BEST OF BOTSWANA
Most travellers head for the Okavango Delta – a UNESCO World Heritage site – as a first stop or if they have limited time. The area varies from 15,000 square kilometres to 22,000 square kilometres in a year of good floods and teems with wildlife year-round. From November to May, much of the Delta is quite dry as the annual floods from Angola only fill the Delta region from May through to September.
While you may not be able to take a boat trip at many places in the Okavango Delta in March, your game experiences will still be worthwhile and the birding over this time is excellent. We will always help you select the best spots for each season. There are some camps like Setari, Kwara, Shinde and Okuti that have permanent water year-round so these are the best spots in the drier months.
However, there is much more to experience in Botswana. Apart from the Okavango Delta, there are four other areas that we would suggest including in your itinerary. These are:
- The northern areas of the Okavango – the Linyanti – get the first flood waters and offer an equally satisfying Delta area to visit. Linyanti Bush Camp, the newly built Duma Tau and the gorgeous new Kingspool Camp are our favourites. Our Delta and Linyanti camps generally fall into three categories:
- Wet camps, which offer walks and seasonal boating or canoe trips, like Delta Camp.
- Dry camps, which offer guided walks and game drives, like Lebala Camp.
- Combination camps, which allow you to do both seasonal water activities and game drives. Most camps fall into this category.
As a general rule of thumb: water activities + game drives (day and night) + the best game-viewing opportunities = a higher price tag.
- From December to April, the vast Kalahari region is teeming with migratory herds as wildebeest move in search of green grasses brought on by the summer rains. They are closely followed by the predators. Then, from May through to July – even though it might get nippy at night – is still worth visiting as the area starts to dry and limited water sources bring game concentrations to permanent water sources. We love Wilderness Safaris’ Kalahari Plains inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and Ker & Downey’s Dinaka Camp in a private concession north of the CKGR.
- The eastern Delta and game-rich Khwai area are impressive for their array of animal and bird species but we urge you to avoid this area in peak periods like July and August when it is crowded. The Khwai Private Reserve is your best bet in peak season. It is away from the masses and there are gems of lodges to stay such as Natural Selection’s Sable Alley and Tuludi.
- Like the Khwai, we prefer to steer you away from the main areas of the Chobe riverfront in peak season to quieter spots. Or even bypass Chobe National Park in July and August if you want to miss the crowds. Many lodges are in or near to the town of Kasane; our favourites like Muchenje Safari Lodge, Chobe Game Lodge (inside Chobe National Park) and Tlouwana Camp, are all outside Kasane.
A Best of Botswana safari circuit that includes all five of these areas needs a minimum of 10 days. So if you have two weeks to spare then a specially designed safari to all parts of Botswana is right for you. You can even add in a night or two in Livingstone and visit the beautiful Victoria Falls.
