Elephant Sands

Botswana is the leader in low-impact, upmarket tourism. This eco-friendly approach promotes a true wilderness experience in this unspoiled country. The beauty of the Okavango Delta is best discovered by mokoro canoe, while abundant wildlife can be encountered in Chobe and Moremi parks.

• Low-density tourism and eco-friendly lodges
• Excellent wildlife viewing in northern parks
• Beautiful and diverse scenery of dry desert, saltpans, savannah grasslands and delta waterways
• Low population and vast, undeveloped areas
• Political stability and safety
• Expensive upmarket safaris with few budget options

• Low-density tourism and eco-friendly lodges
• Excellent wildlife viewing in northern parks
• Beautiful and diverse scenery of dry desert, saltpans, savannah grasslands and delta waterways
• Low population and vast, undeveloped areas
• Political stability and safety
• Expensive upmarket safaris with few budget options

The Dry season (May to October), when wildlife congregates around the remaining sources of water, is the best time to explore Botswana’s parks. A lack of rain and relatively low numbers of tourists, with the exception of Chobe, are other reasons to visit at this time. You can still see plenty of animals in the Wet season (November to April), but they can be hard to see in the thick vegetation, and the heat can be intense.

Most visitors to Botswana will have a stopover in South Africa to pick up a direct flight from OR Tambo International Airport (JNB), Johannesburg or Cape Town International Airport (CPT). Botswana’s main airport is Sir SeretseKhama International Airport (GBE), located 11km/7miles north of Gaborone, the capital. For travelers, it is more 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. In most cases your tour operator will collect you from the airport and will arrange all further transportation.

Botswana has an abundance of big African animals such as elephant, giraffe, hippo, buffalo and zebra. Big cats aren’t as prevalent, but there are still plenty of lions to spot. Rhino is also making a comeback here. If you’re keen on seeing rarer animals, you can find endangered antelopes and African wild dogs in some of the country’s northern parks.

Humidity won’t trouble you in Botswana, but there are big changes in temperature from day to night. Winter (May to October) is a very dry period that starts off cool and gets very hot towards the end. From June to August you’ll need to rug up at night, when it can be freezing. Summer (November to April) is wet and hot, with the rain pouring down in January and February. The Kalahari is where you can expect temperature extremes to be at their greatest.