Why we love Botswana

From the thriving waterways of the Okavango Delta to the mighty Kalahari Desert’s ancient baobabs and meerkats, to the Chobe National Park, where immense herds of elephants can be found, Botswana offers you equal parts adventure and comfort. Below are our must visit locations when taking a luxury Botswana safari.

1) Chobe National Park

The Chobe National Park is in northern Botswana and is known for its large herds of elephants as they converge along the banks of the Chobe River in the dry months to drink and play at the water's edge in their boisterous herds. The floodable grasslands of the Savuti Marsh attract numerous bird species and migrating zebras. Lions, antelopes, and hippos inhabit the woods and lagoons around Linyanti Marsh.

Suggested Safari: Best of Cape Town & Botswana

2) Okavango Delta

Bordering the southern section of the famous Moremi Game Reserve this private concession is home to a wide variety of big game including elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippo, lion, leopard, cheetah, and wild dog.

One of the best ways to see the wildlife is in one of the locally made dugout canoes, known as a mokoro. Float around the waterways and lagoons that make up the delta, looking out for hippos and crocodiles in the water, but also getting a remarkable view of the plains game from a new and exciting angle.

Suggested Safari: Ultimate Botswana & Zambia

3) Moremi Game Reserve

The Moremi Reserve is situated at the heart of the Okavango Delta and was the first wildlife area to be protected by the local tribal people. It is a wildlife haven that allows free movement of animals according to seasonal migration. Home to the most endangered species of large mammals: the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog, and lion. There are over 500 bird species and over a 1,000 species of plants. This ecosystem is amongst the richest in Africa.

Suggested Safari: Botswana for the Discerning Traveler

4) Linyanti Wildlife Reserve

Linyanti is an enormous reserve covering an area of 481 square miles and teeming in wildlife. The limited number of lodges and camps creates an unrivalled atmosphere of remoteness and vastness. Although the concession lies within the greater Chobe National Park, it has a distinctly different eco-system with the permanently flowing Linyanti River forming channels and lagoons which provide a permanent water source attracting wildlife all year long. During the dry winter months, the elephant population swells to several thousand.

Suggested Safari: Platinum Botswana

5) Selinda Reserve

The private 320,000-acre Selinda Reserve is in northern Botswana, bordering Linyanti to the East and the Kwando Reserve to the North. The Selinda Spillway is a usually dry channel that connects the Linyanti river system to the Okavango. On the rare occasion that these channels connect, Selinda springs to life with a game density that is hard to beat anywhere. Crowds of elephants and buffalo line the spillway’s banks. Trees cradle sleeping leopards while lions, hyenas, and cheetahs observe the grasslands that may contain their next meal. Wildlife interaction is at its best in the dry season where the reserve’s residents compete for permanent water sources. The rainy season brings life to the bush and attracts the area’s array of birdlife, with 300 species have been recorded in the reserve.

Suggested Safari: Platinum Botswana

6) The Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah. It covers much of Botswana, the eastern third of Namibia and the northernmost part of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa. The Kalahari Desert is not actually a desert in the as it receives too much rainfall (between 5 and 10 inches annually). The rain filters rapidly through the vast expanses of sand, leaving nothing on the surface, turning the Kalahari into the "thirstland". Arid-adapted game includes springbok, gemsbok (oryx), wildebeest, and kudu. Desert specialties such as meerkat, bat-eared foxes, cape fox and brown hyena can be found here too. All three African big cats can be found here as well – cheetah, leopard, and the famous black-maned Kalahari lions.

Suggested Safari: Platinum Botswana

7) Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is a salt pan covering an area of 9,942 square miles. Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan but many pans with sandy desert in between, making it one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is the remnant of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi. During the wet season, the pans are filled with water and attract large flocks of flamingos, as well as one of Africa’s biggest zebra populations, springbok and wildebeest, followed closely by predators, making for fantastic game viewing.

Suggested Safari: Platinum Botswana

On a safari in Botswana, you will experience truly amazing guides who share their stories about how they ended up as guides, where they grew up and the vast knowledge they have about life with the animals. It’s way more than just seeing animals and checking off what you’ve seen. On safari you have time to sit and get to know the animals and watch their behavior, how they interact, and even play.

Finally, at the end of the day, after incredible game-viewing experiences, it’s time to sit back and relax with a drink in hand, as the sun sets. African sunsets never disappoint.

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