Botswana

Botswana is renowned for its exceptional safari experiences, attracting nature enthusiasts and wildlife lovers from around the world. The country's diverse and pristine landscapes, including vast savannahs, marshes, and the iconic Okavango Delta.

Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa and has a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which is the world's largest inland delta, and its unique ecosystem supports an incredible variety of wildlife. Explore the delta by traditional mokoro (dugout canoe) or motorboat, allowing visitors to glide through narrow water channels, spotting hippos, crocodiles, and various bird species. Game drives on nearby islands offer sightings of elephants, buffalo, giraffes, lions, and more.

Chobe National Park, located in northern Botswana, is renowned for its massive elephant herds. A Chobe safari often includes a river cruise along the Chobe River, where you can witness elephants bathing, drinking, and playing in the water. The park is also home to other wildlife such as lions, leopards, buffalo, and various antelope species. Birdwatchers will be delighted by the abundant birdlife, including African fish eagles and colourful bee-eaters.

Moremi Game Reserve, situated within the Okavango Delta, offers an unparalleled safari experience. The diverse landscapes, from floodplains to dry savannahs and woodlands, attract an incredible array of wildlife. Visitors can spot the Big Five (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard) as well as cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, and a wide variety of bird species.

Botswana offers a range of safari accommodations, from luxury lodges with all-inclusive amenities to rustic tented camps that provide an authentic bush experience. Situated in prime viewing areas, these lodges and camps ensure guests have an unforgettable safari holiday. Our staff at Martins World Travel can recommend a number of luxury safari camps, which provide superb game viewing.

It is important to note that Botswana places a strong emphasis on eco-tourism and conservation, so safari experiences are designed to have minimal impact on the environment while providing an immersive and respectful encounter with wildlife. With its pristine wilderness and incredible biodiversity, a safari holiday in Botswana promises an unforgettable journey into the heart of Africa's wildlife wonderland.

Martin Founds has recently returned from a trip to the Okavango Delta and describes this as the ultimate wilderness safari.

I, my colleague Kevin and a small select group of clients embarked on what we would later discover to be the ultimate wilderness safari. Audley Travel are our working partners on specialist holidays and are renown for attention to detail, high quality and excellent value. Like all aspects of travel, you get what you pay for and good safaris are no exception.
Friend and Safari Addict Chris Tarrant advised me that Botswana was the number one location and it ticked all the boxes for our requirements. Kevin has enjoyed six safaris in the past but like me he had never been to Botswana. At our trip’s end Kevin confirmed it was his best safari experience by far.
Easily accessed via Johannesburg on an overnight direct flight with either Virgin or British Airways. We then took a connecting flight to Botswana’s gateway to the Okavango Delta, Maun, and then a small light aircraft to our first lodge Xugana Island Lodge for the first of our 4 nights stay. The whole itinerary was smooth, well organised and we were met by Audley Travel representatives at each arrival airport.
The Okavango Delta is a pristine and rich wilderness one of Africa's last great natural sanctuaries, and home to vast concentrations of wildlife. It is the “jewel of Africa” and a unique phenomenon of nature. The heavy rains in the Angola Highlands to the north flow south into Botswana creating a vast watershed of around 37,00 square kilometres. Water begins to flow down in January and peaks in June/July. Then the vast marshlands gradually shrink back then the cycle begins over again.
Our accommodation, Xugana Island Lodge, is located right on the water’s edge and we were surrounded by hippo, the occasional crocodile, elephants and a huge variety of colourful birdlife. The many reed-fringed channels interlinking large pools and small lakes literally teem with wildlife. Comfortable and fast boats provide the perfect transport to explore such a vast area and our guides were friendly and highly knowledgeable. Safety was always the priority yet we managed to get up very close to a wide range of animals too. One would meander around a corner on the at times narrow waterways and see pods of hippo feeding and lazing around in the water. Elephants patrolled the lush marshes and could often be seen in the channels feeding constantly. We viewed elephants every day of our trip, huge males plus groups of females with calves. There are numerous areas of land that do not fully flood and those areas suit large herds of zebra, wildebeest, many varieties of antelope, giraffe and warthog.
We enjoyed expertly arranged guided viewing trips each day and into the evenings. April is an ideal time to visit as temperatures were warm to hot, up to 30c in the heat of the day, cooled a little as the sun set around 18:00 hours. Then it became a more comfortable 18 to 22c. Our viewing trips maximised the perfect temperatures for ourselves and more importantly the wildlife viewing. We were awoken at 05:30 with tea or coffee, had a light breakfast at 06:00 and then headed out at 06:30 each morning to return for brunch at 11:30. We would then rest, have an excellent lunch and then head out again until sunset, always enjoying a wilderness “sundowner” drinks of our choice as the magnificent sun set before our eyes.
Daily excursions exclusive to our small group were decided each day to suit our requirements and expectations. Such detailed and careful organisation by our expert team of guides ensured we maximised every hour of every day. Absolutely faultless.
Expert Guides: Your professional guide is the person who makes your wilderness experience work. They instil a sense of confidence and care both for you and the wildlife. In Botswana local guides attend a serious and detailed university education course continued with 3 years of field study before they graduate. (almost equivalent to a UK doctor).! That is how much importance the Government of Botswana places on the value of tourism, their wildlife asset and their extremely friendly and talented people.
Martin J Founds, Partner, Martins World Travel.

Top Accommodation within the Botswana Region