Botswana is a safari destination par excellence; a country where we can take you to explore some of Africa's richest wilderness with expert guides, on foot, by river boat, makoro (traditional pole propelled canoe) and fully-equipped 4WD safari vehicles. In between we can accommodate either in mobile wilderness tented camps; as well as our hand-picked selection of superb lodges and camps.

In a continent often associated with poverty and instability, Botswana - Africa's oldest democracy - is a modern success story; a country which has risen from poverty to become the wealthy African centre of stability and democracy. Botswana is also one of Africa's (and the world's) most rewarding wildlife watching destinations. Covering a vast swathe of Africa larger than France, Botswana has a tiny population - just over 2 million people. This means that the country's wildlife has plenty of space to roam and is well protected in a magnificent range of national parks and wilderness areas.

The Okavango Delta

Many of the most spectacular wildlife areas lie in the relatively well-watered north of the country, close to the frontier with Zimbabwe and Namibia. Here, rivers draining from the remote southern Angolan highlands fan out into the world's largest inland river delta, the Okavango Delta - a unique wetland that expands and contracts with seasons, but is never anything less than spectacular.

Wildlife from across the north of Botswana is drawn to the Okavango's watery landscape of islands and channels, often best explored by traditional canoes or mokoros; especially when the flood reaches the greatest extent (around 16,000 square kilometres) in the European summer period. The Delta attracts huge herds of grazers - buffalo, zebra, giraffe - and spectacular concentrations of birdlife.

On a journey into the Okavango Delta, we often make use of channels maintained by hippos, created by them for their night time commute from cool water to grazing areas. As the landscape adjusts through the seasons, wildlife moves and adapts to a concertina of dry lands and shallow watery expanses. Attracted by the abundance of prey, lions are forced to take to the water to track buffalo and other prey. The Delta is also an excellent region for spotting leopards and African wild dogs (or painted wolves as they otherwise known). One of Africa's rarest but most efficient hunters, these highly social hunters require huge areas of land to sustain them and Northern Botswana and the Zambezi River Valley running along the Zimbabwe/Zambia frontier is one of their last strongholds on the continent.

Chobe National Park

To the northeast of the Delta is Chobe National Park, one of Africa's finest reserves. Extending over nearly 12,000 square kilometres of riverfront, forests, savannas and marshes, Chobe can truly claim to be Africa's elephant capital, with perhaps 50,000 individuals - 10% of Africa's elephant population living here. Wildlife cruises on the Chobe River and 4x4 drives into the park are a highlight in the country's most biodiverse protected area. Birding is fantastic, with around 450 species present, and large populations of lions, some of whom have been known to hunt young or weakened elephants. Wild dogs, leopards and sometimes cheetahs can be found here too.  

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The arid plains of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana's centre cannot compete with the north in terms of wildlife densities, but if you're looking for a true wilderness experience the windswept plains and dry, eroded riverbeds, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is hard to beat. The home of the San Bushman and one of the world's oldest deserts, the game reserve alone covers more than 52,000 square kilometres - an area larger than Switzerland. 

There is plenty of wildlife in the Central Kalahari - especially species adapted to arid environments, such as oryx, giraffe, brown hyena, mongooses, cheetah and the region's famous black maned lions. But they just spread over wider areas, occasionally congregating around seasonal waterholes. The vast scale of the reserve, unlike many other wildlife destinations, means that you might well have these timeless landscapes all to yourself. Indeed, this is what makes many of Botswana's safari experiences so special: small, tailor-made expeditions into the wilderness, accompanied by expert guides - an intimate and personal look at Africa's natural history and a country for true wildlife connoisseurs.

& Beyond

Our safaris in Botswana can also take you to the salt pans of Makagadikgadi; the Linyanti River which borders Namibia; and Victoria Falls of Zimbabwe and Zambia, which provide a spectacular scenic entry point to the northern end of Chobe National Park. Venturing further across borders, our Botswana safaris can also encompass the great Hwange National Park of Zimbabwe and Caprivi Strip of Namibia.