Discover Botswana

The world famous Chobe National Park is Botswana’s first National Park and home to the world’s largest remaining herds of Elephant. Bordered by the winding Chobe River that provides a permanent source of water, this area teems with wildlife. In the drier season, from May through to October, the Chobe Riverfront is a major watering spot for large breeding herds of elephant, giraffe, sable and Cape buffalo. It is also the only area where the puku antelope can be seen.

Sunsets on the Chobe River are breathtaking – listening to the call of the Fish Eagle and the grunt of the many hippos getting ready to emerge and graze for the evening. Guests could be lucky enough to watch elephants as they swim across the river to reach the islands in the centre. The Chobe Riverfront, from the town of Kasane through the northernmost section of the park, is undoubtedly the most visited area, as it is within easy access of Victoria Falls. Activities in this area include boat cruises on the Chobe River, game drives in the Chobe National Park as well as catch-and-release fishing. Notably, the area is also renowned as a bird watcher’s paradise.

The Okavango Delta is an oasis in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana, fed by the catchment waters from the Angolan Highlands. The Okavango River does not have an outlet into the sea, but rather flows into Botswana and fans out into through the Delta, filling up the waterways with the levels rising and falling through the seasons.

Covering almost a third of the Okavango Delta is the Moremi Game Reserve – land declared by the BaTawana people in 1963 and the first wildlife sanctuary to be created by an African tribe in their own area. At the centre of the Delta, and forming part of the Moremi is Chief’s Island, arguably the most exclusive wildlife area in Botswana and currently the only area in the country that supports rhino.

Surrounding the Moremi are private concessions which offer the guests more diverse activities having more flexibility than the game reserve including walking safaris, night drives and mokoro trails. Expect herds of impala and tsessebe, buffalo, wildebeest and elephant, and sightings of lechwe and sitatunga on the reed banks as well as excellent opportunities to see lion, leopard, cheetah and the elusive African wild dog. The Okavango Delta teams with birdlife and rings with the sound of the hippos calling in the pools – a true paradise for safari adventure.

Khwai Private Reserve is 200 000 hectares of pristine wilderness. The reserve itself is within Botswana’s most talked about region, the Okavango Delta. It actually sits just to the north east of the Delta, adjacent to Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park, and the landscape is one of the most diverse.

The Khwai Private Reserve is positively bursting with game. Wildlife moves freely from the neighbouring Moremi Game Reserve and you’ll see buffalo, zebra, reedbuck, red lechwe, sable and roan antelope, and waterbuck dotted over the landscape. Predators are plentiful and lion and leopard hide in the mopane bush, whilst cheetah and wild dog frequently cross the open plains.

The wetlands and rivers host impressive quantities of hippos and crocodiles, whilst on dry land, big cats lurk along treelines and sometimes right through camp. Sable, roan, impala, and kudu dot the grasslands, alongside giraffe and zebra, an abundance of elephant and buffalo, and of course, the occasional jackal. The birdlife is fantastic and guests can expect everything from giant eagle owls to lilac-breasted rollers. Khwai also has an excellent reputation for the rarer species of the African savannah including wild dogs, serval cats, honey badgers, and the elusive pangolin.

The Makgadikgadi Pans is an area of 4 600 square miles, part of the Kalahari Basin and one of the largest series of salt pans in the world; a remnant of what was once one of the biggest inland lakes Africa has ever had. During years of good rain, the two largest pans – Sowa in the east and Ntwetwe in the west – flood and attract zebras, wildebeest and vast flocks of flamingos. No vegetation grows on the pans but they are fringed with grasslands, palms and ancient baobabs, all of which present a visually stunning landscape.

Early explorers like David Livingstone risked their lives exploring this wilderness on oxcarts with little to navigate by, and there are even tales of local San children getting lost in the mirages on the pans. In the wet season these areas can have large herds of grazing animals that make their way westwards on migration towards the Boteti River, followed by a whole host of predators. Other animals to look for include elephants, brown hyenas, meerkats and desert adapted and nocturnal species.