Botswana Safaris
More elephants than people. More wilderness than roads. More safari than you ever expected.
Botswana Safaris
There are safari destinations, and then there is Botswana. A country that has deliberately chosen wilderness over visitor numbers, exclusivity over mass tourism, and the long-term health of its ecosystems over short-term gain. The result is one of the most extraordinary safari experiences on earth, vast, uncrowded, extraordinarily rich in wildlife, and unlike anywhere else in Africa.
From the legendary waterways of the Okavango Delta to the elephant-massed banks of the Chobe River, the ancient red sands of the Kalahari, and the shimmering salt pans of the Makgadikgadi, Botswana offers a diversity of landscape and wildlife that rewards every type of safari traveller. Whether you are visiting for the first time or returning to a country that got under your skin years ago, a Botswana safari has a way of exceeding even the most considered expectations.
At Explore and Travel Africa, we have been designing bespoke Botswana safaris for over 25 years. If you are ready to start planning, get in touch with our team today. Or read on for everything you need to know.
Luxury Botswana Tours & Safaris
Some of the finest safari camps in Africa are found in Botswana, and the range of properties on offer is broader than many travellers expect. At the very top of the market, camps like Mombo, Xigera, and DumaTau offer extraordinary guiding, exceptional food, and a level of design and service that is genuinely world-class. Operators like Wilderness Safaris, Natural Selection and Great Plains Conservation have built remarkable portfolios across the northern Botswana circuit, and the standard of hospitality throughout is consistently high. Kwando Safaris, Desert and Delta Safaris, Ker & Downey Botswana and a host of owner operated gems have excellent camps, waiting to be explored. That said, Botswana is not exclusively a destination for those with unlimited budgets. A carefully planned itinerary, combining shoulder season travel, a thoughtful mix of camp levels, or a mobile safari experience, can make this extraordinary country accessible at a range of price points. We have a range of sample Luxury Botswana Tours & Safaris for inspiration.
Botswana’s Low Impact Tourism Model
Botswana has long pursued a deliberate “high value, low impact” approach to tourism, limiting the number of lodges and visitors in its wilderness areas in order to protect the environment and preserve the extraordinary sense of space and exclusivity that defines the country. The practical result is that safari camps are small, wildlife encounters are intimate, and the land never feels crowded or over-visited.
This policy comes with a price premium, and it is worth understanding why. The cost of running a luxury camp in a remote concession with no road access is substantial, and what you pay reflects the genuine exclusivity of the experience. But it also means that when you are sitting in front of a leopard in the Okavango Delta with no other vehicle in sight, that is not a stroke of luck. It is the system working exactly as intended.
For a full breakdown of what a Botswana safari costs and what influences the price, read our Luxury Botswana Safari Cost Guide.
Where to Go on a Botswana Safari
A well-designed Botswana safari combines two or three distinct ecosystems into a single itinerary, each one adding a different dimension of landscape, wildlife, and experience. Here is an overview of the key areas and what makes each one special.ore and Travel Africa, we have been designing bespoke Botswana safaris for over 25 years. If you are ready to start planning, get in touch with our team today. Or read on for everything you need to know.
Botswana Safari Ideas
From premier fly-in camps to mobile safari adventures – browse our recommended itineraries and find your perfect match.
Plan Your Botswana Safari
Botswana rewards those who plan it well. The right combination of camps, regions, and timing makes an enormous difference to your experience, and that is exactly where we come in. Whether you are drawn to the waterways of the Okavango Delta, the elephant herds of Chobe, or the ancient solitude of the Kalahari, we will design a safari that feels exactly right for you.
The Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta is the jewel in Botswana’s crown and one of the most extraordinary ecosystems on earth, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest inland delta, where the waters of the Angolan highlands fan out across the Kalahari sands into a labyrinth of channels, lagoons, and palm-fringed islands teeming with wildlife. Game drives, walking safaris, boat cruises, and the iconic mokoro excursion, gliding silently through papyrus-lined channels in a traditional dugout canoe, all form part of the experience here. The Delta is the heart of the Botswana safari circuit, and the private concessions that surround the Moremi Game Reserve are home to some of the finest safari camps in Africa.
Moremi Game Reserve
Covering a significant portion of the central and eastern Okavango Delta, the Moremi Game Reserve is a national park with some of the highest wildlife densities in Africa. The landscape transitions beautifully between permanent floodplains, dense mopane woodland, and riverine forest, and the Big Five are all well represented. Chief’s Island, home to celebrated camps like Mombo, is particularly famous for its predator activity.
Chobe National Park
Sometimes overlooked in favour of the Delta, Chobe is in fact a magnificent destination in its own right. The park is most famous for its elephants. Botswana is home to the largest elephant population on the planet, and during the dry season from June to October, the herds that gather along the Chobe River are breathtaking in scale. Large buffalo herds and lion prides are also a feature, and the river cruises at sunset are one of the loveliest game-viewing activities in Botswana. Chobe sits just an hour from Victoria Falls, making it a natural start or end point for anyone combining Botswana with a Zimbabwe or Zambia extension.
Savuti
The Savuti Marsh area sits in the western section of Chobe National Park and has a character entirely its own. Once a vast lake, the area is now defined by the erratic Savuti Channel, which has flowed only intermittently over the past several decades, and the drama that comes with a landscape of waterholes, open plains, and dense predator activity. Lions, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, and hyena are all regularly encountered here, drawn by the large herbivore populations that the area supports year-round.
Kwando, Selinda and Linyanti
The Savuti Marsh area sits in the western section of Chobe National Park and has a character entirely its own. Once a vast lake, the area is now defined by the erratic Savuti Channel, which has flowed only intermittently over the past several decades, and the drama that comes with a landscape of waterholes, open plains, and dense predator activity. Lions, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, and hyena are all regularly encountered here, drawn by the large herbivore populations that the area supports year-round.
Khwai Community Concession
Bordering both the Moremi Game Reserve and the Okavango Delta, the Khwai Concession is community-owned and operated, which means your visit directly supports the livelihoods of the local Khwai community. Night drives, walking safaris, game drives, and mokoro excursions are all on offer, and the year-round Khwai River draws a remarkable diversity of wildlife throughout every season. An excellent and increasingly popular addition to a broader Delta itinerary.
Makgadikgadi Pans
One of Botswana’s most unusual and captivating destinations, the Makgadikgadi salt pans stretch across an ancient lakebed of extraordinary scale. In the dry season, the pans offer a surreal, otherworldly landscape of cracked earth and enormous skies, perfect for quad biking, meerkat encounters, and searching for the black-maned Kalahari lions. After the summer rains, the transformation is dramatic. The pans fill with water, flamingoes arrive in their thousands, and large herds of zebra, wildebeest, and springbok follow the green flush across the plains.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
Ancient, magnificent, and genuinely remote, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in the world. The classic dry season landscape of red dunes, open plains, and iconic Kalahari trees is unlike anything else in Botswana, and the wildlife that has adapted to this semi-arid environment is compelling in its own right. Black-maned lions, cheetah, gemsbok, and springbok are all found here, and the night skies, far from any artificial light, are among the finest in Africa. Deception Valley is a particular highlight, with game viewing and a sense of space that is difficult to match anywhere.
Contact us to chat about your Botswana Safari
Frequently Asked Questions about Botswana Safaris
How to Get Around Botswana
Almost all safaris in Botswana are fly-in experiences, which is as much a feature as it is a practicality. Light aircraft transfers between camps are the norm, and flying low over the Okavango Delta, watching the extraordinary patchwork of channels and islands unfold beneath you, is one of the great pleasures of the Botswana experience.
Helicopter transfers and scenic flights have become increasingly popular, and it is easy to understand why. A helicopter flight over the Delta offers a perspective that is simply impossible to replicate from the ground, hovering over floodplains and following channels through the papyrus with views that stretch to the horizon. Many camps can arrange scenic helicopter flights as an add-on activity, and for those moving between certain camps, a helicopter transfer can be arranged in place of a fixed-wing flight. It costs more, but for a special occasion or a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it is worth serious consideration.
The main gateway towns are Maun, which serves the Okavango Delta and the broader northern safari circuit, and Kasane, which is the gateway to Chobe and sits just an hour from Victoria Falls. Both are served by daily direct flights from Johannesburg, connecting seamlessly with international arrivals.
It is worth noting that planning a Botswana safari independently is genuinely complicated. Light aircraft routing, luggage restrictions, camp availability, and seasonal considerations all require careful coordination, and this is one of the destinations in Africa where working with an experienced specialist like Explore and Travel Africa makes a real and tangible difference to both the quality and the value of your trip. For full logistical detail, see ourBotswana Travel Guide.
Is Botswana suitable for first-time safari travellers?
Absolutely, though it helps to approach it with the right expectations. Botswana is not the easiest destination logistically, as the fly-in transfers, luggage restrictions, and remote locations require a degree of flexibility and adventure spirit. For travellers who want an effortless introduction to African safari travel, combining Botswana with a few nights in South Africa is an excellent approach. For those who are ready to dive straight into something extraordinary, Botswana will not disappoint.
What is the best time to visit Botswana?
The dry season from June to October is generally considered the finest time for wildlife viewing. The bush thins out, animals concentrate around water sources, and the game viewing reaches its peak intensity. The green season from December to March offers lush landscapes, exceptional birding, and significantly lower rates. The shoulder months of April to June and November offer a compelling middle ground. For a full breakdown of the seasons, see our Botswana Travel Guide.
How much does a Botswana safari cost?
Botswana sits at the premium end of the safari spectrum, with fully inclusive nightly rates broadly ranging from around $500 per person at comfortable 3 to 4-star level to $3,200 and above at the most exclusive premier camps. Internal charter flights are an additional cost. A well-planned 8-night safari at 4-star luxury level in high season typically runs from around $9,000 per person. For a full pricing breakdown, see our Luxury Botswana Safari Cost Guide.
Do I need a visa to visit Botswana?
Botswana sits at the premium end of the safari spectrum, with fully inclusive nightly rates broadly ranging from around $500 per person at comfortable 3 to 4-star level to $3,200 and above at the most exclusive premier camps. Internal charter flights are an additional cost. A well-planned 8-night safari at 4-star luxury level in high season typically runs from around $9,000 per person. For a full pricing breakdown, see our Luxury Botswana Safari Cost Guide.
Can children visit Botswana?
Absolutely, and a Botswana safari can be a genuinely transformative experience for young travellers. That said, there are a few important formalities to be aware of before you travel.
Children travelling to and from Botswana are required to carry an unabridged birth certificate – the full version that lists both parents’ details. This applies whether the child is travelling with both parents, one parent, or a guardian, and border officials are strict about this requirement. If a child is travelling with only one parent, a letter of consent from the absent parent is also strongly recommended, and in some cases required. Guardians travelling with children who are not their own should carry a letter of authority from both parents, alongside copies of the parents’ identity documents or passports. These requirements also apply at all land border crossings, including the popular Victoria Falls to Kasane crossing.
On the safari side, minimum age policies vary between lodges and activities. Many of Botswana’s private concession camps have a minimum age of twelve for game drives, and walking safaris and mokoro excursions often require guests to be sixteen or older. Some camps are more flexible, particularly those with family-specific accommodation. If you are travelling with children, let us know their ages when planning and we will match you with the lodges and activities that suit your family best.
What are the luggage restrictions on a Botswana safari?
All internal Botswana flights require soft bags only, with no hard-shell cases or rigid frames. The total weight allowance is 20kg or 44lbs per person, including hand luggage and camera equipment. Most safari camps provide complimentary laundry, so you need far less than you might think. On the subject of weight restrictions, body weight is required to send to the airlines for load control. Anyone over about 100kg’s / 220 lbs should advise us at time of booking so we can check with the airline.
Can Botswana be combined with other destinations?
Absolutely, and we would actively encourage it. Botswana pairs beautifully with a visit to Victoria Falls, a Zimbabwe or Zambia safari, or a few nights in the private reserves of South Africa. Our team designs seamless multi-destination itineraries across southern and eastern Africa, and many of our favourite journeys combine two or three countries into one unforgettable trip.
