Vacations Blog

Botswana is a landlocked country in the centre of southern Africa and covers an area of 581,700 sq km. Botswana is a peaceful, politically stable, independent and wealthy country which is well known for offering some of the finest luxury safaris.

South Africa, Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, Zimbabwe and a very short section of Zambia all border Botswana!
International law has never precisely determined the exact demarcation of this unique four-way border junction on the Zambezi River in the north. With it’s centre being Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the over-riding feature of the country is the Kalahari Desert; nearly all (82% or so) of Botswana is therefore very arid. To the north east of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve lie the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans whilst, in the northwest and below Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, is the famous Okavango Delta which dovetails with the Moremi Game Reserve. To the north east of Moremi is the equally well-known Chobe National Park, which is often busy and easily accessible from Victoria Falls

Botswana provides luxury safaris as a year round destination. Summer tends to be hot with afternoon storms; this is also the rainy season of December – April in this part of the southern hemisphere.
The game viewing in certain areas can be good at this time of year although one must expect rain during a safari and the odd storm is not monsoon-like, instead simply bringing everything to life which is so alluring and lovely. This time of year is so different from the dry, arid, scorched earth that is the main feature of the June to October “winter” when most people visit Botswana and game viewing is normally at its best; in summer the animals drop their young and the vegetation is lush and green. These months are cool and dry and feature two very important seasonal occurrences: the seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta and the ungulate migration across the Makgadikgadi Pans.

Early in the year the Delta flooding is initiated by rains miles to the north. Here the Cubango River rises in the Angolan Mountains then, gaining momentum, flows through Namibia’s Caprivi before finally entering northern Botswana as the Okavango. Thus the marvellous Okavango Delta is seasonally fed each year by a vast quantity of water which sweeps south eastwards and enters Botswana being funnelled through parallel tectonic faults as a deep and fast-flowing – yet shallow-contoured – river before spilling into the 15,000 square kilometre maze of lagoons, channels and islands which is the delta shaped fan of the Okavango.

Activities are marvellously varied on a Botswana luxury safari, as example one might view game or simply enjoy the scenery from motorised boats, on foot, in vehicles or – the best! – from a mekoro which is the local flat-bottomed boat usually “poled” by a guide. safari to Botswana Named after its river on its northern boundary, Chobe National Park is renowned throughout Africa for having some of the highest concentrations of elephants.  Botswana luxury The Linyanti, in the north-western corner of Chobe, is a fragment of almost 900 square kilometres of the secluded Linyanti Swamp and the area is further expanded by the Selinda Reserve in the west and Namibia’s remote Mamili National Park on the northern bank of the Kwando River.

It is not only the quality of game viewing and the guiding that makes Botswana an excellent destination for a luxury holiday. safari to Botswana Created properly, it is no problem to build a safari that is truly luxurious in terms of accommodation whether using lodges, permanent tented camps or glorious mobile camps, depending on the activity that one is undertaking. Lodges are, of course, “solid” in terms of construction but permanent tented camps are very lovely, with full en suite facilities and offer a more a genuine “feel” of the bush whilst being similar in modus operandum to what one might be used to in east Africa or the better camps in Namibia. The mobiles can be equally lovely, en suite Meru style tents may be set up and fitted out along east African lines although some are slightly more basic for the more adventurous client, as they are more easily moved on a daily basis.. There’s therefore plenty of choice in the Delta and surrounding regions if one wants to mix some luxury pampering with something more adventurous (or focus entirely on one or the other) whilst, in the Kalahari, there are two excellent desert-based camps with very different styles and feel