Lying in the centre of southern Africa, Botswana is a landlocked country covering an area of 581,700 sq km. It is a peaceful, independent, politically stable and wealthy country that provides some of the finest luxury safaris available.
Botswana shares borders with a very short section of Zambia as well as having major boundaries with South Africa, Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and Zimbabwe.
The precise demarcation of this unique four-way border junction in the north, on the Zambezi River, has never been satisfactorily determined in international law. Nearly all (82% or so) of Botswana is very arid with the over-riding feature of the country being the Kalahari Desert whose centre has become the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The famous Okavango Delta lies in the northwest and below Namibia’s Caprivi Strip; this dovetails with the Moremi Game Reserve whilst the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans are situated to the north east of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The equally well-known Chobe National Park (often busy because it is easily accessible from Victoria Falls) is to the north east of Moremi.
One can visit Botswana year round for a luxury safari. The rainy season is December – April and this, being the southern hemisphere, is summer so it tends to be hot with afternoon storms.
At this time of year one must expect rain during a safari but, unlike the monsoon in Asia, the odd storm – which isn’t every day! – simply brings everything to life which is alluring and lovely whilst the game viewing in certain areas can be good at this time of year. At this time of year the animals drop their young and the vegetation is lush and green however most people visit Botswana during the June to October “winter” when game viewing is normally at its best as the land is then dry, arid and scorched. During the cool, dry winter months there are two very important seasonal occurrences: the seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta and the ungulate migration across the Makgadikgadi Pans.
Miles to the north, the flooding of the Delta starts with rains occurring early in the year. 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, on a seasonal annual basis, a vast quantity of water sweeps south eastwards and, entering Botswana, then becomes a deep and fast-flowing – yet shallow-contoured – river which is funnelled through parallel tectonic faults before spilling into the marvellous Okavango Delta, a fan-shaped 15,000 square kilometre maze of lagoons, channels and islands.
One of the great joys of a Botswana luxury safari is that activities are so varied, one can view game and the scenery on foot, in vehicles, from motorised boats and, finally, the local flat-bottomed boats (mekoros) which usually take two guests and are “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 Then there is a fragment of almost 900 square kilometres of the secluded Linyanti Swamp, unsurprisingly known as the Linyanti, in the north-western corner of Chobe; this are is further expanded by Namibia’s remote Mamili National Park on the northern bank of the Kwando River and the Selinda Reserve in the west.
It is not only the guiding and quality of game viewing that makes Botswana so suitable for a luxury safari holiday. safari to Botswana Depending on the activity that one is undertaking, a properly created safari can be truly luxurious in terms of accommodation be it based on lodges, permanent tented camps, glorious mobile camps or a mixture of all of them. 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