Why Botswana?
Botswana may be landlocked, but its complex river systems define the country’s landscapes. The Okavango Delta is an ever-changing wetland best experienced by mokoro – a traditional canoe that glides through the papyrus-lined waterways, yielding breathtaking views of birds, crocodiles, lechwe, elephants and so much more.
Conversely, Botswana is home to the expansive Kalahari Desert and the Makgadikgadi Pans, the latter an ancient lake now one of the world’s largest salt pans. There’s nothing quite like a Botswana safari for immersing yourself in the contrasts between delta and desert, nor is there a destination better-suited for untethering from daily life. The finest safari lodges here are remote, designed to integrate with the environment and accommodate just a few visitors at a time – ensuring a delightfully private, luxurious holiday.
Seasoned bush pilots will fly you between lodges where you’ll meet experienced local guides who understand the land and wildlife movements. Botswana is spectacular year-round, but its nuanced seasonality and animal migration patterns demand expert planning. Let Journeysmiths curate your exclusive safari and connect with nature like never before.
Conversely, Botswana is home to the expansive Kalahari Desert and the Makgadikgadi Pans, the latter an ancient lake now one of the world’s largest salt pans. There’s nothing quite like a Botswana safari for immersing yourself in the contrasts between delta and desert, nor is there a destination better-suited for untethering from daily life. The finest safari lodges here are remote, designed to integrate with the environment and accommodate just a few visitors at a time – ensuring a delightfully private, luxurious holiday.
Seasoned bush pilots will fly you between lodges where you’ll meet experienced local guides who understand the land and wildlife movements. Botswana is spectacular year-round, but its nuanced seasonality and animal migration patterns demand expert planning. Let Journeysmiths curate your exclusive safari and connect with nature like never before.
- Best in southern Africa for an exclusive, ultra-private safari.
- Spectacular landscape contrasts from river to desert.
- Home to Africa’s largest population of elephants and hundreds of species of birds, plus big cats, wild dogs and rare antelopes – just to name a few.
- Superb small lodges on vast private wildlife concessions.
- Diverse activity and wildlife viewing options including boats, walks, open vehicles, canoe and horseback.
- Great for safaris all year round.
Botswana Locations
Okavango Delta
Botswana’s Okavango Delta is one of southern Africa’s most iconic landscapes. The elaborate waterways ebb and flow with the seasons, creating an unparalleled wildlife viewing experience any time of year.
Moremi
From dry savannah to delta wetlands, the Moremi Game Reserve is a wildlife oasis. Created in 1963 to protect wild animals from hunters, Moremi’s expanse includes one-third of the eastern Okavango Delta.
Linyanti & Savuti
The Selinda Spillway connects the Okavango Delta to the floodplains and swamps of the Linyanti River. During the dry season, this region becomes a magnet for incredible concentrations of wildlife.
Chobe National Park
Easily reached via Kasane Airport, Chobe National Park protects a vast swath of northern Botswana’s diverse landscapes. From forest to floodplain, all manner of wildlife can be found in this magnificent park.
Kalahari
In dramatic contrast to the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert receives almost no rain for most of the year. Wildlife and plants alike must adapt to the harsh conditions until the rainy season arrives.
Makgadikgadi
The Makgadikgadi Pan is an expansive salt flat – one of the largest in the world – that offers a safari experience like no other. Zebras migrate across the pan from December to March and the birdwatching is outstanding, too.
Top 10 Botswana Experiences
The sheer quantity of wildlife in Botswana is staggering; tens of thousands of elephants are just the headline when it comes to the immense diversity of life. A safari to Botswana feels as though you are stepping back thousands of years into what untouched Africa once was. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.The sheer quantity of wildlife in Botswana is staggering; tens of thousands of elephants are just the headline when it comes to the immense diversity of life. A safari to Botswana feels as though you are stepping back thousands of years into what untouched Africa once was.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
We’ve compiled a list of our favourite experiences to inspire your imagination.
1. Take a Helicopter over the Delta
All the descriptions in the world can’t compete with seeing the magnificent and huge Okavango Delta from the air. It’s only then that it’s possible to appreciate the expanse of the delta as it fans into a myriad of waterways and wetlands bringing life-giving water to a place that would otherwise be arid and sterile.
From your seat in a nimble and rapid chopper, you will buzz over the wildlife and landscape of this African Garden of Eden, a birds-eye view enabling your pilot to show you great groups of elephant, herds of wildebeest, zebra and the water-adapted lechwe.
From your seat in a nimble and rapid chopper, you will buzz over the wildlife and landscape of this African Garden of Eden, a birds-eye view enabling your pilot to show you great groups of elephant, herds of wildebeest, zebra and the water-adapted lechwe.
2. Sunset over the Chobe River
There is nothing quite like the beauty of an African sunset. In northern Botswana, it’s a time for animals to sip from the waterways of the Chobe River in the subsiding heat before the land is handed over to nocturnal creatures.
For a front-row seat, take a sundowner cruise on the Chobe River. The glorious skies reflecting off the water create an enveloping spectacle. You’ll sit back and sip a cocktail whilst you watch elephant, buffalo and antelope lapping at the water’s edge, senses alert to the possibility of lurking wild dogs and lion.
For a front-row seat, take a sundowner cruise on the Chobe River. The glorious skies reflecting off the water create an enveloping spectacle. You’ll sit back and sip a cocktail whilst you watch elephant, buffalo and antelope lapping at the water’s edge, senses alert to the possibility of lurking wild dogs and lion.
3. Quad Biking on the Makgadikgadi Pans
You’ll see the sentinels of the meerkat, groups of rapidly-running ostriches, and the landmarks of sparse but prominent and surreal baobab trees as you head out into the salt pans of Makgadikgadi. It’s here that the environment becomes dazzling white, flat and sterile.
The pans are what remains of an ancient great lake, once larger than Switzerland but now all but gone through evaporation, so there is plenty of space to have an exhilarating adventure on your own four-wheeled steed of powerful propulsion.
The pans are what remains of an ancient great lake, once larger than Switzerland but now all but gone through evaporation, so there is plenty of space to have an exhilarating adventure on your own four-wheeled steed of powerful propulsion.
4. A Mokoro Canoe in the Okavango
From water level, the world seems bigger and more personal: you’ll see looming elephants drinking and basking crocodiles, and there’ll be intimate sights of flitting dragonflies and colourful reed frogs.
By taking a tranquil journey in a Mokoro canoe, expertly punted by your guide, you’ll be having an experience shared by local inhabitants of the delta for thousands of years. These slender and elegant canoes were traditionally made from the hollowed-out trunks of hardwood trees, but the modern fibreglass versions not only preserve local trees but are also much more comfortable.
By taking a tranquil journey in a Mokoro canoe, expertly punted by your guide, you’ll be having an experience shared by local inhabitants of the delta for thousands of years. These slender and elegant canoes were traditionally made from the hollowed-out trunks of hardwood trees, but the modern fibreglass versions not only preserve local trees but are also much more comfortable.
5. A Drive amongst Giants
There’s a festival atmosphere to the great congregations of elephant during the months of August to November. At every turn, you’ll see more of these magnificent mammals browsing, bathing and consuming thousands of litres of water.
The Chobe Linyanti area contains the largest population of free-ranging elephants on the whole of the African continent, and this becomes abundantly apparent during the dry season when they have no choice but to flock to the more permanent sources of grazing and water provided by the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers. This isn’t just a herd of elephant, it’s a herd of herds; a meta-herd that will blow your mind.
The Chobe Linyanti area contains the largest population of free-ranging elephants on the whole of the African continent, and this becomes abundantly apparent during the dry season when they have no choice but to flock to the more permanent sources of grazing and water provided by the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers. This isn’t just a herd of elephant, it’s a herd of herds; a meta-herd that will blow your mind.
6. A Private Safari in the Okavango Delta
The Swahili word ‘safari’ means ‘journey’, and the best and most authentic journeys are those of discovery. We suggest that you return to the spirit of pre-modern African journeys by including a few days of mobile safari. In the company of an expert guide and small team, you will have the same safari camp moving with you, just as all true explorers would do.
It’s still as comfortable as possible, but it’s an environmentally friendly and low-impact way of seeing the glory of the Okavango Delta. This is the style of a true safari, and every animal encounter along the way will be richly deserved.
It’s still as comfortable as possible, but it’s an environmentally friendly and low-impact way of seeing the glory of the Okavango Delta. This is the style of a true safari, and every animal encounter along the way will be richly deserved.
7. Meet the San Bushmen
We may think we are wise, but a day spent with the San people of the Kalahari Desert may encourage you to re-assess yourself and the values of the modern world. These people have walked the sands for more than 70,000 years, surviving in harmony with their environment through click-laden oral traditions which maintain their survival against the odds.
Imagine a society where material wealth is considered a burden, where there is no personal property and therefore nobody can think themselves better than anyone else. The wisdom of elders and of fellow animals is revered, plants are deeply understood, dance and rock art are interwoven with a rich spiritual tradition: there is much to learn from these wise and gentle people.
Imagine a society where material wealth is considered a burden, where there is no personal property and therefore nobody can think themselves better than anyone else. The wisdom of elders and of fellow animals is revered, plants are deeply understood, dance and rock art are interwoven with a rich spiritual tradition: there is much to learn from these wise and gentle people.
8. Breakfast, Bush-style
The cool air of the dawn is the best part of the day in any African country. It’s the time to head out on an early-morning safari to see the stirring animals as they start their foraging and daily rhythm of life. You’ll already have had unforgettable encounters by the time you arrive at a grove of trees where there is – as if by magic – a table laden with abundant and delicious food.
It’s a breakfast like no other, expertly prepared by cooks who have years of experience of conjuring up delicacies with minimal equipment. There’ll be omelettes and pancakes, pastries and bacon, fresh fruit and yoghurt, along with juices, tea and gorgeous coffee. Then it’s time to head back to camp for a snooze!
It’s a breakfast like no other, expertly prepared by cooks who have years of experience of conjuring up delicacies with minimal equipment. There’ll be omelettes and pancakes, pastries and bacon, fresh fruit and yoghurt, along with juices, tea and gorgeous coffee. Then it’s time to head back to camp for a snooze!
9. A Bed Beneath the Stars
From your perch above a waterhole, with the whole spectrum of animal life journeying back and forth below, your eyes will be drawn increasing upwards as the day comes to its conclusion, first to the blood-red blazing sunset and then to the glorious heavens above.
It’s a humbling experience to lie in a sky bed atop the platform beneath the whole sweep of the Milky Way, with shooting stars and a moon so clear that it seems to be within touching distance. On the Khwai Private Reserve, their three sky bed platforms are quietly exclusive. Your alfresco bedroom is raised two stories above the ground, there’s a warm duvet and even a hot water bottle if required, all the better to revel in the majesty of the Botswanan sky.
It’s a humbling experience to lie in a sky bed atop the platform beneath the whole sweep of the Milky Way, with shooting stars and a moon so clear that it seems to be within touching distance. On the Khwai Private Reserve, their three sky bed platforms are quietly exclusive. Your alfresco bedroom is raised two stories above the ground, there’s a warm duvet and even a hot water bottle if required, all the better to revel in the majesty of the Botswanan sky.
10. Botswana’s Big Cats
The evening belongs to the stealthy feline predators of the African bush. You’ll set off in the late afternoon at the time when these agile and highly tuned animals begin to stir and start their daily hunt. In the lengthening shadows, coolness and the encroaching dusk, their senses and patience come into their own: herbivores beware, there are hungry eyes watching and considering an easy meal. Expert guides, with instincts fine-tuned to the habits of the big cats, will reveal leopard and lion as they stalk the diverse and fertile Okavango environment. This is their domain, and, for the evening, you will glimpse their dominance.
Best Places to Stay in Botswana
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Xigera Safari Lodge
Catering to just 24 guests, Xigera Safari Lodge in the Okavango Delta offers an exclusive, intimate and personal experience, with phenomenal animal encounters both on land and on the water. The thoughtful service and generous hospitality is the cherry on top.
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Chobe Under Canvas
One of the most authentic ways to visit Chobe National Park without compromising on luxury, Chobe Under Canvas offers excellent service, delicious ‘bush’ cuisine and an unmatched atmosphere. The camp is repositioned regularly to give you exceptional game viewing of the rich wildlife inhabiting the Chobe Riverfront.
Linyanti & Savuti, Botswana
Zarafa Camp
Under a canopy of ebony trees, Botswana’s first Relais & Châteaux member property sits in all its glory. A photographer’s dream, Zarafa Camp is a private property where guests revel in luxury, as well as natural beauty. Downstream, the show stopping Dhow Suite - perhaps the most exclusive property in the whole of Botswana - promises to be absolutely unforgettable.
Makgadikgadi, Botswana
Jack's Camp
An iconic camp that harks back to an era of glamour, Jack’s Camp is set in the striking Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Whether visiting in the dry or green season, Jack’s offers guests an exceptionally stylish place to stay while admiring the wildlife and unique beauty of the pans.
For Families
Choosing the right country is the starting point in creating the perfect luxury safari for your family. On safari in South Africa, you can expect exciting game viewing, a range of activities, privacy and the chance to engage with local cultures.Choosing the right country is the starting point in creating the perfect luxury safari for your family. On safari in South Africa, you can expect exciting game viewing, a range of activities, privacy and the chance to engage with local cultures.
Article
Top 10 Family Activities in Botswana
Booking your family safari to Botswana opens a door to a world of exciting adventure. From the minute your Cessna touches the bush strip, your family will be in the wilds with expert guides. We curated the top 10 family experiences in Botswana to whet your appetite.
Family Trip Idea
Family Safari in Botswana
From the glistening floodplains of the Okavango Delta, to the pristine wilderness of Linyanti, and beyond to the shimmering salt flats of Makgadikgadi - this family friendly safari will leave you all with lifelong memories. Experience the diverse ecosystems and wildlife Botswana has to offer in this spectacular journey from Delta to Desert.
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Botswana Family Safaris
Botswana is Africa’s most exclusive safari destination. Each enormous private reserve has just one or two luxury lodges guaranteeing a series of private experiences as you travel from one exquisite location to the next. Expert guides will take your family on safari among big cats and vast elephant herds in beautiful deltas and deserts.
The Most Incredible Itinerary
Nigel
United Kingdom
"I contacted Paul to help sort a special holiday. He delivered the most incredible itinerary that fulfilled all of our expectations and more. We felt the attention to detail in all aspects of our trip to both Botswana and Zambia enabled us to relax and enjoy this special occasion. We have memories to treasure and have already started talking with Paul for our next adventure. Thank you for a very professional service."
Botswana in Pictures
Private Journeys Tailored to You
We are a boutique travel specialist. For over 30 years we have been crafting the finest tailor-made holidays to the world’s wild places. Your time is precious and with a world to see, we understand the importance of getting it absolutely right for you every time.We are a boutique travel specialist. For over 30 years we have been crafting the finest tailor-made holidays to the world’s wild places. Your time is precious and with a world to see, we understand the importance of getting it absolutely right for you every time.
Who are Journeysmiths?
An experienced team of well-travelled individuals, passionate about crafting journeys that are as exceptional as they are personal, while maximising our positive impact on the places in which we work.
Why Travel With Us?
While the evolution of travel and technology has seen much change at Journeysmiths over the years, our fundamental beliefs about the perfect holiday have not.
Positive Impact Mission
Journeysmiths mission is to inspire and expand peoples horizons through exceptional travel experiences, while preserving the natural world for future generations.
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