Botswana safari

David, Christina and Annabel Surtees

❝ One night we had sundowners next to a small pond but parked on 'hippo highway'. Those hippos who had been on the other side of the pond when we arrived moved closer and closer and started opening their jaws, until we left. All in all, we felt extremely privileged on the whole trip.

Luxury family safaris in Botswana

David and his family experienced one of our luxury Botswana safaris that our team put together for them to enjoy the holiday of a lifetime to a safari park in Botswana where they saw hippos, lions, giraffes, rhinos and many othere safari animals.

Botswana really does offer the safari of a lifetime and has amazing scenary, animals and attractions that will keep you busy even when the safari park is sleeping. We recommend Botswana safaris to first timers and experienced safari veterans as it has all the ingredients to be the best African safari you have ever been privelaged enough to experience.

Whether you are looking for a romantic retreat for a couple or a family safari in Africa we can help and give you plenty of options, our luxury safari parks in Africa offer more than your wildest dreams and there is a safari park to suit you.

Visiting the Central Kalahari Game Reserve during your Botswana Safari

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is 52,800 square kilometres making it larger than both Denmark and Switzerland and the world’s second largest game reserve. The best time to visit the reserve during your Botswana Safari is just after or during the rains in January through to April as the grazing is at its best. The landscape is generally flat with bush and grasses covering the sand dunes with the occasional area of larger trees. There are four fossilised rivers in the reserve too including Deception Valley which is 16,000 years old. During your Botswana Safari you will definitely find out about the local people of the Kalahari who are the Basarwa or San, also known as Bushmen. They are nomadic hunters and gatherers who have lived in the area for the past 30,000 years whose way of life has been increasingly threatened in recent times. They were the first people to live in the Kalahari but the Bushmen now face challenges to their land. They do not believe in land ownership but the reserve was created to provide them with a safe place to live. However, since the 1990s the Botswana government has been trying to move the Bushmen from the reserve for economic reasons, not least the possible mining opportunities in the region. The reserve is covered by a variety of grass, acacia, thorn trees and other drought resistant plants. Tsamma melons and gemsbok cucumbers can be spotted occasionally which provide much needed moisture to animals and Bushmen during the dry season.

Botswana Safari to see the Wildlife of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve

In the Central Kalahari Game Reserve you will find mostly desert species and this means you will see very different wildlife compared to your Botswana Safari to other areas of the country. Water dependant animals such as elephants are not seen but you will see plenty of cheetahs, leopards and lions. After the summer rains animals travel from all over the region to eat the sudden growth of grasses and the area is completely transformed into a wildlife haven. Be careful during your Botswana Safari as there are also many snakes and scorpions in the region. The scorpions with thick tails and small pincers are the most dangerous whilst the ones with small tails and big pincers look scary but in fact just give a very painful sting.

Packing for a Botswana Safari

When packing for your Botswana Safari you need to remember that like most deserts, the Kalahari is very hot in the day and surprisingly cold at night. It is also a malarial area. It is vital that you pack adequate mosquito protection as well as plenty of sun protection. You would be well advised to pack plenty of light weight long-sleeved tops as well as a good wide brimmed hat. Given that most camps are very remote, a torch will be a vital piece of equipment. Whatever you do, don’t forget your binoculars and a camera!

Visit the Gaborone Game Reserve during your Botswana Safari

The Gaborone Game Reserve is a small reserve which was established in 1988 to provide the city dwellers of Gaborone with a convenient opportunity to view some of Botswana’s wildlife. It is quite small at only 600 hectares but easy to visit reserve if you spend any part of your Botswana Safari in the capital city. Its location means that it is in fact Botswana’s third busiest reserve and one of the benefits of travelling there is having the opportunity to mingle with local people who will be visiting too. Unlike most parks, the roads can be traversed in a normal car and there is no need to hire a guide. The park has no major predators in it or elephants but there are a couple of rhinos in a more enclosed section of the park. However, as you will see during your Botswana Safari, the country’s real gems are its birds and you will get to see plenty of them in the park. The reserve has a huge variety of habitats for its size including thorn scrub, woodland, riverine forest and marshland. This provides an ideal habitat for a wide range of birds with raptors like the snake eagle as well as the brightly coloured crimson boubou and the purple gallinule being regularly seen in the reserve. Other animals that you will be likely to see include impalas, kudus, ostriches, wildebeests, zebras, bushbucks, springboks, duikers and elands.

Botswana Safari to see the lions of Gaborone

Another popular tourist attraction in Gaborone is St. Claire Lion Park which is set in woodland 14km from the capital. The park is home to a number of lions as well as having a feeding site for Cape Vultures. There are three dams to relax by as well as horse trails, playgrounds and a restaurant. It is a popular place for families from the capital to go to at the weekend and is a great place to have a picnic whilst enjoying the beautiful surroundings and a perfect place to relax during your Botswana Safari.

 Other things to do in Gaborone during your Botswana Safari

If you are whiling away some time in Gaborone then an unusual place to take a look at is Orapa House which is a building in the city centre where diamonds are sorted. You will discover during your Botswana Safari that the country has a lot of diamond mining and these diamonds are all sent to Gaborone to be graded with over 30 million carats inspected each year. The building has been specially designed to maximise natural light as this is essential for accurate diamond grading. Another quiet interlude in your Botswana Safari is the National Botanic Garden. These beautiful and recently created gardens are nine acres in size. Another attraction is the National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery. The museum is mainly of interest to those who like taxidermy but there are also a number of interesting ethnographic exhibits.