Botswana Guide 2023/24

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Your journey starts here...

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From Our Veld Office
Freedom. What does it mean to you? If you're reading this magazine, you know the freedom that travelling can bring. To wander distant roads in your own vehicle, pitch your tent in a campsite, light a fire and gaze at the stars. Therein lies a little
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Go!
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (WEG & GO): PIERRE STEYN EDITORS GO BOTSWANA 2023/24: TOAST COETZER, MARTINETTE LOUW COPY EDITOR: MARIJCKE DODDS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: JON MINSTER ART DIRECTOR: LYNNE FRASER MAPS: FRANÇOIS HAASBROEK CONTRIBUTORS: KYRA TARR, GRAHAME MCL
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At The Border
Fees are payable in pula – you can usually pay by card. Vehicle fee P260 (R361). Trailer P110 (R153). This fee includes the National Road Safety Fund levy, vehicle insurance and a road transport permit. If you plan to pass through Botswana twice on y
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Space And Time
My grandfather, George Watson, was a prolific writer of letters, especially when he was courting my grandmother, Elizabeth Ralls, known as “Ray” to all her friends. Reading the newsy, passionate, and sometimes spicy letters he sent her, you get a rea
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Place Of Plenty
Kubu Island appears like a mirage on the dreamscape of the Makgadikgadi Pans. Peering through the dust, I can see a string of baobabs on the horizon. Driving closer, I notice that this “island” is given form by a tangle of shrubs, trees and grass. Li
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The Power Of Panda
The road north to Kasane beyond Nata eventually becomes a monotonous blur. The bush seems endless on both sides of the car. Then, quite unexpectedly, you drive across a cattle grid south of Pandamatenga and the landscape changes. Fields of sorghum, s
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It Keeps Getting Gweta
“Is there fuel at Gweta?” That's the number one question other tourists ask about this tiny stopover between Nata and Maun. The answer is often no, but by some stroke of luck, the pumps were working when I visited in May 2023. The filling station is
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Elephants In The Kalahari!
It's just after sunrise at the Molose waterhole. It's March but the mornings are already crisp – the veld smells fresh and alive. There's a jackal calling in the distance and northern black korhaans are squabbling over their little patches of territo
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Memories of Savuti
The Savuti Channel is, to me, the most exciting place in all of Chobe. It flows out of the Linyanti Swamp via the Zibadianja Lagoon and then follows a course of almost 100 km through a sea of Kalahari sand, which it has turned into a paradise of undu
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A Healthy Dose Of Delta
I first visited the Okavango in 2015 on assignment for DriveOut magazine. Our tour group spent our first two nights next to the parched Makgadikgadi Pans and travelled from there to the watery world of the delta. Just like that, I was immersed in the
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Mokoro Me Up!
I wake up, press myself onto an elbow and look around. My guide, Letsaamang “Arnold” Kelaotswe, is blowing life into the fire. He takes a dry bit of elephant dung, pulls it apart and adds it as kindling. If this smoky, herby smell was a cologne, I'd
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Feel The Pull Of The Pans
Waves crash against cliffs while hippos and crocodiles are dotted up and down the lush shoreline. If I'd been alive 9 000 years ago, this is the scene that might have met me at Mosu, at the southern end of today's bone-dry Makgadikgadi Pans. Back the
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Dine Out In Kasane
Kasane is on the southern bank of the Chobe River in the far north-eastern corner of Botswana. Its name comes from the Chikuhane word isani, which means “hardwood”. As the administrative centre of the Chobe District, its main drawcard is Chobe Nation
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How To Use This Guide
RATES. The rates listed are subject to change and vary depending on the season. In Botswana, winter is considered peak season. Summer is low season and some places drop their rates. Always contact an establishment in advance and enquire about the lat
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Places To Stay
NORTHERN CAPE Middelputs and McCarthy's Rest are small border posts north-west of Kuruman. If you plan to enter Botswana through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, you have to use the Two Rivers border post at Twee Rivieren. Next to the R380, about 17
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Central Botswana
This small town, previously known as Kalkfontein, is just off the A2 in the Ghanzi district. This camp on the outskirts of Tshootsha is also known as Riana's Campsite. It's right next to the A2. Camping costs P150 (R209) per person. En suite safari t
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Northern Botswana
The tar road that connects all these places needs a little TLC, but you can drive it in a 4x2. The panhandle is the best place to get a taste of the Okavango at budget rates, although there are also more luxurious options. This luxury tented lodge ju
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Namibia
The major Namibian towns in this area – with fuel, shops and ATMs – are Divundu and Rundu. On the B10, about 35 km west of Rundu. The campsites are on grass and each stand has a light, power point, tap and braai. Camping R300 per person. Tented chale
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Zambia
This big town is Zambia's adventure tourism HQ. The Smoke that Thunders is so close you can hear it! Jollyboys is smack-dab in the centre of town, directly behind the Livingstone Museum. It's ideal for independent travellers, small groups and adventu
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Zimbabwe
Business is done in US dollars, so check the price on the menu before you casually order a burger. In the middle of town, fenced in with security. It's a short walk to the shops and also to the waterfall. There's a pool and a decent restaurant. Campi
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LETTER FROM Nata
It's the morning after the night of the elephants. Or to be more accurate: another night of the elephants. Because here at Elephant Sands north of Nata, every day is ellie day. The lodge sign next to the tar road promises that this is a place “where
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Botswana At Its Best
An African fish-eagle waits patiently on the bank of the Boteti River in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, while hundreds of red-billed quelea swarm around it. Fish-eagles will often catch waterfowl like ducks, coots and cormorants, but will also

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