Botswana safari holidays

Botswana is in southern Africa, with Namibia to its west, South Africa to the south and east and Zimbabwe and Zambia to the north and east. The landlocked country is around 5,600 miles from the UK.

There are currently no direct flights to Botswana from the UK, so the flight length depends which route you take and how long the layover is. One of the best options when you’re planning Botswana holidays is to fly to Johannesburg in South Africa and then connect with a flight to Maun or Kasane for Chobe National Park. The fastest routes usually take around 14-15 hours including stops.

Botswana is on Central African Time, which is two hours ahead of GMT and one hour ahead of British Summer Time.

Botswana is home to an impressive array of wildlife, including some of the highest concentrations of lion, buffalo, hippo, wildebeest and giraffe in Africa, as well as the world’s largest elephant herds. Around 130,000 elephants are thought to live in Botswana, more than any other country in Africa. Black rhino, cheetah and aardvark sightings are rare but possible, as they are all found in the country, along with more than 500 bird species. Many live in Chobe National Park, but the Okavango Delta is also home to Nile crocodiles plus thousands of animals migrating here during the dry season. Meanwhile, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the second largest wildlife reserve in the world, with various types of antelope and Kalahari lions, plus flamingos and meerkats on the salt pans of Makgadikgadi.

Chobe National Park in northern Botswana covers around 4,500 square miles, stretching from the border with Namibia and extending towards the borders with Zimbabwe and Zambia. The reserve is home to the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino) as well as around 560 recorded bird species, with the Chobe River running along the northern boundary of the park.

The capital of Botswana is Gaborone. The country’s largest city, it is both the political and economic capital, with Botswana’s largest companies based here. The city is in the south-east of Botswana, only a short distance from the border with South Africa. It’s almost 600 miles from Kasane, the gateway to Chobe National Park.

Someone from Botswana is known as a Motswana, or Batswana in the plural. This applies regardless of any ancestry or tribal background.

English is the official written language of Botswana, but Setswana (or Tswana) is the national language and is spoken by the majority of the population. Other languages include Kalanga (Ikalanga) and Kgalagadi. English is widely spoken and understood in cities and major tourist areas, especially among the younger generation, but less commonly spoken in more rural areas.

The official currency of Botswana is the pula, which is divided into 100 thebes. Coins come in denominations of one, two, five, 10, 25 and 50 thebes, while notes are available in one, two, five, 10, 20 and 50 pula denominations. Pula is a closed currency so cannot be obtained outside of Botswana – the name translates as ‘rain’ in Setswana. Money can be withdrawn from ATMs in cities and exchanged at banks, but it’s illegal to use unauthorised money changers. If you’re only visiting for Botswana safari holidays only, the easiest option is to bring US dollars for any tips (which can also be used in neighbouring Zimbabwe), while credit cards are widely accepted at camps/lodges, as well as hotels, restaurants and tourist shops.

Botswana is one of the safest countries in Africa, both in terms of political stability and crime, where attacks on tourists are rare. If you’re visiting the bigger cities and towns, Gaborone, Francistown and Maun, there’s a higher chance of being a victim of crime, so take sensible precautions, including not walking in isolated areas after dark and keeping car doors locked and windows closed at traffic lights if you’re driving. Theft from lodges at Chobe is also rare but not unheard of, so take sensible precautions here too including locking your room and keeping valuables in a safe. If you’re joining organised Botswana tours, your tour leader can also advise.

Botswana uses two main plug types; Type G, which is the same as the plug used in the UK, and Type D, a three-round-pin plug. You may also find Type M plugs; the type used in South Africa, it’s similar to Type D but with longer pins. It’s best to pack a universal adapter in case only Type D or M sockets are available. The standard voltage is 230 V at a frequency of 50 Hz.