Botswana

Oasis of Life

Botswana prides itself on being Africa’s leader in eco-friendly tourism. With one of the lowest population densities in Africa and with a tourism model focused on avoiding crowds of visitors, it is the perfect destination to enjoy nature in isolation.

It’s stunning beauty spans through a variety of habitats centred around the heart of the country – the Okavango Delta – where water is born out of the desert creating an oasis of life and natural beauty. Culturally, UNESCO has nicknamed Botswana’s Tsodilo Hills the ‘Louvre of the Desert’ due to over 4000 individual rock art paintings that can be found there.

Botswana has set aside almost 45% of its land for wildlife protection making it a refuge for high concentrations of endangered and vulnerable animals such as black rhinos, wild dogs, cheetahs, and elephants.

Capital City

Gaborone

Currency

Botswana Pula

Official Languages

English, Tswana

International Airport

Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (Gaborone) 

Climate

  • January to April – hot and rain season. 88 – 64 degrees Fahrenheit (31 – 18 degrees Celsius).

  • May to August – Cool, dry, and sunny. 77 – 25 degrees Fahrenheit (26 – 9 degrees Celsius)

  • September to December – very hot. 93 – 66 degrees Fahrenheit (34 – 19 degrees Celsius)

Botswana has an average altitude of around 1,000 metres. The climate is sub-tropical, arid or semi-arid depending on area.

  • The winter, from May to August is dry and sunny, mild during the day and cool at night.

  • The summer from November to March is hot and moderately rainy. In spring, September and October weather is hot especially in the north.

Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta is a vast ecosystem home to an outstanding wildlife density and variety. The river has its source in the highlands of Angola and flows into Botswana seeking the Indian Ocean but instead draining into the sands of the Kalahari basin flooding 15,000 square kilometres of desert and creating an Oasis of life.

Okavango is a World Heritage Site and the largest inland Delta in the world. It’s maze of papyrus-fringed channels, sparkling lagoons and Islands covered by acacia and mopane woodland, and teeming with wildlife can be explored on foot or in a 4×4 safari vehicle or from the water in a traditional canoe.

The Okavango Delta is affected by seasonal flooding with flood water from Angola after the summer rains in the highlands of Angola in January and February, reaching the Delta between March and June, peaking in July and August. This peak coincides with Botswana’s dry season resulting in great migrations of plains game from the dry hinterland .

Moremi Game Reserve

Moremi is the oldest protected portion of the Okavango Delta. In 1963 the Batawana locals of the region realized the rapid depletion of wildlife in their ancestral lands and led by Chief Moremi’s widow took the initiative of declaring it a protected area.

The Game Reserve is located in the central and eastern areas of the Delta where land and water meet creating a wonderful diversity of ecosystems from grasslands to floodplains, little lagoons, mopane woodland and small rivers. Moremi is known for its large herbivore population which supports a striking number of predators: lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog.

Chobe National Park

Known as “the land of giants” for its large herds of massive elephants, Chobe is a true wildlife paradise. The Chobe river flows through the Park and it is the lifeline attracting huge concentrations of animals.

Chobe National Park is located close to the Zimbabwe and Zambia borders making it a very good option for a day trip from Victoria Falls.

In addition to a game drive, you can also enjoy boat cruises to view the wildlife in the banks of the river, especially the unforgettable sight of the elephants bathing, playing, and swimming.

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