GENERAL INFO
TRAVEL IDEAS
- Botswana Explorer, 10 days
- Chobe Wilderness Tented Safari, 3 days
- Classic Lodge Okavango Safari, 8 days
- Premier Lodge Okavango Safari, 8 days
- Green Desert Expedition, 8 days
- Okavango & Big Game, 6 days
- Wings Over Botswana, 7 days
- Group Travel
- Ichobezi Safariboats, 4 days
- Chobe Elephants & Livingstone, 5 days
RELATED IDEAS
- Victoria Falls, Chobe Elephants & Okavango Delta, 7 days
- Chobe Elephants, 5 days
WATER SUPPLIES in villages, towns, hotels, bars, restaurants and swimming pools are safe to use. Surface water should be boiled before drinking.
Botswana was once called BECHUANA LAND protectorate.
MALARIA is prevalent in northern Botswana but cases also occur in the Ghanzi area. Take a course of anti-malaria tablets as a precaution.
Mosquito repellant will ensure more comfort. Anti-malaria tablets should be taken before and after the visit.
DRIVING is on the left hand side. A valid driver's licence is needed, and the driver must be 18 years and above. The wearing of seat belts is compulsory.
The most famous of Botswana's crafts is the Botswana basket.
Okavango River, Botswana
Botswana
ARRIVAL GUIDE
SETSWANA GREETINGS
| Hello | Dumela, rra/mma. |
| (it is polite to add sir, "rra", or madam, "mma", after the greeting) | |
| How are you? | O tsogile jang? (formal) |
| Le kae? (informal) | |
| I am fine and how are you? | Ke tsogile sentle, mma/rra, wena o tsogile jang? (formal) |
| Re teng, mma/rra, wena le kae? (informal) | |
NATIONAL PARKS
Seventeen percent of Botswana has been given over to National Parks and Game Reserves, with the largest reserve being the Central Kalahari (51,800 square kilometres, or some 20,000 square miles). Other reserves include Chobe National Park (11,700 square kilometres, or some 4,517 square miles), Moremi Wildlife reserve, Gemsbok National Park, Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve, and the Nxai Pan National Park.
The famous Okavango Delta measures 15,000 square kilometres (5,792 square miles), some 1,800 square kilometres (695 square miles) of which is part of the Moremi Wildlife reserve. The Okavango River itself rises in Western Angola, and ultimately flows into the Kalahari.
The Okavango Delta is one of Africa's most baffling mysteries. Born among the mists and lushness of Angola's fertile highlands, far away to the northwest, the Okavango River bursts its banks and millions of litres of water flow into the scorched desert instead of the sea. The web of channels created by this odd quirk of nature never stays the same because no two floods are ever the same. The Delta is set in the Kalahari basin. The floodwaters travel 1,300 kilometres to revitalize a vast network of plant and animal life. This unusual environment is home to 36 species of mammals, 200 species of bird and 80 species of fish.
The Chobe National Park is located in the north of the country, about 80 km from Victoria Falls. Here you'll find an abundance of wildlife concentrated in relatively small areas. Chobe is famous for its elephants. Like clockwork, the elephants travel along their well worn paths to drink on the shores of the Chobe River.
Savuti is a unique part of the famous Chobe National Park. This reserve is truly unique - in the dry season, the game concentration is so vast that one can see 3,000 buffalo at one sitting, a pride of lion 20 strong following the buffalo and wildebeest and zebra in their thousands.
