Visit Botswana - Description of Fantastic Destinations

Visit Botswana

A holiday in Botswana - what a brilliant idea! Botswana prides itself as a premier tourist destination and we love booking holidays so people can visit Botswana. Botswana is a dry country dominated by the Kalahari Desert. However, with its desert sands fed by the mighty Okavango, Chobe and Linyanti rivers, Botswana is home to some of the very best wildlife sanctuaries in the world. These include the truly remarkable Okavango Delta,the amazing Chobe National Park (including Chobe Riverfront and Savute) and one of our favourites - Moremi Game Reserve. Although Botswana can be more expensive than surrounding countries, it is well worth it and self drive travel options enable Botswana to become an exciting and affordable destination.

When to visit Botswana - Seasons

The wet season in Botswana is generally between December and March and during this time thunderstorms and grey skies can dominate the hot and humid days. April and May see temperatures starting to drop amongst the still vibrant and green landscapes. Nights can get cold, and once winter arrives some places can fall to near freezing, although from June to August the temperature warms up rapidly as the sun takes hold during the day. This is the peak season for wildlife viewing as the animals start to congregate around remaining water. In September the temperatures starts to climb and by October it can be getting very hot (with temperatures sometimes hitting 40 degrees), as can November, although sometimes early rain can cool this month down.

Please note that self drive camp sites in Botswana can be very basic … If they have ablutions (and some have only long drops or no ablutions at all), neither hot water nor toilet paper can be guaranteed. Also all public camp sites in national parks are unfenced and animals including elephants, baboons, vervet monkeys, hyenas, lions and leopards can be regular visitors. When you check in, it is a good idea to ask if there are any particular animals causing trouble that you need to keep an eye on.

Travel Africa will work with you to plan a range of fabulous touring options around Botswana – from flexible self-drive holidays to incredible luxury lodge sojourns. We will then book your holiday for you – providing you with detailed itineraries and information sheets. Don’t forget we provide superb value for money due to our in-depth knowledge of the region and our direct contacts which cut out layers of commission. Look at our fabulous range of sample itineraries to give you loads of ideas and places to start from. Here we describe some of the wonderful destinations Botswana has to offer.

Interactive country map and photographs at the bottom of this page.

Click below for ideas of what to see and do

This is a world renowned wildlife viewing area where a drive along the Chobe River flood plain may reward you with sightings of puku and lechwe antelope and an afternoon river cruise delight you with views of the Chobe elephants wading through the river reeds and drinking in the setting sun. The elephant population of Chobe is immense, with estimates of over 100,000 of these gentle pachyderms congregating along the river during the dry season – an amazing experience! Also take advantage of the great opportunities for fishing on the river. You can stay in an unfenced campsite in Chobe National Park or all accommodation options can be met in the adjacent town of Kasane.

These enormous salt pans located in the middle of the dry savannah of north east Botswana are some of the largest salt flats in the world. These vivid landscapes consist of a dry salty clay crust most of the year. However, when the annual rains fall they become covered with grass and water and are transformed into a refuge for birds and animals including wildebeest, one of Africa’s largest zebra populations and of course the large predators that prey on them. The wet season also brings migratory birds including Great White Pelicans and one of only two breeding populations of Greater Flamingoes in Southern Africa.

This exclusive, remote wildlife destination was made famous by the documentary ‘ ‘Eternal Enemies’ documenting the dramatic struggle between lion and hyena in the area. Meander by the Savute Channel or try your luck in the stunning Savute Marsh looking for these and other predators and enjoying the wildlife attracted to the area by the semi-permanent Savute water sources.

Prices more than reflect the exclusivity of this area. Camping at Savute, with its semi private sites with all your basic ablution needs, is your best budget option. Here you stay in an unfenced campsite with regular elephant visitors.

The second largest game reserve in the world the Central Kalahari Game Reserve covers a massive area of 52,800 km². For many Bushmen, this is home. However, since the mid-1990s the Botswana government has tried to relocate the Bushmen from the reserve. Amidst this devastating and contentious battle, desert wildlife thrives amidst the Kalahari sands and fossilised river landscape.

The Okavango Delta is one of the seven natural wonders of Africa and is a very large inland delta formed by the Okavango River. After traversing Angola, the Okavango River never reaches the sea but rather disperses it’s water in the sands of the Kalahari basin – forming a truly magnificent landscape and unique ecosystem. As the flood waters peak between June and August, the Delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from kilometres around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife. On the eastern banks of the Okavango, Moremi contain all the magnificence of the Delta’s animal and bird life. Moremi’s diverse landscapes range from the drier inland areas to the permanent water sources of the Delta as well as islands such as Chief’s Island. All the major animals species including lion, leopard and endangered wild dog occur in Moremi as well as more unusual water-loving animals such as the lovely red lechwe antelope. More than 500 different types of birds will also keep you enchanted. The best time to visit both Moremi and the Delta is between April – October as it is the dry season. In Moremi the pans and waterholes dry up and the animals concentrate around them. From October things heat up and once the rains arrive in late November or early December the animals spread out once again. The summer rains can make parts of Moremi inaccessible and driving a challenge, while some lodges close during this period. What is unique about the Okavango is that during the dry season the waters of the Delta are at their highest levels, after travelling almost 2,000km over 6 months from Angola’s highlands. These means that dry land is scarce on the Delta islands and here the animals congregate.