Botswana safari experience.

Travelling by motorboat through the papyrus swamps and open waters is naturally a faster, louder and less subtle, but offers greater chances of interaction with larger animals such as hippos, elephants and buffaloes in particular.

Hardcore wildlife viewing in Linyanti

Lying to the north of the Okavango Delta is the smaller Linyanti Waterfront. Here the ratio of wet to dry safari leans much more towards the latter end of the scale and the area has a reputation for some of the most hard-hitting and intense wildlife viewing in Africa.

The main highlights are elephants, which are here in prodigious numbers during the May-Nov dry season, as well as predators including lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs and wild-dogs, with an unusual amount of predator on predator action.

The Linyanti area perfectly compliments Okavango and most high quality safaris include camps in both areas.

The remarkable emptiness of Magkadikgadi

In the heart of Botswana lie the vast salt pans of Makgadikgadi, the remnants of a vast prehistoric lake. This is an other-worldly flatness, often quoted as being the closest most of us will ever get to visiting another planet.

A quad-bike trip out onto the Makgadikgadi pans is one of several amazing experiences offered out here by a small number of camps which specialise in making a great deal out of this apparently empty landscape.

Green season wildlife viewing in the Kalahari

The peak season for visiting the prime areas of Okavango and Linyanti are the dry summer months of May/Nov. 

During the converse Dec/Apr summer season, the light rains that fall across the Kalahari turn the usually parched landscapes into verdant pastures, which tempts enormous quantities of animals to migrate out from the permanent sources of water and gather together in secret locations amongst the fossilized dunes.

As well as the Makgadikgadi area mentioned above, the Nxai Pan and Central Kalahari reserves also benefit from this green season effect and most quality safaris look to include at least one of these areas in combination with Okavango during this period.

Flying around in light aircraft

Almost all of the quality camps in Botswana are accessed by light aircraft, which means that hopping around the country has become an integral part of the safari experience, which is extremely convenient and can provide some fabulous low altitude wildlife viewing.

Breadth of safari activities

Private concession holders in Botswana are permitted an unusual degree of freedom when it comes to safari activities.

All but the very wettest areas operate the usual vehicle safaris, on which the vast majority of serious wildlife viewing encounters are experienced.

All wet areas are permitted to operate safari by mokoro canoe and most also by motorboat, with some properties really specialising into this type of activity.

Almost all areas outside the national parks are permitted to also operate walking safaris, although not generally to the levels seen in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Several camps have built and maintain excellent wildlife viewing hides, some of which are amongst the best in Africa, most notably in the East Linyanti concession.

Night vehicle safaris are also offered in most areas, with the camps in Okavango Kwara and Linyanti Kwando having a particularly good reputation for taking it seriously. A good night drive can deliver a far higher level of predator action than the equivalent daytime activity.

There are also a few camps which offer top quality horse-back safari.

There are very few parts of Africa which are able to offer such a broad range of activities, which is the main reason that good safaris into the area can easily run to nine or more days. Although you do need deep pockets for a safari that long.

High quality of safari guiding

The lodges in Botswana deliver and exceptional range and quality of safari guiding. 

If you are looking for a really hard-hitting, intense, predator-focused, then the camps in the Okavango Kwara and Linyanti Kwando areas are truly outstanding.

If you are looking for a more gentle safari experience, then the camps in Linyanti Selinda and Okavango Duba Plains are exceptional, whilst those in Okavango Jao Flats, Okavango Vumbura Plains, Okavango Chitabe and Linyanti East can be extremely good.

Quality control

Because the whole of your safari is provided by the camp in which you are staying and because Northern Botswana is a relatively easy environment in which to operate, particularly politically, most safari companies are able to deliver exceptional levels of reliability, the likes of which are simply not possible in other environments.

Broken down vehicles are not a catastrophic problem, since another can be called out from camp. Food and beverage service can be carefully monitored and quality maintained from well equipped and well staffed kitchens. The whole experience from airstrip to airstrip can be delivered with an incredible level of organisation and, in a good proportion of cases, a great deal elegance.

If anything your safari is at risk of being too comfortable and too well organised to feel sufficiently adventurous, so it is worth pushing the envelope a little when choosing your lodges.

Botswana contains several key safari areas ...

The best known location is the fabulous Okavango Delta which, remarkably, floods in the middle of the dry season.

The Linyanti Waterfront is a lesser known safari area, but right up there with the very best.

Makgadikgadi is a dry desert area which offers a remarkable range of unusual and complementary safari experiences.

The absolutely vast Central Kalahari is another dry safari area and a great contrast to the wetlands.

Chobe is a very important reserve for conservation, but safari here is rather busy and lower quality these days.

Most visitors combine two, three or four camps in these key areas over a total of 6 to 14 nights in country.

Safari accommodation in Botswana varies from relatively simple and earthy bush camps ...

... to some of the most lavish, elegant and highly priced super-luxury lodges in Africa.

Access is primarily by air from Johannesburg, with easy connections to Victoria Falls and Cape Town.

The experience within Botswana is usually very clean and easy, simply hopping between remote camp locations by light aircraft.

The best time for safari is generally the May-Nov dry season, but there are very good reasons to visit year round.

The main potential downsides are very high prices, very high traffic in the public access areas and weaker wildlife in some areas Dec-Apr.

Botswana, like all locations, has a long list of potential downsides. Please do not be unnecessarily put off by this section. Our only intention in raising these issues is to ensure that you get to the best and most appropriate places and that your expectations are met and hopefully exceeded ...

Very high prices

The number one reason not to go on safari in Botswana has to be price. 

The vast majority of the best wildlife areas and the best lodges are contained within the fabulous private concession areas of Okavango and Linyanti, which are inherently expensive to visit. In fact the average price of camps in these areas is the highest in Africa. 

The fact that these lodges are simply out of range for the vast majority of people is an inevitable (and in fact deliberate) consequence of the low-volume, high-value tourism model being deployed by the government.

If you are amongst the many who are not prepared to pay the premium high season prices, then we recomment that you investigate the spectacular shoulder and low season savings or turn your attentions to other countries where safari is fundamentally lower cost.

Shortage of availability

The other negative consequence of low-volume, high-value tourism is that there simply are not enough beds to go around, even at these elevated prices.

The best Okavango and Linyanti lodges tend to sell out way in advance of virtually all other properties in Africa. In a good year they could probably sell their high season beds five or ten times over.

For the main Jun/Oct safari season we recommend booking a year in advance, especially if your dates are fixed and you have specific lodges in mind. If you have more than two people in your group than you could even think about booking even further ahead.

If you cannot book that far in advance then we recommend keeping your dates and itinerary ideas as flexible as possible, in order that we can work around the remaining availability. It can be possible to put great trips together right up until the last minute, we do have a few tricks up our sleeves to help us 'find' space!

Overcrowding in the public access areas

Those safari visitors to Botswana who are not able to afford the camps in the private concessions are obliged to stick to the national parks and other open access areas. This forces very high numbers of people into relatively small areas, causing major traffic and tonality issues. 

Whilst locations such as the Mopane Tongue sector of Moremi National Park may remain targets for South African self-drivers and budget overlanders, for the majority of international visitors they have become rather peripheral and unappealing.

Here at ATR we have always prided ourselves in being able to seek out decent lower cost alternatives, to work around the fringes to find ways of creating cool wilderness safaris that don't cost the earth. But Botswana is a stitch up, a very bold line has been drawn in the sand, separating quality high priced safari on the one side and still-quite-pricey but rather second rate safari on the other.

Narrow focus of Botswana flying safaris

Most people who contact us to arrange their first safari naturally think that their experience will focus mainly, if not exclusively, on watching animals. In fact many people are worried that after a couple or three days it might get a bit boring.

In reality a good safari is a much broader experience, made up of four roughly equal elements ... 

... spending quality time with wildlife ... journeying through amazing landscapes ... meeting local people and experiencing local cultures ... enjoying the lodges themselves

Safaris in Botswana tend to excel in the first of these four elements, offering probably the highest quality wildlife viewing in Africa.

But, as we will describe in the next few sections, Botswana safaris are usually deficit in the other three areas, meaning that experience here could be viewed as being rather narrow-focussed.

We often think of Botswana as somewhere that causes people to fall in love with the continent's wildlife. But a wider range of experience may be needed if you are to fall in love with Africa itself.

Lack of landscape

Northern Botswana is absolutely flat as a pancake. Although large parts of the country are extremely pretty, this is not the place to come for dramatic vistas, sweeping panoramas and distant mountain ranges.

The vast expanse of flatness can, in itself, be rather impressive, especially in areas such as Makgadikgadi where the vast nothingness causes the sky itself to expand into something much more dominant and impressive. Or in the Central Kalahari where the landscape undulates over ancient fossilised dunes under the same enormous skies.

The better watered areas such as Okavango and Linyanti are very scenic, with stunning waterfront and lagoon areas, dotted with stands of mature riparian woodland and scenic palm-covered islands.

But there may be times when you find yourself wishing for a little more scenic variety, especially amongst the vast areas of low mopane woodland, which seems to stretch on forever with few discernible landmarks to differentiate one place from the next.

Lack of cultural interaction

These days in Northern Botswana the vast majority of visitors experience virtually no significant interaction local people.

This is partially because the region has a relatively low population density. The sandvelt does not lend itself to agriculture and vast areas are needed to sustain livestock. So even when overlanding through the region there is relatively little opportunity to encounter and interact with local people in the same way that one might in other more naturally fertile parts of Africa.

However a much more significant factor is that the vast majority of visitors these days safari through the region by light aircraft. Apart from passing aerial views of Maun and Kasane when connecting in and out, chances are you will not see much in the way of local habitations. The experience is all about hopping between beautiful isolated lodges in the wilderness. So the only local people you will meet are likely to be those working at the camps themselves.

Most camps try to make up this deficit by getting the staff to convey something of their culture, which is generally a good thing, but it is not the same as meeting real people on roadsides, at markets and in villages.

Lack of overland options

We love overland safaris and sometimes feel quite sad that so much of modern day safari is carried out by air. A flying safari naturally does not have the same sense of journey that an overland safari can deliver, especially one through a more diverse set of landscapes.

But in this part of the world we agree that flying safari is the best way to go because ...

... the landscapes do not lend themselves to interesting driving routes ... the areas open to overland safaris suffer from serious traffic problems ... most of the best private concession areas cannot be accessed by road ... distances are large and road conditions challenging

If you are more interested in an overland safari then you are probably best advised to look at Northern Tanzania for a proper guided safari or Namibia for a self-drive and guided combination.

Flaccid lodges

When out on safari in Botswana the greatest risk is not that the lodges are too rough, but that they are too polished.

The private concession lodges of Okavango and Linyanti all have the potential to deliver absolutely mind-blowing experiences to their guests. They are in such amazingly wild, beautiful and abundant locations, they are often so beautifully constructed and the safari that they offer has so much potential to thrill and enchant.

Yet so many fall short.

Usually a lodge rated 8 or higher on our website would be indicative of a pretty decent offering. But in Okavango and Linyanti, where the natural environment gives a lodge such a great head start, a peak season score of anything lower than 9.5 is an indication of some degree of failure.

By far the biggest problem stems from the fact that the lodges in Botswana, although small in size, are actually owned or managed by larger companies which can bring with them an uncomfortably corporate and formulaic approach. Lodges with genuine individuality and personality are exceptions. Most lodges deliver a more mechanical type of service which, for those guests who have had the luxury of previously staying in more characterful properties in other countries, can feel rather shallow.

In these flaccid lodges guests tend to be treated to a rehearsed sing-a-long by staff on arrival, a whole barrage of stale banter during an over-long arrival briefing and a tirade of tired jokes over dinner. Safari activities in these lodges tends to be shorter and less involving, with guides not really engaging with their environment, simply taking guests on a tootle around whatever wildlife happens to be standing around rather than going out on a mission to track and find stuff.

We despair of these camps and have made repeated attempts to improve the situation. We are a large and significant customer for most of the offending safari operators and yet we find it very difficult to make substantive progress in this area.

The biggest problem is that most of the guests don't seem to notice that they are being short-changed by the tepid experience that they are being offered. By worldwide standards even the poor performing lodges here are very good hospitality facilties, so guests are happy. But these lodges should be delivering extraordinary and life-changing experiences.

We ask you to please try to read between the lines when we recommend one lodge over another, it can be politically difficult for us to openly criticise specific locations or operators.

Age and nationality profile of visitors

The dynamic of a lodge can be severely impaired when its guest profile becomes dominated by a single nationality or age group.

More than any other safari area, the Okavango Delta is favoured by an aged American customer base, the 'grey dollar' as it is affectionately known!

We estimate that of all visitors to the private concession lodge of the delta, over 75% are from the USA and Canada, with an average age around 60 years.

In most lodges this is a very uplifting customer profile, the guests tend to be extremely knowledgeable, engaged, kind, considerate, sociable and generally a real delight to spend time with.

In fact all of us here at ATR who have had significant exposure to guests of this profile over the years, whether in our sales office or in the camps, consider it to have been an absolute privilege and a pleasure. The cartoon caricature of the American abroad as a loud-mouth in plaid pants could not be further from the truth.

But in some lodges this profile is even more extreme, increasing to more like 95% American, with an average age of around 70 years. That means for every young honeymoon couple you need 10 octogenarians to maintain the average!

We have to be careful and aware of this issue when planning trips for honeymooners and families with young children.

Cattle fences and cheap beef

The issue of cattle fences is a major environmental subject which should concern all who are interested in wildlife conservation in Botswana.

Since around 1965 the government of Botswana has been erecting vast fences across the country in an attempt to prevent the spread of diseases between wildlife and domestic livestock.

These fences have caused a massive loss of wildlife, primary because they sever many of the key wildlife migration routes.

The fences are made necessary in order to comply with with beef importation rules from overseas food standards agencies, notably in the European Union. Beef production in Botswana is unnaturally promoted by the EU and others in the form of import subsidies and duty waivers. Yet beef production only represents 4% of GDP, benefits only a minority of wealthy Botswanans, has led to chronic overgrazing in delicate semi-desert ecosystems and a massive depletion of wildlife.

Wildlife tourism is worth a great deal more to Botswana than cattle production, so conservation bodies are trying to exert pressure on the government to start dismantling fences and increase the land areas under full conservation.

At the moment we are recommending that the best way that you can exert pressure on the Botswana government is to continue travelling to the country, since the stronger the demand for photographic tourism, the more conservation issues can take precedence over agriculture.

Does not combine easily with tropical beaches

In common with all safari areas in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, Botswana does not combine easily with any tropical beach locations.

Unlike the safari areas of Kenya and Tanzania, which are just a short hop by light aircraft away from the fabulous tropical coast, from here it is usually necessary to fly down to Johannesburg and overnight before continuing on to Mozambique, Zanzibar, Mauritius or the Seychelles.

It's not a disaster, but it certainly breaks the trip in two.

In common with virtually all decent safari areas, this part of the world is malarial, so your doctor will probably wish to prescribe prophylaxis drugs.

If you are pregnant, have young children or are in any other way concerned about taking such drugs, then you may prefer to safari in non-malarial areas such as Tswalu, Madikwe, Waterberg Mountains or Eastern Cape, all in South Africa.

Although you do need to appreciate that none of these areas are anywhere near as wild and wonderful.

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• Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park is an unspoilt safari playground.

A little bit about Chobe National Park

Stumble upon wildlife wherever you go in beautiful Botswana.

After driving a few metres along the impressive Chobe Riverfront, your guide suddenly stops. An elephant family slowly wanders across the road, planning to take a bath. As you gaze at this amazing scene, you can hear the dull sound of heavy feet in the sand, the breathing and whiffing, and occasional trumpeting from these beautiful, mighty creatures.

One of the most awe-inspiring safari experiences is the up-close and personal meetings with wildlife at Chobe National Park, and we can assure you will have them frequently during your visit. Welcome to the park with some of the highest game density in all of Africa.

Going on a Chobe Safari

You are considering, or maybe even planning, a trip to the Chobe National Park. Naturally, you want it to be the journey of a lifetime and it will be. Why? There are not not many places left in the world with such unspoilt nature splendor, wildlife and truly pampering lodges.

Before you are ready to grab your suitcases from the attic, we would like to provide a bit more background information - if only to stir the anticipation of going – and answer the questions you might have in the sections below. Please use our contact form below for more questions you might have.

About Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park with its dazzling, deep blue Chobe River, consists of four areas: Ngwenzumba Pans, Linyanti, Savute and the Chobe Riverfront - and you can read all about them here.

Chobe special offers

Waiting for that special offer, one that seems tailor-made for you? Our special deals offer outstanding value for money, so we hope to see you soon in Botswana's Chobe National Park!

Getting to Chobe NP

Airlink operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Kasane, the bustling capital just north of Chobe National Park. Also Livingstone and Victoria Falls are just a stone's throw away.

The accommodations were lovely, the food excellent, and the hospitality was second to none.

Can never tire of watching from our deck the constant procession of elephants that trek to drink each afternoon.

Although not cheap it is worth every penny... You better plan a stay for two or three days since a stopover only would definitely be too short to enjoy this place.

Chobe National Park lodges

Whereas Chobe National Park feels like true wilderness, once you set foot in one of the lodges you will be embraced with true pampering and homelike vibes.

All lodges come with beautiful private suites: the perfect place to start and end an exhilarating day. You only have to pick one of them, or, if you can’t make up your mind, pick several and go lodgehopping. With each and every stay, it will add up to an extraordinary experience.

• Price $$$$$

Chobe Game Lodge

lodge style Midst of the action

The ‘one and only’ game lodge located right in the Chobe National Park, and what a lodge this is: five star luxury, three safari activities included each day, plus, you will venture out an hour before anybody else arrives in the park. Get ready for fresh game tracks!

from US$ 629 per person per night

Savute Safari Lodge

lodge style African escape

Discover this authentic lodge located on the banks of the Savute channel, where elephants come to guzzle water and play. Fly in with a small aircraft, be welcomed by staff who already know your name and immerse yourself in an African ambiance.

Ngoma Safari Lodge

lodge style Valley romance

Perched high up on the valley’s edge, the views of the river and floodplains are unrivalled in the area. Wherever you are in the lodge, you can watch wildlife gathering by the waterhole. Not to mention all the safari activities Ngoma Safari Lodge has to offer.

from US$ 640 per person per night

Chobe Elephant Camp

lodge style 360° Botswana experience

Always wanted to be eye-to-eye with the magnificent grey giants, that have been roaming this land for ages? At Chobe Elephant Camp, you can get up close and personal with large herds of elephants, among many other predators and wildlife.

from US$ 394 per person per night

Zambezi Queen Cruise

lodge style Happy Chobe River coasting

It’s not a lodge, it’s not a hotel. No, the Zambezi Queen is a floating safari boutique hotel, bringing you closer to the Chobe River than ever. Enjoy the best of an adventurous (yet dust-free) safari, while still surrounded by luxury and comfort.

from ZAR 22,289 per person (2 nights)

Chobe Under Canvas

lodge style Right in the heart of nature

Forget what you know about camping: sleeping under canvas in Chobe will be a completely new experience. Meals cooked over open fire, opening your tent in the morning to an awakening bush – together with the comfort of warm showers and soft beds.

from US$ 650 per person per night

Chobe Marina Lodge

lodge style A warm welcome

Whether you are an angler, golfer, wine afficionado, foodie or simply mad about Africa: this lodge accommodates all safari guests. Its mission statement? To let everybody experience the natural splendour of Chobe, in the most comfortable and luxurious setting.

from US$ 465 per person per night

Chobe Bakwena Lodge

lodge style Lush eco-luxury

With two owners who both belong to the Bakwena tribe and have a mission to offer guests a luxurious but also environmentally responsible stay, you know this is the right place to experience the pure silence of Chobe National Park in Botswana.

from US$ 529 per person per night

Chobe  Safari  Lodge

lodge style Safari getaway

Indulge yourself with great game drives, spa treatments, a cocktail bar with the best possible views, river cruise dinners and excursions to Victoria Falls and more. Get ready for an immersive safari experience at Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane.

from US$ 325 per person per night

Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero

lodge style Tranquility on a hillside

Looking for a family safari? Or a romantic couple’s getaway? Chobe Chilwero has it all: luxurious private cottages, great children’s programs, spa, romantic hideaways for two – located on the borders of the amazing Chobe National Park, this is where you go for a complete safari experience.

from US$ 754 per person per night

&Beyond  Savute Under Canvas

lodge style Wildly beautiful tented camp

Sleeping under canvas can be deeply calming: the sounds of nature trickle right into your ear. And upon opening your canvas to stunning views, you will immediately slip into a relaxed pace of life at &Beyond Savute Under Canvas in this remote corner of Botswana's Chobe National Park.

from US$ 580 per person per night

Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge

lodge style Elephants at your doorstep

Luxurious glamping with incredible wildlife sightings: feel the pulse of the mystic Savute area at this Chobe authentic camp. Enjoy dinners around the open-air boma while elephants water in front of you – there are oh-so- many reasons to stay at Belmond Savute Elpehant Camp.

from US$ 834 per person per night

Ghoha   Hills   Lodge

lodge style luxury hilltop

An eco-friendly hilltop retreat boasting 180-degree views at the savannah and a bustling waterhole, located in the game rich grasslands of the Savuti area. Get ready to take everything to a higher level: wildlife encounters, service, dinners, siestas and your overall safari experience.

from US$ 589 per person per night

Elephant Valley Lodge

lodge style Relax in style

When you kick back in the evening and replenish your wineglass, you peek at the waterhole. Elephants splash about and interact; some are obviously good friends, others, well, not so much. Welcome to the only lodge in the Kasane Forest Reserve with a watering hole near at hand.

from US$ 404 per person per night

Muchenje Safari Lodge

lodge style A local pearl

A privately owned safari lodge, committed to the local community and in the middle of the beautiful Chobe National Park. Encounters with the mythic elephant herds of Chobe, four out of the Big Five and personal hospitality: this is what brings you to the Muchenje Safari Lodge.

from US$ 495 per person per night

lodge style Make memories

This new hotel, a sister hotel of the Chobe Safari Lodge, is the excellent gateway for Chobe National Park, Victoria Falls and Caprivi. If you are looking for a contemporary safari accommodation with all the luxury frills on hand, don’t look any further.

from US$ 350 per person per night

Mowana Lodge

lodge style Mystic safari nights

If you want to experience the magic of a Chobe National Park safari, this is the place. Built around a majestic 800-year- old baobab tree and boasting great river views, this is where modern hospitality and century-old landscapes blend seamlessly.

from US$ 375 per person per night

Ichingo Lodge

lodge style Namibian splendour

A not-to- beat location, child friendly policy, a wide range of activities (including fishing for the famous Tiger Fish or a boat safari) and sleeping under traditional canvas make this lodge a perfect, family safari location. And it is located on a Namibian island!

from ZAR 6,954 per person per night

Chobe River Lodge

lodge style Personal paradise

In the small town of Kasane you will find a beautiful Botswana hideout. Secluded by lush green trees lies this intimate guesthouse, where you are up for a personal treat. Whether you feel like relaxing at the pool or seeking an adventurous safari: this is just the place.

from US$ 454 per person per night

Camp Kuzuma

lodge style Bush pampering

Are you ready to tune in to wildlife TV? The small, luxurious and intimate Camp Kuzuma is situated by a watering hole, where an amazing variety of wildlife – big and small – passes by every day. Kick back after an exhilarating day to watch yet another wildlife parade.

from US$ 434 per person per night

Chobe Princess

lodge style Intimate cruise

Meet the sisters of the Zambezi Queen : the Pride of Zambezi. Three smaller, more intimate houseboats known as the Chobe Princesses. With just four or five cabins, these boutique hotels are the perfect way to find that Botswana flow and cruise the Chobe River in style.

from ZAR 16,125 per person (2 nights)

Nogatsaa Pans Lodge

lodge style In the heart of Chobe

A contemporary and open lodge with a real wow-factor: welcome to the brand new Nogatsaa Pans Lodge. This is the only lodge in the Nogatsaa region, so book your stay and don’t miss out on the sweeping views over the Kwikamba Pan. Its remote location will make you feel one with nature.

from US$ 542 per person per night

River View Lodge

lodge style Affordable lodge

If you are seeking a comfortable, intimate stay in an affordable lodge, River View Lodge is your ideal destination. Nestled on the banks of the Chobe River, this lodge is at a perfect, central location to explore the Chobe National Park, Victoria Falls, or to just relax at the poolside.

from US$ 282 per person per night

Chobe Savanna Lodge

lodge style Family time

As the staff gather their voices for a local song, you find a cold drink in your hand and a warm welcome to this comfortable safari lodge on the Namibian side of the Chobe River. Water-based, intimate, family friendly and relaxing are just a few ways to characterize this remote lodge.

from US$ 449 per person per night

The sunset is an amazing experience as the sun sinks in an array of reds, oranges, pinks and yellows. a sight to behold and one never forgotten.

At nights we could hear all sorts of animals and awoke both mornings to find that the noises we were hearing were wondering next to our tents throughout the night.

The camp and rooms are beautifully done, and the game drive vehicles are in very good condition and comfortable for long drives.

Chobe Video

The best way of getting an idea what the Chobe National Park is about is by seeing some incredible footage from the area. View this video of Sanctuary Chobe Chilwero to experience one of the lodges and wildlfe in the game reserve.

Be careful, after watching this video you can be sure that you want to travel to Botswana. Today.

The small size means you get to eat family style with the other guests, thereby meeting some new people and comparing notes on the day's activities.

The lodge is set on a hill with a spectacular view over the plains with a waterhole which has a constant stream of wildlife coming for a drink.

We saw thousands of elephant, giraffes, lions, kudu,alligrator, water buffalo, springbok, mongoose, and countless other animals, including the fascinating dung beetle.

Send your enquiry

We hope you have found all information needed to decide that the Chobe National Park is the perfect place for your next travel adventure. Still have questions? Or maybe you would like some more specific information about one of the topics on this page? Please fill in the contact form and we will get back to you soon!

• Kasane, Botswana
• [email protected]

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• Botswana Tours

Explore & Travel Africa

7-Day Luxury Okavango Delta Safari

5.0 /5 – 31 Reviews

This fantastic safari takes you into the heart of Botswana's Okavango Delta. Visit the Khwai wildlife area, situated along the beautiful Khwai River & the southern Okavango Delta, offering a unique blend of diverse ecosystems. Glide through the waterways on Mokoros, enjoy thrilling game drives & bush walks, taking in the vibrant scenery and wildlife that thrive in this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The camps are new and modern havens in the wilds, both with gorgeous views.

Tour Features

Luxury tour.

This luxury tour uses tented camps.

Private tour

This tour will be organized exclusively for you. However, wildlife viewing activities are run by the lodges/camps and will be shared with others.

Can start any day

If availability permits, this tour can start on any day.

Can be customized

You can request changes to this tour.

Not for solo travelers

Solo travelers cannot book this private tour.

Minimum age of 12 years

The minimum age for this tour is 12 years.

Activities & Transportation

Accommodation & meals.

• Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour can be arranged for an extra cost
• Day Accommodation Meals

• 7 End of tour (No accommodation) – Breakfast Included Breakfast Included

Best price guarantee

Your request will be sent directly to the operator

If preferred, you can contact the operator directly

• This tour is offered by Explore & Travel Africa , not SafariBookings.
• This operator reserves the right to change rates advertised on SafariBookings.
• If you request changes to this tour, the advertised rates will likely change.
• Rates include a fixed budget for flights during this tour. If flights cost more, your quote will reflect this.
• The exact order, contents and rates of this tour are subject to availability.
• If an accommodation is fully booked, the operator will suggest a comparable alternative.
• This tour is subject to the terms & conditions of Explore & Travel Africa.

Get a Free Quote

Comparable tours.

4-Day Chobe Safari at Chobe Safari Lodge

$1,280 pp (USD)

9-Day Okavango to Chobe Private Guided Camping Safari

$3,295 pp (USD)

7-Day Botswana Low-Key Fly-in Safari

$3,550 to $3,820 pp (USD)

The Best Safari Destinations in Botswana

Central kalahari game reserve.

Great For : Escaping the rest of the world and self drive safari.

Highlights : The great zebra migration, tracking animals around shrivelling waterholes.

An evocative desert that covers most of Botswana, the Central Kalahari is where you’ll find thrilling safari drama . There isn’t much to eat nor much water, so the animals are widely spread.

But if you seek adventure and have a little patience you’ll be bumping between waterholes, coming across all kinds of desert magic.

Check out the national park campsites as this is one of the best places in Africa for a self drive safari .

Best Time to Visit the Central Kalahari : January to April, during and after the rains will show the most wildlife although it’s hard to get around. May to August is also wonderful.

Also Consider : Etosha National Park in Namibia has a similar, wild desert feel.

Combine With : Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Caprivi, or destinations in Namibia.

Chobe National Park

Great For : Elephants, elephants, elephants. And lots of hippos.

Highlights : The world’s largest elephant population; river safari and budget mobile camps.

It’s possible to picture a herd of 15 elephants. Maybe you can imagine what 100 elephants look like. But 100,000? That’s how many reside in and around the Chobe forests and the experience is unfathomable.

Giraffe and hippos are also incredibly numerous, although the thick greenery makes it pretty hard to see the big cats.

River safaris provide a great introduction and you only need two days to really get a sense of what Chobe is about. Best of all, Chobe is really good value for such a unique safari, especially wild mobile camps in the forest.

Best Time to Visit Chobe : The dry season of May to November has the highest concentration of animals and it’s easy to get around; many of the herds disperse during the rains.

Also Consider : Nearby Linyanti and Selinda for a more exclusive safari in this region.

Combine With : Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta for a brilliant holiday week.

Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve

Great For : Celebrating the wonder of nature and being surrounded by wildlife.

Highlights : The landscape itself; water and walking safaris; getting lost.

Every year the Kalahari Desert floods , thanks to water that has spent three months snaking down from the Angolan Highlands. It creates one of nature’s great events , an oasis that attracts animals from hundreds of miles around.

Moremi Game Reserve is the game-rich heart of the Delta. More than a dozen concessions surround Moremi, each offering a fairly exclusive safari experience.

Just note that a Delta is difficult to get around so it can get expensive to safari here. In general, the further you go towards Moremi the more animals and the higher cost.

A mixed safari program is recommended as the Okavango is probably the best in Africa for a water-based safari and there are great walking and riding options.

Best Time to Visit the Okavango Delta : June to August is when the water is highest and is when the animals migrate here, but the Okavango remains a great destination throughout the rest of the year.

Also Consider : There’s nowhere else in the world like the Okavango.

Combine With : Chobe for a varied safari.

Selinda, Kwando and Linyanti Concessions

Great For :  Highly exclusive and intimate safari experiences.

Highlights : Everything; the landscapes, the guides, the activities and the chance to be alone with nature.

These private concessions showcase a mix of habitats, mingling Chobe-style forests with swamplands, grasslands, and floodplains. The safari experience is unparalleled but it’s also expensive and highly exclusive.

You’ll be paying upwards of USD 1000 per night and access to these concessions is restricted to just a handful of guests.

If you can afford such a premium it’s hard to find a better safari in the whole of Africa , given the abundance and variety of wildlife, plus the intimacy and diversity of experiences.

Best Time to Visit Selinda, Kwando and Linyanti : These destinations are superb all year around. July to October are considered the best months but the other months mean low-season price discounts.

Also Consider : Private concessions in the Greater Kruger .

Combine With : Victoria Falls and the Okavango Delta.

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Botswana wildlife safaris

Best wildlife safaris in botswana.

• Lions : top of many lists, and seen frequently from almost all the camps. Huge black-maned lions are a real attraction in the Kalahari.
• Leopards : mainly nocturnal, so best seek them on private concessions, which offer 4WD night safaris.
• Cheetahs : occur across Botswana, but are never common. Your best chances are around the Xakanaxa area and the private reserves north and north-west of there: Kwara, Vumbura, Kwando and Selinda.
• Wild dogs : need vast areas to hunt, and Botswana has probably Africa's best remaining population of them. Found across Botswana, but for your best chances of seeing them, head for the Linyanti, Selinda, Kwando, Kwara and Vumbura reserves.
• Elephants : occur throughout northern Botswana, gathering in their greatest concentrations at the end of the dry season, beside rivers like the Chobe, the Kwando and the Linyanti. When wet they disperse into the mopane woodlands and Kalahari bushveld.

Slaty Egret Safari

4 days • 2 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$7,000 - US$14,130 per person

Chitabe Camp

The Chitabe concession has regular lion and leopard sightings but reasonably constant wild dog sightings over the last few years have really been the highlight. There are also good levels of plains game here.

Little Vumbura

Little Vumbura offers some of the best wildlife safaris in Botswana. It's in one of the Okavango's prime game areas, with a real depth and range to the wildlife. In our last few visits here, we have had good sightings of lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog.

Pangolin Safari

8 days • 3 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$7,760 - US$16,190 per person

If you’re looking for a wildlife safari in Botswana that focuses on predators, look no further. Kwara’s game and environments are varied, with plenty of tsessebe, impala, zebra, red lechwe, reedbuck, kudu, giraffe, buffalo and elephant – as well as the big cats and wild dogs.

Lagoon Camp

Lagoon Camp excels at sightings of the large predators, particularly wild dog, lion and cheetah, making it a good addition to a wildlife safari in Botswana. The best time for dogs is in June/July, the denning season, or within two or three months of that, when the pups are too young to move far.

African Jacana Safari

7 days • 3 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$7,770 - US$12,280 per person

Camp Kalahari

For a wildlife safari in Botswana, Camp Kalahari is pretty unusual. Visiting one of the families of habituated meerkats is an exceptional experience. Lion, brown hyena and other predators frequent this area, and during the rainy season, zebra can sometimes be seen here in their thousands, along with many wildebeest.

Khwai Lediba

With access to both the Khwai Community Concession and Moremi Game Reserve, Khwai Tented Camp is arguably in one of Botswana's greatest wildlife areas (though it can get busy). Sightings are good year round, with lion, leopard and wild dog seen regularly, as well as elephant and many other species.

Bushbuck Safari

US$13,570 - US$31,740 per person

Chitabe Lediba

The Chitabe area is renowned for its wild dog population, which has formed the subject of a book by the camp’s owners. Also worth noting are regular sightings of lion, leopard and even the odd cheetah, along with tsessebe, blue wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, reedbuck and steenbok.

Wild Dog Safari

13 days • 5 locations KASANE AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$12,230 - US$21,930 per person

Savute Safari Lodge

Savute Safari Lodge enjoys a prime location directly on the Savute Channel, which is absolutely pumping with elephant, giraffe, hyena and other game during the dry season – ideal for a wildlife safari in Botswana. Wildlife also concentrates at the camp’s two pumped waterholes.

Xakanaxa Camp is right in the middle of the Xakanaxa area of the Moremi Game Reserve, one of the best areas for wildlife safaris in Botswana. With excellent densities of game and birdlife, the only drawback is that you will often have to share game sightings with other vehicles.

Wattled Crane Safari

5 days • 2 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$4,690 - US$8,310 per person

Kudu Safari

7 days • 2 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$7,840 - US$18,400 per person

Sandibe Safari Lodge

Sandibe is situated in an excellent area for consistent big-game viewing. A variety of predators are regularly seen, alongside a good number of plains game. This is definitely a camp to consider for those wanting good year-round game viewing.

Spotted-necked Otter Safari

6 days • 2 locations MAUN AIRPORT TO MAUN AIRPORT

US$7,930 - US$14,800 per person

Tubu Tree Camp

Tubu Tree Camp has access to both land- and water-based activities, so offers the biggest diversity of game viewing within the Jao concession. There are good numbers of elephant and other plains game on the island, plus hippo in the deeper channels nearby.

Honey Badger Safari

US$5,790 - US$10,150 per person

Mopane Squirrel Safari

US$5,890 - US$11,770 per person

Wildlife safaris elsewhere in Africa

Our top ideas and inspiration for Wildlife safaris in other countries.

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Where to see wildlife species in Africa

Maximise the chances of seeing your favourite African animals based on traveller sightings reports from the field.

Panthera leo

Lions are at the top of the food chain and also most safari wish-lists, but with their numbers falling fast, any encounter with these majestic apex predators always feels like a privilege.

81% SUCCESS

2,964 sightings from 3,641 observations

Where to see lion in Africa

Panthera pardus

The most numerous of Africa’s big cats, leopard occur across many habitats, from wild tracts to populated areas. Their grace and their elusive nature make them a unique safari drawcard.

47% SUCCESS

1,889 sightings from 4,029 observations

Where to see leopard in Africa

Acinonyx jubatus

The cheetah is the fastest land animal and the only cat that hunts by pure speed. Found largely in open grasslands, its slim, elegant form is today an increasingly rare sight.

33% SUCCESS

1,028 sightings from 3,085 observations

Where to see cheetah in Africa

Lycaon pictus

African wild dogs are among the continent’s most compelling animals. Much misunderstood, these rare, tie-dyed canids are amazingly efficient hunters with a fascinating social life.

31% SUCCESS

843 sightings from 2,707 observations

Where to see wild dog in Africa

Spotted Hyena

Crocuta crocuta

The spotted hyena may be thought of as ‘ugly’ and ‘cowardly’. In fact, this versatile and intelligent carnivore is one of Africa’s most fascinating and warrants attention on any safari.

55% SUCCESS

2,127 sightings from 3,841 observations

Where to see spotted hyena in Africa

Brown Hyena

Parahyaena brunnea

This largely solitary scavenger is one of the more elusive and little-known of Africa’s carnivores. Shaggier than its spotted cousin, it occurs only in the arid southwest of the continent.

16% SUCCESS

239 sightings from 1,453 observations

Where to see brown hyena in Africa

Suricata suricatta

These highly sociable little mammals have an endearing appearance and comical antics. Found in the drier areas of Southern Africa, close encounters are a sought-after experience.

22% SUCCESS

85 sightings from 395 observations

Where to see meerkat in Africa

Loxodonta africana

By far the biggest of the so-called Big Five – indeed, the largest land animal on the planet – the elephant shapes the very landscape it inhabits and is a defining presence on any safari.

91% SUCCESS

3,537 sightings from 3,891 observations

Where to see elephant in Africa

Syncerus caffer

One of the ‘Big Five’, buffalo earned a fearsome reputation in hunters’ tales. By contrast, big herds of these sociable bovids are placid, but mount formidable defences against predators.

83% SUCCESS

2,504 sightings from 3,021 observations

Where to see buffalo in Africa

Giraffa camelopardalis

The world’s tallest land mammal, giraffes are herbivores which have evolved many unique adaptations. Their iconic outlines tower above the bush in many of Africa’s wildlife areas.

86% SUCCESS

3,413 sightings from 3,953 observations

Where to see giraffe in Africa

Hippopotamus amphibius

The territorial calls of the hippo create a signature soundtrack to Africa’s rivers & wetlands. Despite an endearing smile, this aquatic herbivore has a notoriously aggressive disposition.

89% SUCCESS

2,591 sightings from 2,910 observations

Where to see hippo in Africa

Black Rhino

Diceros bicornis

The black rhino is the smaller and rarer of Africa’s two rhino species but has the more fearsome reputation. Shy and heavily persecuted, it tends to stick to cover.

615 sightings from 1,995 observations

Where to see black rhino in Africa

White Rhino

Ceratotherium simum

The white rhino is the largest and most numerous of the world’s five rhinoceros species. They are larger, easier to see and generally more approachable than the black rhino.

44% SUCCESS

481 sightings from 1,090 observations

Where to see white rhino in Africa

Oryx are impressive antelopes, with a powerful physique and elegant markings set off by rapier-like horns. They cut a distinctive dash in some of Africa’s harshest landscapes.

70% SUCCESS

1,280 sightings from 1,839 observations

Where to see oryx in Africa

Taurotragus oryx

Africa’s largest antelope, eland are culturally important from prehistoric rock art to modern game farms. Though widespread, they are also shy so sightings are uncommon and often fleeting.

49% SUCCESS

1,438 sightings from 2,916 observations

Where to see eland in Africa

Roan antelope

Hippotragus equinus

Africa’s second largest antelope and one of its most handsome, with a powerful build and distinctive markings, roan are wary of people, but renowned for their bravery against predators.

23% SUCCESS

458 sightings from 1,965 observations

Where to see roan antelope in Africa

Sable antelope

Hippotragus niger

Perhaps Africa’s most beautiful antelope, sable are renowned for their combative nature, even holding off lions. Shy and restricted in range, sightings of sable are always special.

436 sightings from 1,954 observations

Where to see sable antelope in Africa

Tragelaphus spekii

The sitatunga is the most aquatic of Africa’s antelopes and specially adapted to its swampy habitats. Though widespread across Africa, only a handful of places offer reliable sightings.

19% SUCCESS

60 sightings from 317 observations

Where to see sitatunga in Africa

Connochaetes sp.

Superficially bovine in appearance, wildebeests are known for their spectacular migrations sometimes in huge numbers. These resilient animals are some of Africa’s most successful herbivores.

68% SUCCESS

2,411 sightings from 3,557 observations

Where to see wildebeest in Africa

The zebra is a quintessential African animal: the horse in stripy pyjamas at the end of every child’s A–Z. There are three species, of which the plains zebra is much the most common.

84% SUCCESS

3,723 sightings from 4,412 observations

Where to see zebra in Africa

Smutsia sp.

Pangolins appear to be more pine cone than animal in their unique armoury of scales. These nocturnal, ant-eating oddities are not only highly elusive but also increasingly rare.

54 sightings from 3,238 observations

Where to see pangolin in Africa

Orycteropus afer

The aardvark is one of Africa’s most bizarre and enigmatic animals. A shy, nocturnal termite-eater, signs of its presence may be scattered about the bush whilst sightings remain elusive.

67 sightings from 3,241 observations

Where to see aardvark in Africa

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The Ultimate Botswana Self-Drive Safari Itinerary: A Complete Travel Guide + Map

December 15, 2023

Paula Martinelli

If you are dreaming about an adventure trip to Botswana, and wondering how to go on safaris, you are in the right place! Going on a Botswana self-drive safari is the best way to discover the country! This is the Ultimate Botswana Self-Drive Safari Itinerary that will take you to the removed, isolated, and wild parts of the country…and the best way to experience Botswana’s landscape and wildlife are by road trip.

I combined my Namibia trip itinerary and Botswana self-drive safari itinerary, and I am here to share all I have learned and discovered along the way.

In this very detailed Botswana Self-Drive Safari 10-day itinerary, I covered the most important regions and safaris in Botswana, from Chobe National Park to the Okavango Delta.

During my 10-days in Botswana, I self-drove my 4×4 rental truck to the most amazing safaris in Botswana, I slept in the tent on top of the truck, cooked all my meals, took thousands of photos, and learned all about how to explore Botswana independently (not an easy task!).

Don’t travel to Botswana before you read these very important articles:

• 28 Things You Must know about Self-Drive and Camping in Botswana
• Ultimate Guide to the Best Safaris in Botswana
• Botswana Camping Safari

Botswana Self-Drive Safari itinerary Overview

10 days doing a self-drive safari in Botswana is an ideal amount of time to discover the best safaris in Botswana and to visit the most incredible areas in the country.

However, it is not easy to self-drive in Botswana because of the poor road conditions. Also, if you are short on time, you can spend less time and concentrate on the Chobe River Front safari, as it is very well located in the country. You can fly into Kasane Airport (BBK) and you can pick up your 4×4 rental car at the airport .

Check Expedia or Skyscanner to see which airlines can take you to Botswana and compare prices to get better deals. If you are looking for domestic flights to Kasane you can book them through Air Botswana .

Here is an overview of how to spend a perfect 10-day self-drive safari in Botswana:

Botswana Self drive Safari Map

Renting a Car for your Botswana Self Drive Safari

You will need to have a 4×4 vehicle to go on a self-drive safari in Botswana . It can be confusing renting a car in Botswana since there are different providers, offering different options.

First of all, you will need to decide if you will rent a 4X4 truck or a 4×4 truck with a tent on top (if you are planning to camp around the country).

I recommend booking your car way in advance , and you can quote below, to have access to cars from many major companies which you can compare the best prices and find the best deal for you.

You can save on your rental car when you book through this site . I use and recommend Discover Cars because it is the most reliable rental car source, and it allows you to compare the prices of different plac es.

10-Day Botswana Self Drive Safari Itinerary

Day 1 botswana self drive: arriving in botswana.

Let’s start day 1 of my 10-day Botswana self-drive safari itinerary. I had spent the previous 10 days self-driving in Namibia and it is a great itinerary to combine Namibia and Botswana. I crossed the border to Botswana on the ground at the Ngoma border crossing  in the Caprivi Strip.

I got my Botswana Visa at the border checkpoint. There was a line, and it took about 1-hour to get my visa and pass the inspection of my car and food. The procedure was easy and uncomplicated!

Even better, I had the chance to make new friends while I was in line. I met this very nice couple from Zambia that were traveling home. They asked if I could give them a ride to the Zambia border which was on my way to Botswana. 

DRIVING THE CAPRIVI STRIP

The driving from Namibia to Botswana on Caprivi is one straight line all the way to the border. You will pass many villages, plenty of cows and people walking on the side of the road.

I stopped along the road to donate all my food (meat, fruits, and vegetables) as we cannot enter Botswana with food.  It is a great opportunity to get to know some local people, and also, they will appreciate you sharing the food with them.

STOP AT KASANE FOR SUPPLIES

Next, I stopped in Kasane to refill my gas tanks (the truck had 2 gas tanks), got someand money from the ATM, bought food and water – This is the last opportunity to refill before you head to the National Parks.

BEST ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS

CAMPING OPTION

Mwandi View is the place i stayed and recomend. They have areas for camping in your own tent, or you can rent one of their large tents, with private bathroom and a small kitchen. The views are incredible and you can see animals from the infinity pool. Restaurant with incredible food is avaialbe.

LODGE OPTION

The Residence Kazungula is a marvelous guest house located in Kasane, with free Wi-Fi, parking on-site, a complete kitchen, and a pool. They can also arrange a variety of activities including game drives, boat cruises, and day trips to Victoria Falls. 

ALL-INCLUSIVE OPTION

If you are looking for a great accommodation option, with all-inclusive, the Jacklberry Chobe is the best option. With drinks, meals, and 2 wildlife activities per day included, plus terrace and gorgeous views of the river

DAY 2 BOTSWANA SELF DRIVE SAFARI : Explore Chobe National Park

On day 2 of my Botswana self-drive itinerary, I spent 10-hours driving safari at Chobe National Park . 

SELF-DRIVE SAFARI AT CHOBE RIVERFRONT

Chobe is one of the best places for a safari on the Planet, and I really recommend spending at least 2 days here .

Even if I had done other safaris before, this is the most I have seen animals in one single day: hundreds of zebras, waterbok, giraffes, springboks, and of course elephants. 

The best spot to see the big cats, including lions is at the Ihaha Camp . I drove in the morning and afternoon but didn’t get lucky enough to see any.

SEE THE LARGEST HERD OF ELEPHANTS IN THE WORLD

At around 1:30 p.m. I stopped to see a herd of elephants at a waterhole close to the Elephant Grave when more elephants arrived from everywhere and I was surrounded by hundreds of elephants. This was the highlight moment of my trip to Chobe . 

Back to the Mwandi Camp to enjoy the sunset from the infinity pool, while watching some elephants at the waterhole, cook dinner, and crashed from this tiring day.

DAY 3 Botswana Itinerary: Self-Drive Safari at Chobe then Drive to Savuti

On my second and last day of self-drive safari at Chobe National Park , I started my day very early (5 a.m.) and enjoyed 5 hours of safari.

GO ON A RIVER CRUISE SAFARI AT CHOBE

Another specialty and a must-do are to go on a river-cruise safari .  This is a must-do activity at Chobe National park as you can see the wildlife from a boat is totally different experience than from a car. During the water safari, you have the chance to see hippos, crocodiles, and f you are lucky you can also see elephants swimming.

DRIVING OFF-ROAD TO SAVUTI

After lunch, I began my journey south through Chobe to my next destination: Savuti. There are no gas stations or stores until you exit Okavango Delta. Make sure you are full-on fuel, water, and food before leaving Chobe (Kasane town).

The driving to Savuti was very challenging (and scary) and it is not for the faint-hearted! I only recommend self-drive here if you are a very experienced driver and have some basic mechanical knowledge because things can, and will happen to the car.

The “road” is very isolated, and only a 4WD can drive here. The “roads” you will follow are nothing more than dirt roads and trails. At times you will follow some old tire tracks through grass fields, and other times you will be driving through deeply rutted sandy “roads”. You cannot drive on a rainy day (or wet season). I drove for 7-hours without seeing another car. I had 1 flat tire and had to change it on a very deep sandy road and got stuck on the sand a couple of times. The speed limit is around 15km/h and you will be driving very slowly on very bumpy roads.

TOP TIP: If you are going on a self-drive in Botswana, most of the driving will be off-road. I recommend carrying a backpack as it will protect your belongings on bumpy roads. Check here the Review on Top Backpacks on the market today.

ARRIVAL AT SAVUTI

Arrived at the remote Savuti Gate and I had to pay for my entry permit – it costs US$85 for 3 days of the game reserve. The only way to enter the Savuti Gate (and all other gates) is to have proof of camping reservations. 

I finally arrived at the Savuti Camp near dark, found my reserved camping spot, and cooked dinner. The camping staff came to warn me that it was life-threatening to be out of my tent at night because it is very common for hyenas and lions to visit the campsites at night.

I spent 2 nights at the Savuti Camp . All 14 campsites lie under shady trees while some have a view of the Savuti Channel. There is a large elephant-proof ablution with shared bathrooms and showers. The campsite is operated by SKL Camps.

If you are looking for a lodge at Savuti, Ghoha Hills Savuti has accommodations with free WiFi and free private parking for guests who drive. There’s a fully equipped private bathroom with a shower and free toiletries. The lodge offers a continental or buffet breakfast.

DAY 4 Botswana Itinerary: Self-drive Safari at Savuti

The Savuti is a region within the heart of the Chobe National Park that is secretly located. Savuti covers almost 5,000 square kilometers and includes the Savute Marsh and Channel, the Mababe Depression, and Magwikhwe Sand Ridge – each feature fashioned by the tectonic instability of the region.

It is the best place to spot big cats, including lions and leopards. It is also renowned for the masses of game, and it has its own unique scenery such as the Baobab Gallery trees and rock paintings. I recommend spending at least 2 days in Savuti. 

EXPLORE THE VAST WILDLIFE IN SAVUTI

Start your first day at Savuti doing what is the best thing to do, with a self-drive safari.

Start your day very early (before 7:00 a.m) as the chances to see active animals are higher. I started my first day seeing a lion eating his kill and it was a pretty amazing experience to just park my car very close, behind the bushes, and just observe, smell, and hear while he was enjoying his breakfast.

During my day of safari at Savuti , I saw many giraffes, springbok, and elephants. In the afternoon I visited the Baobab Trees and the rock painting.

I saw many bones of animals and mostly close to the campsite – which makes me think that predators hang out around campsites. At night I was visited by a very large hyena and I also could hear the lions roaring all night from a distance. Exciting!

VISIT THE ROCK PAINT AND BAOBAB TREES

Expend the afternoon exploring more of the Savuti beauty!

Savuti is not only about wildlife, here you can also find ancient art – search the rocks of the Gubatsa Hills for delicate, stylized paintings of buffalo, giraffes, the magical eland, and other animals. They were painted in natural ochres, blood, and possibly snake venom up to 1,500 years ago by the San people. They still shine despite being fully exposed to the elements.

Then, visit the incredible Baobab Trees. The baobab trees boast a circumference of around 7 meters (23 feet) and a height of around 5 meters (17 feet). Take some time out to reflect in the shade of the centuries-old trees, humbled by their large presence and the secrets that flow deep within their roots. Savuti is incredible!

DAY 5 Botswana Itinerary: Self-Drive Safari in Savuti, then Driving to Okavango Delta

Morning safari at savuti.

Early in the morning, I saw 2 lionesses with 9 cubs – 7 older and 2 younger. I heard from the locals that they live under the bush, and they were just enjoying the early morning sun. I parked my car, and took amazing pictures, and observed them for over 1-hour from a very close distance. They didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence. This was certainly one of the highlight moments of my trip to Botswana.

I saw many other animals during my second day of safari in Savuti, and even if I really wanted to see leopards, I had no luck seeing any. 

DRIVE TO OKAVANGO DELTA

After lunch, I started driving to the Okavango Delta and I drove all the way to the next camping site destination in Kawai . It was 3.5 hours of very bumpy and sandy road, and again, driving at a very low speed. 

Upon arrival at Khwai Gate you need to pay for the permit again;  remember to have cash with you as they don’t accept credit cards. 

The camping site is situated in an area called Dombo Hippo Pools, and guess what you can see a lot? You are right, hippos.

The Khwai Camping Site  is very basic. The camping site has a tree, running water, and a fire pit area, and a small ablution is available. The game views and bird watching in this area are superb. The campsite is operated by SKL Camps.

If you are looking for amazing luxury glamping in Botswana, O Bona Moremi Safari Lodge offers it all. All means, drinks, and laundry service are included plus all the game drivers and night drives.

VILLA OPTION

If you are looking for a great option, Khwai Villa provides accommodations with free private parking. All units come with a balcony with river views, a kitchenette with a fridge and an oven, and a private bathroom with a shower.

DAY 6 Botswana Self-Drive Safari: Okavango Delta Safari

Explore the khwai region.

The day of my self-drive safari in Botswana was exploring the Khwai region, part of the Okavango Delta. 

The Okavango Delta is like the crown jewel of safaris in Botswana , as this area is usually known for the abundance of water, stemming from the Okavango river – which starts in Angola – and is also dubbed “the river that never finds the sea”. Instead of ending in the ocean, the water seeps away into the Kalahari desert. 

I was up early and went on a long game drive to explore this region. There are large tracts of Mopane forest with pools and floodplains interspersed. I saw a lot of different animals including hippos, crocodiles, water buffalos, red lechwe, waterbucks, and blue wildebeest.

This area is challenging to drive, as there are deep mud pools on many of the trails and some wet areas that make it impossible to pass.

I spent 2 nights at the Xakanaka Campsite . This area offers many options for day trips, such as Khwai and Third Bridge. There are two boat stations close to the camping site. The camping area is very simple and is located by the water, that is the reason there are so many hippos on this campsite. An ablution (communal bathroom) is available. 

If you are looking for an all-inclusive lodge accommodation, the Khwai Experidtions Camp offers all meals, drinks, and game reserves. Located on a gorgeous facility with a patio with incredible views, including wild animals come to visit.

DAY 7 Botswana Self-Drive Safari: Okavango Delta Safari

I didn’t sleep very well, as the animals are very active at night around this area. I could hear lions and hippos, and I saw a couple of hyenas searching my campsite for food at night. The only thing the hyena found and decided to take with her was my sneakers…ha!

EXPLORE THE XAKANAKA REGION

After spending 2 nights at the Khwai Campsite, I moved on to another camping in the Okavango Delta, Xakanaka – so I could explore different areas.

The drive to Xakanaka took around 2-hours and it was also very challenging. The roads are rutted and winding. During the rains, it is almost impossible to drive, with some very deep waterholes on the road and the journey can take up to 4-hours.

The game reserve in this area is phenomenal – but a day doing a self-driving safari is exhausting – the vegetation is very dense and there are a lot of dead trees on the ground. Also, there are so many holes with water and mud, which makes the driving very challenging if you are trying to spot animals, take pictures, and drive. 

After a whole day of self-drive safari –  with a 1-hour break for a nap under a tree in the middle of the day – time to go back to the camp, cook dinner, and get some rest. 

While I was cooking, a hippo crossed right in front of me which left me speechless for a few minutes – “What was it? a hippo!?” Yes, it was a hippo!

DAY 8 Botswana Self-Drive Safari: Okavango Delta

Spend the morning driving at xakanaka.

\My day 8 of my self-drive safari in Botswana was spent driving around the Xakanaka area. 

Xakanaxa occupies a narrow strip of land surrounded by marshes and lagoons . At night you can easily hear the animals, especially elephants, or be serenaded by hippo grunts. 

This area is one of few offering a year-round land and water game-viewing experience, possible to explore by car or powerboats.

On a day of safari in this area , it is easy to spot a large variety of animals such as elephants, buffalo, hyena, giraffe, hippo, wildebeest, kudu, lechwe, and if you are lucky, lion and leopard, among many others.

DRIVE TO THE THIRD BRIDGE

After lunch, I head to my next camping destination, Third Bridge Campsite.

In a dry season, it is an easy drive but there was very deep sand after the 2nd bridge. Got to the camping, and this was my favorite campsite in Botswana because the location is absolutely gorgeous, just by the river and the wildlife is very abundant here. 

TOP TIP: Make sure you pack lots of water, as you will be very isolated in this part of Botswana. I thought I had enough water, but with the hit and humidity, I ran out of water 2 days earlier than I had planned and I had to boil water from the Okavango Delta to drink. It is smart to also pack some portable water filters.

I spent 2 nights at the Third Bridge Campsite . This campsite was my favorite during my self-drive in Botswana. It is an excellent choice as there are so many options for game drives and there is always animal activity in camp. There is a boat station at the camping site, making water activities extra options. Booking is through Xomae

DAY 9 Botswana Itinerary : Water Safari at Okavango Delta

1. morning safari at third bridge.

I spent the last day of my self-drive safari in Botswana doing the best thing you can do in Botswana: safari. The wildlife in this section of Okavango Delta is incredible for safari, and you feel all the time that you are truly amongst the wildlife.

At lunchtime, I was back at the campsite to skip the mid-day sun and cool down in the shade of the trees, while cooking lunch. When a herd of elephants had the same idea and I had to share my shade with them. It was a magical moment, and one of the highlights of my trip to Botswana. 

2. Water Safari at Okavango Delta

I took the afternoon to do a water safari and it was just incredible, I strongly recommend if you are visiting the Okavango Delta to go on water safari, as you will have a different view and will see so many different animals. I had the chance to visit the Hippo Pool, which is a lagoon with hundreds of hippos.

While on a water safari at Okavango Delta, it is the best option for bird-watching too. The tour took longer than planned – around 4 hours – because our boat broke and we had to ask for help.

In the evening, my campsite got visited by many hyenas and I spent my last night camping in Botswana and hearing the lions roaming. Absolutely fascinating!

DAY 10 Botswana Itineray: Return Back to Namibia

I woke up very early (as usual) and spent a few hours driving around on a self-drive safari before heading back to Namibia. 

I saw a large variety of animals just around the campsite, and I started to feel sad to leave Botswana. I certainly had one of the best trips of my life. Just being in the wild, surrounded by majestic animals, and enjoying the solitude of incredible nature. I truly recommend doing a self-drive safari in Botswana as once in a lifetime adventure. 

The drive back to Namibia was long but safe. The road conditions are mostly well-paved the whole way. 

I stopped for an overnight in Ghazni, as it was dark and it is not recommended to drive in the dark because of the wildlife on the roads. If you don’t have an extra day, I would recommend skipping the morning safari in Botswana and starting to head back to your departure destination. 

I spent another day and night in Namibia before I headed back home, as this was a great farewell from my amazing Africa trip! You can read here my full Namibia Itinerary if you are looking to combine your trip or continue your Africa Trip.

BONUS SECTION: The Unique Tourism in Botswana

Botswana has a very unique tourism industry, based on a sustainable tourism model. Botswana relies on a  low volume high revenue tourism strategy , and it serves as an example all over Africa and the Planet. In other words, it is not cheap to visit Botswana!

The business model in Botswana helps the local economy and assists with keeping balance in the fragile ecosystem and controlling the number of tourists. Higher prices help to support this sustainable system of tourism in Botswana.

TRAVEL BOTSWANA INDEPENDENTLY: If you choose to travel independently to Botswana, keep in mind that the planning will take time and (a lot of) patience. It took me about 3 months of hard work to plan my itinerary in Botswana, especially, to be able to book all the campsites. Communication with Botswana is challenging and it may take days, or even weeks to answer back to you. Plus, consider that you will be driving in very remote and isolated areas. You will need to have some basic mechanical skills (changing tires), and expertise in driving off-road (mud, deep sand, crossing water, etc.).

TAILOR-MADE TRIP IN BOTSWANA: A popular alternative to visiting Botswana is to hire an expert local company. They can incorporate any destination into your travels or even any animal species that you hope to see. You can create a bespoke itinerary, and design your ultimate safari to match your interest, budget, and travel dates. I highly recommend Wild Wonderful World , as they put together incredible itineraries, and part of the profits are used on amazing conservation efforts in Africa

I have great news for my readers, I used and I recommend Wild Wonderful World – I partnered with them to offer a discount to you! Just sign in below to receive a discount code directly in your email.

Botswana Self-Drive Safari | Trip Planning Resources

Planning a trip to botswana.

If you are going to travel to Botswana, pre-planning, researching, and understanding what you are looking for in a destination will help make your travels far more successful and safe. Here is some further information I think you might need to plan your Botswana self-drive safari itinerary.

For planning my trip to Botswana I used the Lonely Planet guidebook, which contains helpful information.

Best Time to Visit Botswana

The best time to visit Botswana is during the dry season between May and October when you can expect warm, sunny days (22°C-35°C) and chilly nights. This is also when the water levels in the Okavango Delta are at their highest, creating the waterways and channels Botswana is famed for.

The green season – from November to April –  is a great time to travel if you don’t mind the odd shower. Visitor numbers and prices are lower, the scenery pops with verdant foliage, and animals give birth to their young.

What to Pack for a self-drive safari in Botswana

You want to pack light….but at the same time, you will be so remote for many days that you will want to pack heavy. So, let me help you PACK SMART! 

• GPS and a good Botswana map . 
• Extra flashlights and batteries 
• A well-equipped First Aid kit (including a snake bite kit)
• Rehydration solution
• Satellite phone
• Inflatable LED Solar Lantern. 
• Bring a warm blanket for cold nights.
• Camera and safari lens
• Toilet paper
• light hiking pants
• long sleeves shirts
• good face cover
• polarized sunglasses
• Hand sanitizer
• LifeStraw Filtered Water Bottle and Emergency water supply
• External battery charger

PACK SMART ALERT!

If you are planning to carry a backpack for your trip to Botswana, I have compiled a very detailed review of the Best Backpacks for Travel in the market today – Also, I recommend bringing a waterproof jacket for your trip, check my complete review guide on the Top Jackets for Travel and pack smart!

Airports in Botswana

Botswana’s main airport is  Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) , located 11km/7miles north of Gaborone, the capital.

If you are flying from South Africa, you can take a direct flight from OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) , Johannesburg, or Cape Town International Airport (CPT) .

It is also common to fly into Maun Airport (MUB) and  Kasana Airport (BBK) . When combining a safari in Botswana with a visit to Victoria Falls, it is common to fly into Maun and depart from  Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) in Zimbabwe or  Livingstone Airport (LVI) in Zambia.

Borders of Botswana

Botswana is bounded by  Namibia  to the west and north (the Caprivi Strip),  Zambia  and  Zimbabwe  to the northeast, and  South Africa  to the southeast and south. The Zambezi River border with Zambia is only several hundred yards long. The point at which the borders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe meet in the middle of the river has never been precisely determined.

Price to Travel to Botswana

When you travel to Botswana you can easily spend 1,000 to 2,000 Dollars per day/ person. This kind of money will bring you to some of the most exclusive lodges, and to areas that aren’t accessible any other way, including private flights to the lodges. Of course, you can plan your self-drive safari in Botswana and save tons of money – which will force you to do a lot of planning yourself. 

Prices below are the average for 10-day for 2 people (it doesn’t include international flights):

Accommodation in Botswana

Keep in mind that booking wild campsites in Botswana is extremely challenging and requires lots of patience and persistence.

I have done all the work and wrote this very detailed guide for Camping in Botswana – with all the best options for accommodations.

The campsites in Botswana are run by different private operators, The gates and reception have booking agents, but I strongly advise you to reserve your accommodation before your trip to Botswana, as the number of campsites is limited. You will be turned away if no space is available, and you will have a long trip back to the nearest town.

Things in Botswana move much more slowly than I am used to. The booking in Botswana is a very manual process, still, carbon copy receipt based rather than Internet bookings. Please read everything you should know before you go camping in Botswana before you make any reservations. 

If you are planning to stay at lodges, Booking.com  is the best option as it is a reliable source and they have a 24-hour cancellation policy that I have used several times.

Renting a car in Botswana

You will need to have a 4×4 vehicle to go on a self-drive safari in Botswana , either if you decide to go with a tour operator, or if you decide to go on an independent adventure.

Request a quote and save on your rental car when you book through this site. I use and recommend Discover Cars because it is the most reliable rental car source, and it allows you to compare the prices of different places.

Self-driving in Botswana

Self-driving in Botswana can be a challenge depending on your level of experience but also depending on the season.

I recommend you rent a fully equipped 4×4 car, preferably with a GPS with camping sites and other important GPS coordinates pre-programmed. This will help guide you to stay on track and be able to orientate yourself, ensuring your drive will be a safe one for you and your close ones.

You can always ask one of our staff members for advice on what routes are recommended at the moment since this might change from one part of the year to another. Remember; in the African bush anything is possible so coming prepared and aware are factors that can help your drive be a successful one that will give you, your friends, and family memories for life.

Additional Tips for your Self-Drive Safari in Botswana

• Currency: The local currency in Botswana is Pula. They widely accepted South African Rand. You can use an ATM in one of the main towns. Always carry money with you, as most places do not accept credit cards.
• Fuel:  on long drives pick up fuel regularly in the major towns as there can be long distances between stations.
• Supplies:  Snacks and drinks are available at most of the fuel stops and the bigger towns had a well-stocked Spar Supermarket. 
• Maps/GPS: Download maps onto your phone which can be accessed offline. Also, keep a paper map in the glove box just in case!
• SIM cards:  it’s easy to pick up a pay-as-you-go SIM in the airports as well as in local mobile network stores.
• Internet: If you are planning to go on a mobile camp safari, note that you won’t have access to the internet. I spent 10 days in Botswana without internet access. 

Travel Insurance for your trip

I never leave my home without travel insurance which is designed to help cover your expenses if something goes wrong on your trip. Things can go wrong, and you don’t want to get stuck paying tons of money if you get sick or have an accident without travel insurance. 

World Nomads Travel Insurance  has been designed by travelers for travelers, to cover their trip essentials. Especially if you are like me, travel insurance is ideal for adventurous travelers. Travel smarter and safer – You can do your quick quote below and find out how little you can pay for the essential benefit of Travel Insurance for your next trip!

Botswana Self Drive Safari Conclusion

This is my very detailed Botswana Self Drive Safari Itinerary, and I hope this can help you to plan your Botswana Trip!

I have done other safaris in Africa before, but Botswana surpassed my high expectations. Nature, the diversity of wildlife, and the hospitality in Botswana made it an incredible trip.

Botswana is not a cheap destination to visit, therefore if you want to visit on a budget just like me, be prepared to have to start planning your trip well in advance in order to book your accommodation (good luck with that!), book your car and start to study the maps, since you will be driving on very remote and isolated areas. You need at least to feel somehow familiar with the region you will be driving. 

I truly recommend anyone to go on a trip to Botswana, and if you are convinced, continue reading as I prepared the whole BOTSWANA TRIP PLANNING section here for you!

Here is some further information I think you might need to plan your  trip:

• 21-Days Namibia and Botswana Self-Drive Road Trip Itinerary
• Namibia self-drive road trip Itinerary
• 28 Things you need to know before you go Camping in Botswana
• The Best Camping Safari in Botswana

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Plan your Trip

You can plan your trip with this easy guide and have access to the best services I recommend and you can get discounted prices.

Ultimate Botswana Camping Safari Guide (for Independent Travelers)

Namibia & Botswana Itinerary: Ultimate 3-Week road trip from the Dunes to Safaris

Camping in Botswana: 30 Things You Absolutely Need to Know!

28 thoughts on “the ultimate botswana self-drive safari itinerary: a complete travel guide + map”.

Such an amazing drive and so impressed you did a self drive! I visited here on tour and it was such an amazing country!!!

Wow! What an amazing experience! I totally would love to do this one day and I like how detailed your blog post is. Hoping to go in the near future. 🙂

This drive looks amazing! I’m always hearing that Botswana is one of the best places to experience Safari in Africa, moreso than the typical Kenya or Tanzania. I can’t wait to plan a visit! Thank you for sharing.

This is such a complete post with its itinerary and other details that nobody would want anything else! Thank you very much for this. It’s just a matter of time, and people would start traveling again. 🙂

This is so cool! Beautiful photos and Botswana sounds like a great experience for a self drive safari. Botswana just got a place on my list on where to take an safari in Africa.

What a great self drive adventure through Botswana and such a detailed post. BTW, I never look as lovely and glamorous as you when I have traveled through parts of Africa! 😉 I normally end up being covered in dust.

These pictures make me want to go on safari!!! I can’t believe you drove over that bridge. What an amazing adventure.

Absolutely stunning pictures and amazing itinerary. I can’t imagine how much work went into planning this trip but I’m sure it’s helping many others interested in taking a similar adventure in the future!

Wow! what a great and detailed post! Oh how I would love to visit Botswana and do a self-driving tour

HI Marika, I hope that one day you get to go on a self-drive in Botswana. It is so incredible and unique, a real adventure.

What nice feedback Michelle, thank you so much. Yes, it was a lot of work planning as I couldn’t find much information for an independent trip to Botswana and the booking process was a lot of planning and hard work to be able to schedule.

I know, right?! Ha… That bridge. Now looking at my pictures and remembering all the adventures I went through during this trip, is insane and I am so thankful I only had some minor problems with this trip.

I love it Alma…haha…believe me, I was so dirty on these pictures too. My hair is always braided for a reason, and my boots were so dirty and dusty at the end of the trip that I didn’t even want to pack them back in my backpack. I am so glad you enjoyed this post.

HI Cosette, thanks for reading and I am so glad you enjoyed this itinerary. I so hope you get to travel to Botswana, you will absolutely love it.

Thank you so much for your kind comment, I hope this itinerary helps a lot of people who dream about self-drive independent to Botswana. I cannot wait to be able to travel safely again.

Hi Jade, glad you enjoyed this post. Oh, Botswana is simply incredible for safari and you really feel that you are super isolated the whole time, only sharing the wild with the gorgeous animals. It is just an incredible feeling.

Thanks Taylor, glad you enjoyed it. I so hope you get to go to Botswana too.

The self-drive is not an easy task in Botswana, that is the reason I was honest to say that I don’t recommend it unless you have great off-road skills and some mechanical. I am sure you had an amazing time in Botswana, it is amazing, isn’t it!?

Que fotos mais maravilhosos, que lugar de tirar o folego, acredito ter sido uma experiência única. Parabéns, o blog está ótimo, a viagem super detalhada e muito descritiva. Obrigada por com partilhar…

Obrigada Patricia e fico feliz que gostou desse artigo.

Hey Paula, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your adventure experience. I’m originally from Tanzania and now I live in New York now. I run a tour company here in the USA bringing American to Tanzania. Trying to expand my business to other parts of Africa and Botswana clicked my head from reading your self drive experience in Botswana!

Hello Protus, thanks for your comment and I am glad you found my article about Botswana. This place really holds a special place in my heart, and I cannot wait to go back to Africa. Tanzania is very high on my bucket list.

We are going in december and are very nervous about the road conditions between Kasane and Maun – would you be able to share some images of the worst parts you’ve crossed to give us an idea?

Hello – it will depend on the weather conditions, as you will be driving between towns and also, off-road. I got lucky because when I visited Botswana it was not raining and I could drive off-road to many “roads” where normally you cannot drive if it is raining. If you see my pictures, you will see a lot of deep sand where you can only drive if you have a 4×4 vehicle appropriate for off-road, but if you are driving during the rain, you will have to cross the same roads on the mud or even water ponds.

Thanks for all your research and your effort in documenting everything in detail! We have read everything and planned the entire self-drive safari according to your itinerary, only in reverse order (from Maun to Kasane). Do you have any tips on how to plan the individual days? How to explore a certain area around a camp? How to plan the boat trips? And do you still consider your itinerary perfect or would you have liked to stay longer or shorter in a particular camp/area?

Below is what we have booked for the fall:

Wednesday Maun Thursday South Gate Friday Third bridge (depending on availability) Saturday Third Bridge Sunday Xakanaka Monday Xakanaka Tuesday Khwai Wednesday Savuti Thursday Savuti Friday Mwandi Saturday sleep in Kasane, but explore Ihaha and Chobe river during the day

Hello Bastiaan – I am so glad to hear that my itinerary is helpful and you are using it to help to plan your trip. When I planned my trip to Botswana it took me around 3 months to put this itinerary together, as they are not a lot of information on the web, and there is no road to follow. Have you checked my other blogs about Botswana? I have great advice on how to explore each safari area, and also, how to plan your camping safari, in case you are camping along the way. Or if not, I also give great recommendations on places to stay. Check these other articles, and if you still have any questions, please let me know: https://www.paulapinstheplanet.com/botswana-safari-chobe-okavango-delta/ and this one should be good too https://www.paulapinstheplanet.com/botswana-camping-safari/

Hi Paula, I didn’t see your reply until now. Thanks for responding! We have read all your blogs on Botswana and have everything booked according to your itinerary (camps, vehicle, days at each location). Just one question we have is how to make the most of the day trips from the camps? Did you use local maps or did you randomly explore and hope to find good spots for game viewing?

Hello Batiann – That is so nice my blogs about Botswana helped you to plan your trip, it is not an easy task as it is remote and doesn’t have much information on Botswana on the web. Now, how you can make the most of your trips from the camps, buy a Lonely Planet book about Botswana (this is what I used and was very helpful) and I bought the maps at the entrance of the National Parks in Botswana where you can see main spots to visit and see wildlife. Other than that, just drive, drive, drive and you will see a lot anyways. It is very wild and the chances to see wildlife are high anyways.

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Where to Stay in Botswana

Top 10 Best Botswana Safari Lodges

Enjoy our specially curated selection that seamlessly blends luxury with the raw beauty of the African wilderness. Each accommodation featured in our list promises to be part of a unique safari experience, redefining luxury in the heart of Botswana Safaris . Get in contact below if you wish to stay at any of these amazing locations as part of your safari to Botswana.

1. Jack's Camp

Jack's Camp, located in the Kalahari Desert amid the world's biggest saltpans, provides a unique combination of adventure and education. The camp was discovered by adventurer Jack Bousfield in the 1960s and is currently run by his son, Ralph. Activities involve watching flamingos and wildebeests migrate seasonally and travelling via quad bikes through the massive Makgadikgadi salt pans.

2. Kwando Lagoon Camp

Kwando Lagoon Camp, located on the calm banks of the Kwando River, features eight deluxe safari tents that provide unequalled access to outstanding wildlife-watching chances. The camp, known for sightings of lion, cheetah, leopard, and wild dogs, overlooks the gorgeous Linyanti Wetlands, which provide a variety of habitats ranging from large plains to deep woods for exploration.

3. Mombo Wilderness Camp

Mombo Wilderness Camp is regarded as one of Africa's most opulent hotels, with nine magnificent safari tents lifted two metres above the ground, providing a continuous link to the animals below. Each tent has indoor and outdoor bathrooms, large verandas with private plunge pools, and day beds. Pool, gym, and in-room massages are among the communal amenities.

4. Shinde Camp

Shinde Camp, located on a beautiful island in the northern Okavango Delta, provides a calm water-based experience, including tranquil mokoro journeys and sunset boat excursions. In addition to aquatic activities, the private concession offers game drives and night excursions. Eight deluxe safari tents provide breathtaking views of the floodplains and lagoon, with twin beds, en-suite bathrooms, and private observation decks.

5. Vumbura Plains

Vumbura Plains provides the pinnacle of Okavango Delta luxury safari experiences, with two superb camps located between breathtaking canals and open grassland. Guests may easily switch between land and water experiences, from exhilarating game drives and guided walks to relaxing mokoro excursions and motorboat safaris.

6. Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp

Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp offers the very best of a luxurious but traditional Okavango Delta safari experience. Hidden below a canopy of towering ebony trees, the camp includes nine well-designed tented suites, each with en-suite bathrooms and private patios with sweeping views of a stunning lagoon. Enjoy both land and water adventures, such as thrilling game drives, mokoro excursions, and boat safaris through the Delta's crystal-clear canals teeming with wildlife.

7. Machaba Camp

Machaba Camp is a beautiful tented camp in the Khwai section of the Okavango Delta. Its name means fig tree, and in the local community, it represents life. The rule of this camp is to reconnect with nature and genuinely enjoy the lovely environment around us; the outdoor showers provide the ideal atmosphere for this. The position on the Khwai riverside is ideal for observing game and other flora and fauna; witnessing the animals' daily journey down to the river is spectacular.

8. Sitatunga Private Island Camp

Sitatunga Private Island, located in the magnificent waters of Botswana's Okavango Delta, provides an exclusive refuge with just three exquisite rooms, offering complete privacy and quiet. The island embraces its unique environment, providing a haven not just for visitors but also for the elusive sitatunga antelopes, which thrive in this aquatic wilderness.

9. Okavango Explorers Camp

Okavango Explorers Camp, located in Botswana's Selinda Reserve, welcomes travellers to go on a safari tour reminiscent of the continent's historical explorers. The camp, located at the crossroads of the upper Okavango Delta and the famed Selinda Spillway, provides access to two iconic wildlife-rich environments.

10. Beagle Expeditions

An intimate family-run camp that hosts an environment of simplistic luxury. Spacious dome tents with bedrolls laid out on soft padded carpets provide a warm and comfortable sleeping experience. Each tent has its own en-suite and bucket shower and there's a main area for guests to gather with tables, chairs and a chill-out corner. The backup team will set everything for you under the African sky.

Experience Botswana with us

Botswana tours and safaris.

Embark on the ultimate adventure with our diverse range of Botswana Tours and Safaris, designed to cater to every traveller’s preferences. Whether you seek the rustic charm of glamping under the African stars or the epitome of luxury indulgence, our Botswana safaris are tailored to meet your desires. Cruise the pristine and crystal-clear waterways of the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its unique ecosystem and abundant wildlife. Walk on the hallowed grounds of Chiefs Island, where every step immerses you in the heart of Botswana’s wilderness, and engage in exhilarating game drives in the famed Moremi Game Reserve, Savuti, and Chobe National Park.

Botswana, renowned for its conservation efforts, has adopted a low tourism model, ensuring the preservation of its pristine wildlife areas. The Okavango Delta, a jewel in Botswana’s crown, boasts some of Africa’s finest lodges. Here, every need is anticipated, from world-class guiding by experts rooted in local communities to lodges exuding elegance and charm. Enjoy sweeping views of the Delta’s beauty, accompanied by fascinating tales and experiences shared by guides intimately familiar with the bush.

For a more immersive and affordable experience, consider our Mobile Safaris and small group tours. These options provide an authentic taste of the wild spaces while staying within budget.

With Botswana Safari options as vast as its savannahs, our curated trips offer just a glimpse of the adventures awaiting you in this remarkable country. Book your journey today and experience the magic of Botswana, where nature and luxury harmoniously coexist, by choosing from our array of meticulously crafted safari experiences.

Contact us for expert advice for your Botswana Safari!

From us$8500, savuti & okavango delta safari  .

Explore some of the most pristine wildlife areas in Africa on this 9 night Botswana Safari with Wilderness Safaris. Visit the Savuti-Linyanti Area, the iconic Okavango Delta and the game-rich Chitabe area.

From US$5869

Authentic botswana safari.

Visit the Chobe National Park and enjoy boat cruises along the Chobe River. Experience big game country in the Savuti area and the Moremi Game Reserve. End this epic 10-night safari to Botswana in the iconic Okavango Delta.

From US$3700

In-depth okavango delta  .

Spend 6 nights uncovering the secrets of the Okavango Delta. Cruise crystal clear waterways in a traditional dugout canoe (mokoro), enjoy game drives in the Moremi Natgame Reserve and take boat cruises to the lagoons of the Delta.

From US$7080

Luxury linyanti, khwai & okavango safari.

This remarkable 9-night journey visits three diverse areas in the heart of Botswana at distinctive and iconic camps. Visit the northern Linyanti, the Khwai Community and the Okavango Delta and enjoy outstanding game viewing and excellent guiding.

From US$6325

Fly me around botswana.

An exceptional itinerary and offer from andBeyond is a week-long Fly me around Botswana safari. This trip combines their camps in Botswana for an epic 7-night safari. Visit the crystal clear waterways of the Okavango Delta, and see the big game in Savuti and the large herds of elephants in Chobe National Park. 

From US$3100

Comfortable okavango and khwai safari.

This 6-night Okavango and Khwai Safari combines the best of both worlds: water-based and big-game safaris. This itinerary showcases two distinct safari camps, ensuring you experience the Okavango Delta’s beauty without breaking the bank. Your safari begins at Mopiri Camp, nestled at the heart of the permanent delta’s waterways and ends at in the drier Khwai area at Nokanyana Camp.

From US$9900

Victoria falls to botswana luxury safari.

Combine a visit to the mighty Victoria Falls with your safari to Botswana! Take a guided walking Tour of the Falls and a sunset cruise on the Upper Zambezi River. From there you will visit the Savuti-Linyanti Area, spend time in a water paradise in the Okavango Delta and enjoy outstanding game viewing at Qorokwe Camp. This is Wilderness Safaris’ at its best!

From US$8400

Machaba safaris highlights of botswana.

Spend 11 nights on a classic Machaba Safaris trip. Starting on the bank of the Chobe River, enjoy game drives and boat cruises. You will then fly to the game-rich Khwai concession with a range of activities and wildlife to view. Fly to the Gomoti Concession where game viewing is incredible. And end this safari in a remote area of the Okavango Delta where the views are breathtaking.

From US$5990

Mesmerising botswana safari.

This fantastic Botswana Safari takes you to the game-rich southern Okavango and Khwai Private Reserve as well as the water paradise of the deep channels of the Okavango Delta. Combing the classic camps of Mma Dinare, Little Sable and Setari, this trip will tick all the boxes for your safari to Botswana

From US$15,000

Luxury okavango & makgadikgadi pans safari.

This wonderful 9-night safari adventure takes you to three distinct regions: the Khwai Private Concession, the Okavango Delta, and the Makgadikgadi Pans. Each location promises a unique and immersive safari experience, showcasing the incredible diversity of Botswana’s wildlife and ecosystems with outstanding wildlife.

From US$6100

Best of kwando safari .

On this 7 night Kwando safari to Botswana, you will spend 4 nights in the Kwando area, where there are no other safari camps. Then fly to the Okavango Delta to the Kwara Concession where you will embark on daily game drives, boat cruises and mokoro trips.

From US$16646

Simply the best of botswana safari .

This safari to Botswana takes you not only to 3 diverse and incredibly rewarding areas but to 3 of the best safari lodges in Africa. Visit Great Plains’ Duba Plains and Selinda Camp before flying to the simply gorgeous Xigera Safari Lodge.

From US$3400

Affordable okavango delta safari.

This Affordable Botswana Safari is a 6 night Okavango Delta Safari, showcasing the beauty of the waterways in the Okavango Delta, staying in 2 different areas. This safari is about unplugging from the real world and immersing yourself in the wilds of Africa. Think walking, mokoro trips and motorised boating. The safari camps on this trip do not have WIFI, are run with solar power and offer a truly immersive safari experience. 

Contact Us to book Botswana Tours and Safaris

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• The Ultimate Safari Planning Guide
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• Safari Budget Guide
• Safari Reading List
• First-Timer’s Tips
• A Typical Day on Safari

Accommodation , Botswana

Best botswana safari lodges: 9 incredible places to stay in botswana.

Botswana is renowned for its world-leading hospitality. Lodge staff are welcoming, rooms are comfortable and, of course, the safaris are second to none. But with so many wonderful safari lodges in Botswana, it can be difficult to choose where to stay! 

Luckily for you, I’ve done the hard work in this post. I’ve picked out 9 of the best safari lodges in Botswana that guarantee a wonderful stay, no matter what your budget . 

Nxabega &Beyond Lodge, Okavango Delta

Nxabega (pronounced Na-bay-ha with a click on the n if you can manage it!) was the highlight of a recent trip to Botswana for me. This luxury safari lodge has 9 tents, each with a King-size bed, an en-suite bathroom with a shower and double sinks, a writing desk and a seating area. Outside each tent is an outdoor rainfall shower, a seating area and a comfortable swinging chair, overlooking the plains that surround the lodge. 

All of the staff at Nxabega are bright, cheerful and incredibly kind. Guests are looked after by a personal butler, who greets them after every game drive with a drink and serves them their food each mealtime. Meals are served at individual tables set up in the dining room, on the terrace around the swimming pool or, on special occasions, around the fire in the boma. There are multiple menu options, but rest assured – they’re all delicious! 

Located in the Okavango Delta, Nxabega lodge makes a wonderful base for game drives and mokoro trips. The land around the lodge is teeming with wildlife including leopards, lions, buffalo, elephants and rhinos, as well as wild dogs, baboons and hippos. 

A stay at Nxabega can be booked directly through &Beyond or Go2Africa .

Sandibe &Beyond Lodge, Okavango Delta

Sandibe (pronounced San-dee-bay) is one of the most luxurious and best safari lodges in Botswana. Guests stay in wooden cabins on stilts, furnished with items that wouldn’t look out of place in a boutique hotel in the city. Each huge bed is surrounded by a gorgeous canopy, while the comfortable seating area is ideal for a lazy afternoon before the game drive. The bathroom is super stylish, with double sinks, a conical shower with a skylight and a separate dressing area too. Behind the large sliding doors is an outdoor deck with a comfortable bench and plunge pool overlooking the plains. 

Sandibe’s communal areas are like no other safari lodge in the world. The main building was designed to resemble a pangolin, with a huge curved roof and tapered edges. It’s filled with plush cushions, sofas and armchairs, a cocktail bar, a designer fireplace, a dining room and an open kitchen where you have the option to build your own lunch every day. 

As an &Beyond lodge, guests are allocated a private butler who serves the food and drinks and looks after your every whim and fancy while staying at Sandibe. All the staff we met were wonderful, and help you feel right at home straight away. 

Safari guides and trackers at Sandibe are some of the best in the world. They’re incredibly knowledgeable about the animals in the Okavango Delta, as well as the history and geography of the area surrounding the lodge. We were lucky enough to see a large family of cheetahs on our first day, as well as lions, elephants and plenty of other animals throughout our stay. 

Book a stay at Sandibe over at &Beyond or Go2Africa . 

Boteti Tented Camp, Okavango Delta

Boteti offers one of the best value safaris in Botswana. As a tented camp, guests stay in traditional safari tents furnished with double beds, storage chests and private toilet facilities. Each tent has a terrace complete with chairs overlooking the grounds surrounding the intimate camp. 

Boteti’s communal areas allow guests to fully relax both before and after a game drive. With soft furnishings and other beautiful furniture inspired by nature around it, Boteti offers a real home-from-home. Enjoy a buffet breakfast and lunch while observing the comings and goings along the river, and make sure to join the staff in the cosy lounge for afternoon tea. In the evening, candlelit dinners are served in the dining area after a drink around the campfire. 

The camp is located a short drive from Maun, with airport transfers included in your stay. Its location outside of the major national parks makes Boteti a much more budget-friendly option, but still, with the same level of exceptional service you can come to expect in Botswana. Safari activities on offer include traditional game drives in the Okavango Delta and Moremi, mokoro safaris along the Boteti river, and nature walks in the surrounding area. 

Book a stay at Boteti Tented Camp with free cancellation on Booking.com , or directly through Boteti itself.

Chobe Under Canvas, Chobe National Park 

As the name suggests, guest rooms at Chobe Under Canvas are tents located in Chobe National Park. But, they are unlike any other tent you’ve stayed in before! Each one is furnished with solid wooden furniture including bedside tables with solar-powered lamps, a fully-stocked bathroom and comfortable King-size beds, laid with luxurious bed sheets and soft pillows for an excellent night’s sleep.

Chobe Under Canvas is a mobile camp, where the whole thing relocates every few weeks to allow the land to regenerate. This means the camp staff pack all the tents, furniture and supplies into trucks once all the guests have left, and set it all back up in a new location as if it has always been there. 

Safaris here take place in Chobe National Park and along the Chobe River. It’s a very popular area among tourists owing to the concentration of elephants and other big game that drink from the river banks. Both game drives and trips on the water are possible here, giving visitors a unique opportunity to view wildlife from an angle not often experienced. 

Get in touch with the travel advisers at &Beyond or Go2Africa to book. 

Ghoha Hills, Savuti, Chobe National Park 

Ghoha Hills is an example of an absolutely stunning safari lodge in Savuti National Park, Botswana. With communal buildings and guest tents in an elevated position, every moment of your stay comes with an exceptional view out over the African plains and an active waterhole. 

Despite being made of canvas, it’s hard to believe the rooms are tents, as they all feature real wooden floors, comfortable double beds, fully plumbed-in bathrooms, armchairs and a private outdoor balcony too. 

If you can tear yourself away from your room, Ghoha Hills boasts a massage centre, fully-equipped gym and swimming pool, and plenty of areas to lounge, eat restaurant-quality food and take in the sights and sounds of the bush. 

Both morning and afternoon safaris are conducted in open-sided jeeps, traversing along the private roads and waterholes of Savuti and Chobe National Park. Guests can also request a day trip out to Savuti Marsh, Baobab Theatre, Bushman Rock Paintings and Pimple Hills. 

A double or twin tent can be booked online with free cancellation at Booking.com . Alternatively, book directly with Ghoha Hill.

Are you also considering a safari in a different country? View my favourite lodges in Kenya or South Africa next!

Omogolo Bush Lodges, Okavango Delta 

For an exclusive experience in Botswana, choose Omogolo Bush Lodges , which borders the Okavango Delta. Accommodation here comprises one or two-bedroom houses that are available for private use. 

Staff are on-call at all hours of the day or night, for housekeeping or other requirements. The lodges are all self-catering, so make sure you bring enough of your favourite food with you to last the duration of your trip (or a private chef!)

Each lodge boasts a spacious lounge area, fully equipped kitchen and king-size bedroom (or two, depending on which lodge you choose!). The houses are built on stilts, allowing for an outdoor shower, expansive balcony and even a private bathroom overlooking the waterhole. The latest addition to Omogolo Bush Lodges, Mangwane, also boasts an outdoor firepit area as well as a swimming pool, perfect for relaxation. 

Located in 1,600 hectares of wilderness bordering the Okavango Delta, the staff can organise mokoro boat trips on the water, or guided bush walks in the area surrounding the lodges. Self-drive safaris may be available in the reserve, but so check with staff for the latest advice before booking. The private reserve is home to elephants, lions, hyenas, leopards, wild dogs and many prey species too. Guests may choose to simply observe the wildlife from the natural waterholes that each lodge overlooks.  

Find out more about the lodges available at Booking.com .

Savute Under Canvas, Savuti, Chobe National Park 

As the name suggests, Savute Under Canvas is a mobile tented camp with guests staying in traditional canvas safari tents, furnished with a king-size bed, storage chest and private bathroom with a bucket shower and flush toilets. In front of each tent is a set of camp chairs where guests can relax after a game drive with their feet in buckets of cold water.

Perhaps the most rustic on this list of the best Botswana safari lodges, the staff at Savute Under Canvas still know how to deliver a luxurious experience. Exceptional food is served around a central dining table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is made all the more impressive when you learn it’s all cooked in the minimal camp kitchen or on the campfire itself. 

Safaris at Savute Under Canvas are a wonderful introduction to Botswana. Guests join their guide on a traditional safari vehicle, allowing for exceptional game viewing of all the Big 5 and more. 

Askiebos: Samochima Bush Camp, Okavango Panhandle

This family-run camp on the banks of the Okavango offers comfortable accommodation in the heart of the natural forest. Translated from Afrikaans, ‘Askiebos’ means ‘sorry, bush’, which is what the owners said to the forest each time they made way for their family home. This desire to live in harmony with nature continues to this day, with Samochima Bush Camp ‘s owners offering outdoor showers, organic produce and open-air toilets for their nature-loving guests.  

Each luxurious tent sleeps two people in super-comfortable beds, with private bathrooms, fluffy towels and an area to relax outside on the deck. Some have mini bars, baths and wi-fi, but make sure you check before you book.

The beautiful communal lounge is furnished with comfortable sofas, plush cushions, blankets and plenty of places to enjoy the sights and sounds of the bush, as well as the nearby stream. Home-cooked food and warm hosts complete the long list of reasons guests return again and again to this slice of paradise in Botswana. 

Though not a traditional safari lodge in that game drives aren’t included in the package, there is still plenty of activities on offer. Enjoy sunset boat cruises, basket weaving workshops, guided bird walks and much more. 

Book a stay at Samochima Bush Camp on Booking.com with free cancellation. 

Xaro Lodge, Okavango Delta

Xaro Lodge is another permanent tented camp situated along the banks of the Okavango Delta, in an area considered to be a birder’s paradise. Only accessible by boat, guests are treated to the peace and tranquillity of an exclusive lodge, and all the luxury of one too.

Guests stay in canvas Meru tents fitted with double beds, a dressing area and a private en-suite shower. But with these tents, it’s on the outside that counts. Slide open the large glass door at the foot of the bed, and make yourself at home with a glass of wine in one of the chairs overlooking the river. Bliss.

Communal areas in Xaro Lodge are the perfect place to relax, with plush sofas, bookshelves, and a large dining table where exceptional food is served. Outdoor spaces include a swimming pool, armchairs from which to watch the sunset and a firepit ideal for getting to know your campmates after a busy day in the bush. 

With boat tours and cruises on the Okavango, walking safaris with expert guides and excursions to nearby World Heritage Sites all available for an additional cost at the lodge, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. But don’t ignore the simple pleasure of exploring the area around the camp, keeping your eyes peeled for the huge number of birds calling it home. 

Stays at Xaro Lodge can be booked with free cancellation on Booking.com . 

With such high standards of safari lodges in Botswana, it really is difficult to go wrong. Hopefully, this post has helped you narrow down your list ready for an incredible safari. 

Now you’ve chosen where to stay, make sure you check out my packing list to get ready for your trip! 

Anna is the founder of Really Wildlife. She's a 30-something lover of wildlife travel, vegetables and listening to the Lion King soundtrack on full blast.

The Best Luxury Safari Lodges in Botswana

Whether visiting the flats of the Okavango Delta in the east, the Linyanti marshes in the west or the vast Makgadikgadi Pan , Botswana ’s kaleidoscope of contrasting landscapes will imprint on your soul. With the largest population of elephants in Africa and one of the lowest densities of human inhabitants in the world, the only sounds you hear at your Botswana luxury safari lodge might be an elephant trumpeting in the distance, warning off an approaching buffalo. While the elephants are the stars, keep your eyes peeled for the supporting cast including the rest of the Big Five.

Each of our top selections for best Botswana safari lodges has been carefully considered, not just for their luxurious offerings, warm hospitality, and exceptional game viewing and guiding, but for their commitment to protecting wildlife and the land they roam.

The Best Luxury Safari Lodges in Botswana’s Okavango Delta

Water flows from the Angola highlands feeding the Okavango River, flooding the semi-arid Kalahari between June and August, taking hold of the waters and creating a unique ecosystem hosting some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammals. Recognized by UNESCO for the outstanding universal value the seasonal flooding provides, the Delta is an opportunity for guests staying in some of the best safari lodges in Botswana to explore an array of wet and dry camps boasting elephant, lion, hippo, and oh so much more.

Discover what some say is the best year-round game-viewing destination in Botswana. Spend your days observing predator-prey interaction dominated by big cats—from the ground, on the water, or in the air—on a variety of safari experiences. On your return to Mombo Camp , your wood and canvas luxury suite is cradled in mangosteen and fig trees with breezy openings to enjoy broad views across the Okavango Delta.

Highlights :

• Helicopter safari for a bird’s eye view of the Delta
• A traditional evening of African song and dance in the boma
• Creative cuisine using indigenous heritage ingredients (like baobab fruit powder)

Best for : Travelers wanting a pure safari focus. Mombo is well suited to small groups, couples, and families. For a more secluded stay, sister property Little Mombo is ideal for exclusive use.

 Vumbura Plains

Seated on raised wooden decks snaked by Delta waterways and hugged by seasonally flooded golden grassland, Vurumba Plains is an exceptional wilderness hideaway. The property is comprised of two separate lodges (North and South), each graced with just six suites and a spacious two-bedroom family suite. From your private plunge pool, outdoor shower or veranda, watch for bathing elephants, and otters swimming by. Vumbura Plains offers delicious meals created with local, seasonal ingredients to be enjoyed in the dining room or as a romantic dinner on your private sala under a blanket of stars.

• Catch and release fishing, boating, and (seasonal) mokoros
• Sumptuous open-plan showers with postcard picture bush views
• Local phapata bread cooked over the morning campfire

Best for : Active safari-goers who want great game viewing balanced with a variety of activities.

Duba Plains Camp

Aardwolf, pangolins, and lechwe—you may not know what they are now, but you will when you leave the stunning Duba Plains Camp . While on safari, keep your eyes peeled for some more well-known wildlife too. Blending into the landscape, each of the five bespoke suites at Duba Plains camp sit upon raised wooden platforms and boast a lounge area, indoor and outdoor showers, and a luxurious bath. Though the aesthetic harkens back to classic safari camps of the 1920s, modern-day amenities including an environmentally friendly air-conditioning system are welcome luxuries.

• Young Explorers Camp, blending fun with conservation learning
• Speed boating down the Okavango River
• Heli-safaris to appreciate the scope of the Okavango Delta

Best for : Photographers and travelers with a keen interest in conservation including rhino translocation

Chief’s Camp

Consistently rated one of the top safari camps in Botswana by Condé Nast and Travel & Leisure , each of Chief’s Camp suites features a tranquil outdoor seating area and a terrace plunge pool. While on safari, you may spot year-round area residents including zebra, lion, and antelope. With luck, you’ll encounter a pack of endangered wild dogs. End your game drive with a sundowner, reliving your day over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres . Adults can luxuriate with a spa treatment using indigenous plants while young explorers enjoy the children’s retreat.

• Ten 1,500-square-foot Bush Pavilions and the 6,673-square-foot Jeffrey Kent Pavilion which comes privately staffed and guided.
• Cultural talks, seasonal mokoro rides, and a fully equipped fitness center.
• Guided stargazing of the southern constellations.

Best for : Multi-generational travelers and those who crave creature comforts like air conditioning.

With forest and floodplain, river, and wetland, Jao Camp immerses guests in the beauty of the Okavango Delta, including the incredible variety of wildlife that calls it home. Boat in when the waters rise or travel by 4×4 when the sun warms the land. Set beneath towering trees, the unique bird’s nest-styled gazebo on the edge of the pool is the perfect place to relax in nature and the extravagant wine cellar offers a wonderful variety of pre-dinner drinks. There are just five sumptuous suites; two luxury villas perfectly accommodate families and small groups.

• Sleep-outs in the secluded, canopied Star Bed
• Get out on the water on a mokoro ride, boat cruise or cast a line for catch-and-release fishing
• Photo safaris

Best for : Honeymooners, design lovers, and safari-goers wanting a water-focused camp to complement a land-based Okavango Delta experience.

The best luxury safari lodges in Botswana’s Linyanti Area

Water, water, everywhere…and, unlike the Okavango Delta, in the Linyanti region, it’s permanent. Because of this, the region is lush with riparian forests hosting a variety of birds. Even the famed baobab tree can be found here. In this watery wilderness, flora and fauna flourish with the region boasting one of the densest wildlife populations in the world, including migrating elephant, zebra, buffalo, and wildebeest.

Selinda Camp

Award-winning filmmakers and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert designed Selinda Camp “to pay homage to elephants, what we have done to them, and how we should apologize in many ways.” Still, conservation doesn’t mean you have to forgo luxury. The eight individually decorated suites have large verandahs and spacious, elegant bathrooms. The thatched main areas are built on raised wooden decks overlooking the Selinda Spillway and feature pieces from celebrated wildlife artist Keith Joubert, the owner’s brother.

• The hand-built camp marries luxury with a Robinson Crusoe-type feel
• The real possibility of elephants swimming in front of the camp
• Supports the Great Plains Foundation’s Solar Mamas

Best for : Photographers and travelers with an interest in conservation.

Zarafa Camp

With each of the four, newly-refurbished guest suites resting on raised, reclaimed, railway sleeper decks, Zarafa Camp’s tents are luxury under canvas. Spanning 1,000 square feet and accommodating a bedroom, lounge area, and bathroom with a copper clawfoot tub, they’re some of the largest in the area. Expansive outdoor decking wraps around each suite offering guests a private plunge pool, outdoor seating, and a private outdoor shower. Enjoy sunset from a boat along the edges of the Zibadianja Lake with huge herds of hippo, crocodile, and other wildlife.

• A refuge for uncommon species, such as African wild dog, roan, and sable
• With a maximum of eight guests on property, service is ultra-attentive and personalized
• Lunch in the bush

Best for : Honeymooners and romantic couples celebrating milestones.

DumaTau Camp

Translated from the Setswana language, DumaTau means ”roar of the lion.” Listen closely and you may hear a growl in the distance, but that’s not all. Sit back and listen for grunting hippos, trumpeting elephants, and the impressive sounds of other wildlife. Elephants, though, are in the majority here. Nestled between two busy elephant corridors with nearly 30 miles of river frontage, guests watch great herds play while making water crossings. DumaTau’s eight spacious tented suites, each with a private plunge pool, are raised on wooden walkways mere steps from where wildlife wanders peacefully through camp.

• Al fresco dining and sundowners on a barge on the Linyanti lagoon
• Spa treatments at the Osprey Retreat
• Gathering at the floating fire pit which extends into the lagoon

Best for : Elephant lovers and romantic getaways

The Best Safari Lodge in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

Jack’s camp.

With rugged, campaign-style furniture featuring strapwork and brass corners, the newly-rebuilt Jack’s Camp might bring out the Indiana Jones in you. At nearly 3,000 square feet each, the seven twin and two double tents are decorated with North African rugs and mahogany furniture. A drinks chest and an antique pool table in the mess tent complete the old-world ambiance. There’s no doubt you’ll enjoy the area’s wildlife which includes Kalahari lion, aardvark, springbok, and hyena. Jack’s Camp is located deep in the Kalahari Desert on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans . We like to pair it with a water-filled Okavango or Linyanti region camp so travelers can appreciate Botswana’s contrasting landscapes.

• Take a seat in the elegant Persian tea tent
• Unique activities like quad biking, horseback riding, and bushman walks
• Visiting charismatic habituated meerkats

Best for: Desert lovers; safari-goers craving a unique landscape alternative

Some of our favorite luxury Botswana itineraries

An Ultra-Luxurious Safari in Botswana

Conservation and luxury go hand in hand in this classic Okavango Delta itinerary

Across Botswana: Delta and Desert

Going off the beaten path in the Okavango and Kalahari

Classic Botswana Safari with Victoria Falls

Incredible wildlife and plenty of adventure

Plan your trip

Ready to start planning your own incredible adventure? We make the process stress-free and enjoyable.

Why These Sustainable Safari Experiences In Botswana Are Essential For Any Nature Lover

A frican wildlife is hanging in a delicate balance. Recent decades have seen shrinking animal populations right across the continent. This is a pretty sobering thought, particularly if you’re contemplating a safari. Fortunately, luxury accommodations and amazing wildlife adventures don’t have to come at the expense of the places you want to visit. An increasing number of African lodges have started prioritizing eco-friendliness and many travelers have started paying attention to the environmental impact of their vacations.

There are few countries in Africa that can compete with Botswana for exclusivity and luxury, as well as abundant wildlife and diverse landscapes. With a population of roughly 2 million, Botswana is slightly smaller than Texas and slightly larger than France — yet an incredible 40 percent of the country is dedicated to parks and wildlife. Botswana’s government has decided on a low-volume, low-impact tourism policy, which means fewer tourists and a better-protected natural wilderness. In addition, they have dedicated their army to anti-poaching, which is an additional reason why the country is such a safe haven for wildlife.

Where you go in Botswana and who you travel with can make a real difference, both to the environment and to your experience and enjoyment. Let me share with you two of my favorite destinations in Botswana, three of my favorite sustainable safari companies to travel with, and some of my all-time favorite eco-conscious safari lodges to stay at in Botswana.

The Okavango Delta

A stunning maze of waterways and lagoons, Botswana’s Okavango Delta is one of Africa’s premier wilderness sanctuaries. This 6,177-square-mile wetland wilderness in northern Botswana is one of the largest inland deltas in the world and it teems with wildlife. You’ll find elephants, hippos, and crocodiles here, along with black and white rhinos, buffalo, wildebeest, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, and rare antelope like lechwe and the super special but shy sitatunga. Predators like leopards and lions abound, and this is one of the best places in Africa to see African wild dogs. The Okavango Delta is home to over 1,000 species of plants, around 500 species of birds, 130 species of mammals, and numerous species of reptiles and fish — a real wildlife paradise. The Okavango Delta was voted one of the stunning Seven Natural Wonders of Africa in 2013, and the following year, it was the 1,000th site to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Incredibly, at its fullest, the Okavango Delta is large enough to be seen from space.

Where To Stay

There are some truly special places to stay in the Okavango Delta; lodges that are synonymous with luxury, but are still deeply conscious of conservation and protecting the places in which they operate. 

Wilderness Vumbura Plains Camp

Wilderness Vumbura Plains Camp is located in the far northern reaches of the delta. Two separate but linked camps, Vumbura has a total of 14 spacious, raised rooms, each with indoor and outdoor showers, private plunge pools, and outdoor areas from where you can watch a passing parade of wildlife. The grasslands here offer great seasonal wildlife viewing, and you can easily fill your days with game drives, walking safaris, and boating. Morning and afternoon game drives will bring you up close to thrilling wildlife interactions. Mokoro (dugout canoe) trips are also highly recommended and fishing during the annual flood season gives you the chance to pursue the highly prized tiger fish. Conscious of its ecological footprint, the camp is largely run on solar power.

Duba Plains Camp

Blissfully isolated and accessible only by air, Great Plains Conservation’s Duba Plains Camp lies on a 77,000-acre private concession in a particularly beautiful part north of the delta. Six vintage-style, luxuriously tented rooms built in the shade of tall trees overlook the flood plains. It features antique-style furnishings, oriental rugs, canopy beds shrouded in mosquito netting, and a climate-controlled wine cellar containing a few hundred bottles of wine. This is a special place. 

Elephants and hippos frequently trudge through camp and the wildlife here is the subject of numerous award-winning National Geographic documentaries by founders Derek and Beverley Joubert — including Eternal Enemies which chronicles the battle for survival between lions and buffalo in the area. Duba Plains guarantees a memorable stay and prides itself on its extraordinary wildlife experiences. In a commitment to the local community, Great Plains facilitates Kids Conservation Education Camps, educating local school children about wildlife and conservation.

Khwai Leadwood Camp

Set within a community-run part of the delta, called the Khwai concession, African Bush Camps’ elegantly designed Khwai Leadwood Camp is beautiful. It features six standard tents and a family tent, all tucked under trees on the edge of the Khwai River. The river is the only thing that separates the camp from the fantastic Moremi Game Reserve and wildlife like hippos, elephants, and even lions crossing the river from time to time. It’s an exceptional experience even for the most seasoned safari veteran. An additional bonus here is that guests can head off on night drives and get an up-close and personal experience with some of Africa’s nocturnal and more elusive animals. African Bush Camps has a number of eco-tourism initiatives that operate in conjunction with the local community.

The Linyanti Wildlife Reserve

The 275,000-acre Linyanti Wildlife Reserve in the northwest of Botswana is a safari destination you’ve quite possibly never heard of. Nestled between the Okavango Delta and Chobe River, here, the Kwando River, Selinda Spillway, Linyanti River, and Savuti Channel create a system of river channels and floodplains. Hundreds of miles from so-called civilization, the Linyanti is one of the most game-rich regions in Botswana, known for its wild dog populations, lions, hyenas, elephants, and huge herds of buffalo. Most of the lodges here are accessible only by light aircraft.

Wilderness King’s Pool Camp

Tucked into a grove of giant jackal berry trees, Wilderness King’s Pool Camp has a vast private concession all to itself overlooking an oxbow lagoon on the Linyanti River. This river forms the border between Namibia and Botswana, and King’s Pool is right at the center of the important wildlife corridor in the reserve. The camp consists of eight spacious thatched-roof chalets set on raised decks near the water’s edge, all connected by raised wooden walkways to the rest of the camp. King’s Pool boasts a sunken hideaway overlooking the lagoon, which attracts an impressive array of wildlife and birdlife — especially elephants — who come to drink the water. Demonstrating its commitment to sustainable tourism, the camp is 100 percent solar-powered and wastewater is treated to ensure it’s safe before passing into the surrounding environment. 

Selinda Camp

Located in the vast 320,000-acre Selinda Reserve, Selinda Camp is one of Botswana’s most exclusive camps and — with just three guest tents — one of its smallest. Selinda is Arabic for “beloved one,” and what’s not to love here? Enjoy game drives, walks, boating, tracking, and birding amongst some of the best wildlife Botswana has to offer. The nearby Selinda Spillway is home to prides of lions and incredible concentrations of buffalo. 

The camp’s spacious, luxury tents sit below cooling thatched roofs and feature ensuite bathrooms and private verandas, each with a swimming pool. The camp’s main dining and lounge area has spectacular views out over the lagoon. Selinda is where Derek and Beverly Joubert filmed Birth of a Pride — a story of survival, of lions returning to an area where they’d once been hunted to near extinction. Selinda Camp has been named one of the world’s Top 100 Sustainable Destinations.

Linyanti Ebony Camp

At the heart of the Linyanti Wildlife haven is Linyanti Ebony , an intimate camp with just four tents — making it perfect, particularly for family-oriented safaris. Built on raised decking overlooking the Linyanti Marsh, this is an intimate camp with panoramic views of the incredible natural wetland surroundings. The camp’s design offers an eco-conscious base from which to explore this amazing wilderness and the main area encompasses a large lounge and dining area, perfect for al-fresco dinners under a star-studded sky.

Planning Your Trip To Botswana

It’s sometimes hard to know where to start when planning an African safari, especially if it’s your first time. Mahlatini specializes in sustainable safaris and has been putting together fantastic African itineraries for over 20 years. They offer an 8-night safari to Vumbura Plains, Duba Plains, King’s Pool, and Selinda Camp, with 2 nights in each camp. It costs $16,060 per person on a fully inclusive basis — including daily activities, international flights, and light aircraft and road transfers.

This article originally appeared on TravelAwaits

Elephant in the room: Why Botswana, Namibia want fewer of the gentle giants

Botswana alone is home to a third of the entire African elephant population – more than any other country in the world.

They might be an awesome sight to see from a safe distance on safari as they lumber around with their big, lopping ears and long trunks, but for those who live side by side with elephants, these mammals can quickly become a menace.

Elephants’ numbers in African countries have dwindled hugely in the past. Conservation efforts since the 1980s, however, have seen populations recover somewhat. In Southern African countries, where about half of the African elephant population resides, their higher numbers mean they are starting to come into conflict with humans.

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As a result, some of these countries have tried to reduce their elephant numbers. In Botswana, which has the largest number of elephants in the world, President Mokgweetsi Masisi has sought to push controversial policies, like the promotion of hunting by rich tourists. Last month, he lashed out at the German government for considering a ban on the import of elephant parts, threatening to send Berlin 20,000 of its jumbos.

The diplomatic spat made catchy headlines. But it belied the serious challenges facing elephants, rural communities and conservationists working to find solutions.

How have elephant numbers changed in the past?

Following long periods of overhunting and poaching for their meat and expensive ivory tusks, elephant numbers collapsed dramatically across Africa between the 1970s and 80s. About 100,000 elephants were killed each year during that time, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). While an estimated three to five million elephants roamed the continent around 1930, the number had fallen to 1.3 million in 1979, the WWF says. According to researchers who have looked back as far as the 1500s, elephant populations in Africa have shrunk by some 98 percent.

Numbers continued to fall from 1979 until conservation practices – including crucial bans on sales of elephant parts and trophy hunting – halted the decline. Total elephant numbers in Africa currently stand at about 415,000, according to WWF estimates.

This is still low compared with historical numbers. In particular, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the African bush elephant as endangered and the African forest elephant as critically endangered, meaning they still face the threat of extinction.

The African bush elephant is a bigger animal inhabiting the savannah grasslands of Southern and Eastern Africa, making up 70 percent of the total population on the continent. Its cousin – the African forest elephant – is native to Western and Central Africa and is recognisable by its smaller, rounded ears and short, pointed tusks.

Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe together account for more than half of the African bush elephant population. Botswana alone is home to about 130,000 bush elephants – about half of the region’s numbers. It is a big country with a small population of two million people, comparable in size to France, which has a population of 67 million. For every 15 people in Botswana, there is about one elephant.

Zimbabwe has the second-largest bush elephant population at about 100,000.

Why have rising numbers of elephants become a challenge?

The largest living land animals’ feeding habits can dramatically alter ecosystems during their roughly 60 years of life. They have few natural predators to manage their numbers besides humans and, with people out of the way, elephants can populate quickly, says researcher Lucy King from the non-profit organisation, Save the Elephants.

“When left alone, they breed pretty well [and] their numbers can go up quite steadily over time because their survival rate is pretty good,” King says.

During the same time that elephant numbers have steadied, human population growth has doubled across Africa. In Southern and Eastern Africa, the population grew from 312 million in 1994 to 633 million in 2021 according to the United Nations Population Fund. That growth has seen humans occupy more land area and increasingly encroach on wildlife habitats. Settlements and farms have also cut roaming wildlife off from water or food sources.

As a result, humans and elephants are coming into more frequent contact and are clashing over the same resources. Foraging herbivores often roam onto farms, rip open thatch roofs on huts in search of food or cause damage to water pipes and other infrastructure. This has prompted angry locals to retaliate and attack them. Those interactions can be fatal for both man and beast.

Climate change has also caused more elephants to wander further than they once would have – and to more unpredictable places – to seek scarce food and water.

Zimbabwe is a peak conflict site, but human-elephant clashes are increasingly occurring across the region, King says.

Countries like Zimbabwe and Botswana blame elephant overpopulation and argue that reducing their numbers would reduce these clashes. However, some experts reject this suggestion, pointing out that there used to be many more elephants in Africa.

How have governments tried to tackle the issue?

South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana have all tried to reduce the number of elephants in their territory at certain points, but nearly all their methods have been met with criticism or outright condemnation from animal welfare organisations.

One practice is culling – the deliberate targeting and killing of several animals, usually whole families, together.

This practice was popular around the 1980s and 90s. In South Africa’s Kruger Park, a culling campaign saw about 14,000 elephants killed between 1967 and 1995. However, the practice was outlawed after African countries faced a global backlash, such as widespread calls for tourists to boycott countries culling elephants.

However, in 2008, South Africa defied the global outcry and lifted its culling ban. In 2021, Zimbabwe – which had killed about 50,000 elephants between 1967 and 1988 – said it was considering bringing back  the practice.

Conservationists such as King argue that culling is particularly cruel for elephants, who are emotionally intelligent and can experience trauma. Besides, the method is not effective and is also “not effective as a solution to human-elephant conflict,” she says.

Governments have also attempted to simply sell off part of their herds, although animal welfare groups say elephants could be shipped to zoos and used for human entertainment.

In 2021, Namibia auctioned 170 elephants but sold only a third – at 5.9 million Namibian dollars ($400,000). There was so much bad press and criticism of the sale that buyers were discouraged, officials said.

Another way to control numbers is by allowing trophy hunting, whereby countries license adventure seekers – usually tourists from the United States and other Western countries – to kill a limited number of animals in specific, allocated areas for their horns, skins and tusks. Often, these tourists target male elephants – or bulls – for their bigger tusks.

Government officials in Southern Africa – and hunters themselves – argue that hunting helps manage the elephant population naturally and provides revenue for local communities. That in turn incentivises local communities to stop illegal poaching and to ensure that elephant numbers remain steady — and never drop below a sustainable level. Hunting licences can cost as much as $10,000, depending on the animal being hunted.

African governments are often angered by the idea of Western countries telling them the practice is unethical – hence the threat by Botswana to ship 20,000 elephants to Germany. Botswana’s President Masisi has been a particular advocate for the return of hunting licences. In 2019, after he took office, Botswana lifted a five-year ban on elephant hunting.

What are the arguments against hunting?

Some conservationists dismiss this anger from African governments.

“I just think it’s extremely shortsighted. I think it’s a convenient smokescreen behind which to hide and justify trophy hunting which is big business,” says Ross Harvey, a wildlife economist with the non-profit organisation Good Governance Africa. Harvey points out that much of the funds from trophy hunting – first introduced in colonial Kenya – go to wealthy businessmen who own trophy hunting companies, rather than into conservation efforts.

“How much of it actually ends up going to conservation is highly questionable, certainly not enough to conserve the landscape, and how much of it accrues to poor community members is also extremely unclear,” he adds. “But now that elephant is gone, now you live with the negative effects of having taken out all the bulls – typically in their reproductive peak.”

Older males often help guide younger bulls, teaching them where to find food and water, or how to behave. When they are killed, younger males can become aggressive, researchers have found.

“My prediction is that you’re going to see an increase in human and elephant conflict because when you take out all the bulls that are responsible for disciplining the herd, then crop raiding is going to increase, not decrease,” says Harvey.

So, what is the solution?

Harvey says while elephant numbers may have increased since the 1990s, the real problem is not one of “overpopulation” but rather of humans cutting off connecting land strips or corridors which elephants – and all wildlife – use to migrate in search of food and habitat. Freeing up those spaces, he argues, will reduce human-elephant interactions.

“If you shoot them, you just exacerbate the problem,” he says.

“There’s only two solutions really,” says King. “One, to have breathing space. We keep throwing up fences everywhere and stopping [elephants], so they get squeezed into areas where they can then deplete the vegetation incredibly fast. The only solution is to release the valves and make sure the fences come down. That does not mean that elephants should be everywhere … but you can’t fence elephants in.”

In northern Botswana, one initiative called the “Eco-Exist Project” worked with locals to identify and demarcate more than 60 elephant corridors across the sprawling Okavango Delta. The team then worked with communities to replan village layouts, so that farms, homes and other infrastructure would be positioned away from these “elephant highways”.

It is not yet clear how much this project has reduced human-elephant conflict, but some 65,000 hectares (160,600 acres) of farmland belonging to 500 farmers, have been protected so far. Farmers have also clustered to share farm spaces which they have ringed with fences or crops such as chilli – which elephants dislike and therefore avoid.

Another solution, King says, is to teach people how to live more harmoniously with the animals. Her research on natural ways to fend off elephants from settlements and farms in southern Kenya has yielded some results.

King found that when she played sound recordings of swarming bees, elephants would disperse in a hurry. She then started to experiment with building beehive fences around several farmsteads. This is a rudimentary method which is suitable for rural communities – farmers need only poles to mount boxes housing the hives. Women then harvest the honey and sell it for some side income. The method is now being employed in 17 African countries and some areas in Asia.

“We’re really proud about it … and it’s completely open source,” King says. “We let people have the manuals, develop their own bio fence project, and run with it. And the interesting thing is it’s really working everywhere.”

However, the method works for small land areas only. It is also threatened by drought – which is not conducive for bees.