Botswana Safaris

Botswana Attractions and Destinations

There is a Botswana adventure safari just right for you, or one tailored to your needs whether it be a luxury safari or a budget safari, Botswana and Africa Discovery truly offer you some of the best safari opportunities in southern Africa. Botswana is a largely unspoiled country. The soft green Okavango Delta, the red sands of the Kalahari, vast herds of elephant for some of the best wildlife in Africa, wonderful bird life, hunter-gatherers in the desert and modern businessmen in Gaborone, the capital.

Most safari visitors are attracted by two very different, yet equally intriguing areas - the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert.

The great Kalahari Desert covers over 80% of Botswana. The landscape is neither harsh nor inhospitable, but supports a great number of wildlife species. The Kalahari is a semiarid zone of sands, savannah and grasslands stretching from the southern reaches of the Congo to the Orange River in the Cape. Vast salt pans pepper the surface, and it is here, that the African Kalahari wildlife gather. The lakes the salinity is too high for them to drink but they are attracted to the greater diversity of vegetation and high mineral deposits.

Kalahari antelope species include eland, springbok, gemsbok, steenbok, hartebeest and duiker. There are also giraffe, kudu, warthog, jackal, hyena and bat-eared fox. The Kalahari is famous for its bushmen - the San people. They are traditional hunter-gatherers said to live the lifestyle closest to that of the people of the Stone Age. Only found in Botswana, Namibia and Angola in any numbers, these people are now finding it necessary to move into the twentieth century. Their way of life is fading so you will not be able to observe it for many more years.

African Safaris in the Okavango Delta

The Okavango River rather eccentrically, does not flow into the sea but into the greatest inland river delta in the world. The Delta is not the place for abundant big game, however, the crystal clear waters and little islets shelter rich and varied bird and plant life. There is a multitude of smaller animals. Paddle your way around the tangle of waterways in the traditional mokoro or dug-out canoe.

Not far from the Okavango Delta is Chobe, an area of rolling grassland renowned for its vast elephant population. The enormous Makgadikgadi salt pans, once a great lake, are home to flocks of rosy flamingos, herds of blue wildebeest and various antelope.

Recommendations for Visiting Botswana by Cindi LaRaia If you are looking for the very best opportunity to see a great diversity in Africa my recommendation would be to visit Botswana. Botswana is Africa’s shining light, with a stable democracy, peaceful people, honest politicians (yes) positive GDP growth and money in the bank are the reasons for this countries success! The county is huge with many different geographic areas, which account for the huge diversity in animal life. Most of Botswana lies in the Kalahari Desert, the Okavango Delta a wondrous wetland within a desert, receiving its waters from rain over a thousand kilometers away, sustaining a huge diversity of flora and fauna. For instance in the north east of the country; the Chobe and Linyanti parks are renowned for their predators and large concentrations of game. Giant herds of hippo, crocodile, elephant, red lechwe, zebra, giraffe, sable, roan, waterbuck, buffalo, baboon, monkey, warthog, lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and hyena. Here you can do different activities such as mokoring, which is a lovely way to be a part of the delta in a small boat while your guide uses a pole to traverse this enchanted area. Also daily game drives and short nature walks are part of activities in Botswana. In the south central area lies the dry Kalahari and Makgadikgadi pans, the desert experience species unique to the area as well as the geology, archaeology and anthropology of the Kalahari and salt pans. Botswana is by far the fairest of them all in terms of most diversity of wildlife and abundance. The camps we use are in private concessions, which harbor the most prolific game in Botswana. -- Cindi LaRaia