Botswana - A Safari Honeymoon Adventure

A once in a lifetime honeymoon experience amongst Botswana's diverse wildlife. From the arid Desert of Savute to cruising along the lush waterways of the Okavango Delta, there is no shortage of spectacular adventures in Botswana.

Botswana

Botswana is located in the Southern portion of Africa, bordered by Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Although much of the country (around 70%) is comprised of the illustrious Kalahari Desert, do not let this sway you to think this landlocked country is without diverse and breathtaking landscapes.

With only 2.5 million people living in the country, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world (similar to our home, Canada, with around 4 to 5 people per square kilometer). As a result, the country has been able to prioritize and protect the natural landscape.

Botswana prides itself on conservation with just under 40% of the country dedicated to national parks (17%), nature reserves, and private concessions. This, coupled with the intentional approach to conscientious and sustainable tourism has helped to keep the environmental footprint comparatively small. Not to mention, we loved the experience of boutique lodges, capped number of tourists per region and thriving wildlife populations. Perfect example: Botswana's Elephant conservation is considered the best in the world, the country is home to over 37% of all savanna elephants (the largest population in Africa!).

Throughout our time in Botswana, we were blown away by the landscapes, the wildlife, the warm and friendly people, and the thoughtful and respectful approach to tourism. We felt incredibly safe the entire time, more so than other places we've visited in Africa - in fact, Botswana has a green travel advisory per the Government of Canada and is the only green advisory in all of Africa: https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/botswana

Itinerary

We flew into Cape Town (via London) and spent five nights enjoying the city, hiking Table Mountain (Platteklip Gorge), visiting the wine region, staying in the lovely Camps Bay. A quick flight and stop in Victoria Falls allowed us to start our safari from the eastern border, right near the Chobe National Park.

Although our trip started with a week spent in Cape Town and Victoria Falls, our journey really began when we entered Botswana. Nothing quite compared to our two safari weeks in Botswana.

We spent nearly two weeks on safari, to many this may be considered more than enough (you will often see three or five night safari options) - however given the diversity of the landscape we visited and the excitement of everything we saw, we felt we could have stayed even longer. We loved every minute of our two weeks and felt we really got to explore some of the highlights. We focused on four distinct regions: a lush riverfront, a dry and arid desert, the flooded water-access-only delta, and a forested grassland. Each with their own unique and beautiful features.

Three of the four lodges we stayed with were operated by the locally owned Desert and Delta. Traveling with this company between three of their lodges made for a seamless experience.

• 2 Nights - Ngoma Safari Lodge - Chobe Riverfront

• 3 Nights - Savute Safari Lodge - Savute Region

• 3 Nights - Xugana Island Lodge - Okavango Delta

• 3 Nights - Camp Xakanaxa - Moremi Game Reserve

1.Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe National Park is known as the elephant capital of the world with roughly 150,000 elephants. The main concentration of elephants is on the Chobe Riverfront, where you can look out over the river and see hundreds of elephants. At the Chobe Riverfront, you can explore by game drives or game riverboats. This area is a must when in Botswana!

2.Savute Region

The Savute Region is a sandy desert with localized watering holes where the animals must all visit to survive. This area is dominated by predators (Lions, Leopards, and Cheetahs) and every day we had wildly different wildlife experiences leaving us on the edge of our seats. This was our favorite region out of all 4 locations we visited!

3.Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world, is created by the annual flood of the Okavango River over the Kalahari Desert. This annual flood transforms the landscape into a pristine and lush wilderness. In this region, we experienced boat and walking tours which provided a more relaxing experience. The Okavango Delta is also heavily protected by Botswana allowing only a small amount of guests at a time. This led to days where we did not even see another set of guests on our game walks and boat drives.

4.Moremi Game Reserve

The Moremi Game Reserve is another exciting region with high activity of predators and we were lucky enough to see 4 kills just in 3 days. This area also floods from the Okavango Delta making the landscape very diverse with desert plains crawling with lions to lakes filled with hippos. This was our second favorite region in Botswana!

Travel

There are 2 main ways to start your Botswana Safari. You can either fly into Maun the capital of Botswana or into Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

1. Flying into Maun - You can fly into Maun from many African airports and once in Maun, your Safari company can organize all your flights to your lodges.

2. Flying into Victoria Falls - Victoria Falls can be accessed from many African airports and the reason to fly into Victoria Falls is to see the falls. Victoria Falls is the Niagara Falls of Africa, very beautiful to look at but ultimately a very touristy location. We did go this route and our tour company organized a private shuttle from Victoria Falls to Kasane where our Safari company picked us up.

Transport between lodges is provided by the lodges themselves. In fact, Desert and Delta have their own airline, Safari Air, which is owned by their parent company Chobe Holdings. The bush flights between lodges are small 12-person propeller planes that take off and land on gravel or dirt runways. Normally the guides will do a sweep of the runway to ensure no elephants, impalas or giraffes are in the way of the plane.

Game Drives

The game drives are the entire reason to go on safari, so having the best possible experience can make or break your trip. There are basically two ways to go on game drives:

• Guide Game Drives - Guided game drives are organized by your lodge and are included. The guide builds a multi-day plan for you so you can see the most possible in your visit to the area. The reason to take a guided game drive is the guide and the guide network. All the guides communicated throughout the day and knew where the animals were last seen. This way if a leopard is seen, someone can notify your guide and you can head off on a hot purist of the cat.

• Self Games Drives - Self-game drives require you to stay outside of the safari lodges, rent your own jeep, and camp out of the car. Also, this sounds like a fantastic time, your experience is not going to be as good as if you did a guided drive. I would say the self-drives probably saw 1/5th of what we saw on our guided drives just because they did not know where the animals were and did not have the whole guide network to tell them when cats or kills were found.

What to Expect on Your Guided Game Drives

Timing of the Game Drives

• Morning: 7:00 am Drive start - 11:30 am back at the lodge

• Afternoon: 3:30 pm Drive Start - 6:30 pm back at the lodge

Jeeps - usually your jeep will be shared with up to 6 guests arriving with you when you first arrive at the safari lodge. You may be fortunate to get a smaller group or even a private drive if the schedule lines up, however there are no bad seats on these Jeeps. Thanks to the entirely open sides and the tiered three level seating, everyone will be fully immersed in the safari experience no matter where you are sitting.

Guides - The guides at Desert and Delta were knowledgeable, friendly, and personable, and really made the game drives. Your guide will work with the group to understand what animals you want to see and make a plan to see those animals.

Tracking Process - The guide knows from the previous day where the animals were last seen and in the morning you will head off in a direction they think there are the chosen animals you want to see that day. Along the way, they will find tracks in the sand and you might call an audible and change your plan. Additionally, the other guides might find a lion before your group and report them to your guide.

The Animals - You will see tons of typical animals such as zebra, elephants, impalas, and kudus. Seeing rare animals such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, and wild dogs is based on your guide and luck. We felt incredibly lucky and saw almost all the animals we wanted to in the first 6 days on safari and it made the rest of the trip feel like a bonus. Even after 11 days of safari we were not bored and were sad we were leaving.

Morning Tea/Sundowners - Every Morning your guide will pack snacks, coffee, and tea to have a stop somewhere in the park where you can get out, stretch your legs, and enjoy your morning tea/coffee. In the evening, they will pack cocktails, beer, or wine to take out on the drive so you can watch the sun go down in style with a bevy in your hands.

Food and Drinks - We enjoyed the food on the entire trip. The lodges made crowd pleasing meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I wouldn't classify it as fine dining (there are lodges for 2 - 3X the price which might as well have a Michelin star) but considering you are in the middle of the bush with food flown in or trucked in some cases on a weekly schedule, the meals were excellent. Plus, the excitement of all the new safari experiences actually works up quite an appetite, so we were grateful for the tasty options available!

Snacks were readily available. Dietary restrictions were easily accommodated. Many healthy options and something for everyone. Familiar 'western' dishes paired with local flair was common. The chefs did a great job.

Camera Gear

Bringing good camera gear is essential to capture what you see on safari. We talked with many other guests who were on safari and only brought their iPhones. Although you get incredibly close to the animals and an iPhone will capture amazing moments, many guests regretted their decision to not bring or rent a good quality camera and telephoto lens.

Below is what we brought on our safari adventure and we would highly recommend this list:

• Camera

  • Sony a6700 - APSC camera - Mainly Used for Video

  • Canon R7 - APSC camera - Mainly Used for Photos

• Lenses

  • 70-200mm f2.8 - This lens is an absolute banger lens, most of the animals in Botswana were relatively close to the car when we drove off-road.

  • 100-400mm f5.6 - If you were only to bring one lens on Safari the 100-400mm lens would be it. It covers a good range of up close to fully extended zoom.

• Multiple Batteries - Games drives can be long 3-4 hours and you may go through multiple batteries. Additionally, the time between game drives can also be short so you may not have enough time to charge your batteries up.

• SD Cards - Bring more than you think you need especially if you are shooting RAW or video. I would say if you are shooting JPG, bring 3 x 128GB cards for a 2-week safari to be safe. We went through 6 x 128GB cards between the two of us while shooting 4K video and jpg photos.

• Computer and External Hard Drive -This is something we did not bring on safari and we regretted it. Having the ability to see your photos on the big screen and offload your SD cards is a lifesaver. Sometimes your camera settings might not be perfect and catching that early on in the trip is very important.

Booking a Safari and the Cost

We booked our entire trip through a tour guide as we did a South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana joint trip. We used Discover Africa which provided us with a comprehensive travel itinerary, seamless transfers between hotels, airports and activities, and centralized all payment so we only needed to pay for tips while in Africa. We chose this team so we had local knowledge (our travel agent was based in Cape Town) and close contact should anything come up while traveling. We would recommend going with them if you want the simplicity and security of having all your trip details taken care of.

Looking back on our trip, we would have instead booked directly with the Safari Lodge companies and then got our tour guide to link up the start and end of our trip. This way we could have saved potential markup on the most expensive portion of the trip: the Safari Lodges. As we discovered, the safari lodges, particularly the ones we stayed with, have all the logistics, connections, recommendations covered.

Desert and Delta was the main safari lodge company we stayed with in Botswana and could not recommend them more. This company is Botswanan owned and is vertically integrated meaning they own the bush flights to each lodge and they own the companies providing food to the lodges.

Going on Safari is not cheap, and you should expect to pay around 1,000 CAD (700 USD) per night per person for a safari. These Safari lodges are a type of all-inclusive experience and as such they include all the following for the lumpsum daily price:

• Bed - The lodges are either wooden lodges or glamping tent-style

• Meals - Meals are usually service buffet with the start and dessert served to the table

• Drinks - An open bar, sundowner cocktails of your choice, a bartender serving drinks during dinner, all the filtered water and non-alcoholic beverages you can consume

• Transportation to the lodge and bush flights

• Game Drives - The most typical type of drive

• Boat River Drives - Boat drives are seen on the delta and give a new perspective on the animals

• Walking Tours - Only seen in the delta, you can walk with the animals and 2 guides

• Laundry Service - The lodge will wash your clothes within one day allowing you to pack light!

The only things that is not included is the overall price is tipping to your guide and the lodge staff. We loved how discrete Desert and Delta was about tipping as they had a box at the front desk where you could tip the lodge staff at the end of your stay. We tipped our guides 30-40USD/day and the lodge staff the same amount.

When to go on Safari

We went to Botswana from late August to the start of September. At this time of the year, it is winter in Africa which means, the weather is cooler and dry compared to other times of the year.

The temperature in most locations was 25-35°C during the day and 15-20°C during the night. In the Okavango Delta, the water kept the temperature much lower at 15-20°C during the day and 5-10°C at night. If you are visiting the delta make sure to bring warm clothes as the waterways can get cold.

The dry weather during the African winter months is ideal for seeing wildlife as the bare trees allow you to see deep into the bush. Our guides kept telling us that we would have found far fewer animals if it was summer with the lush bush grown in.

Broadly speaking, the best time to visit Botswana is considered to be May to October, during the dry season, when animals are concentrated at watering holes and viewing is at its peak.

What to Bring

We packed fairly light on our trip, choosing to carry on a bag (of clothes) and a backpack (of camera gear) each. As laundry services are included at every lodge, we actually had more than enough clothes for the trip.

Clothes

 It is recommended to stick to 'safari colours' (green, beige, brown, off white etcetera) to hide the daily dust that covers you and be a little less visible to wildlife, and advised to stay away from blue and black as tsetse flies are attracted to these colours (and can bite). With the time of year, we did not encounter many if any flies and felt comfortable wearing our black down jackets.

We found a fair bit of our safari clothes at Banana Republic (Samantha) and Eddie Bauer (Bryan), reasonably priced options that were comfortable and easy to travel with. We brought jackets and layers from Patagonia.

The temperature fluctuates significantly from dawn to dusk. Layers are highly recommended! I (female) would start with a fleece jacket and down jacket on top, gloves and in some cases ear warmers/a touque layering down to shorts and a t-shirt mid-day. Whatever you wear on safari likely will get covered with dust, I didn't mind dining a little dusty but many changed prior to dinner.

• Light, comfortable pants

• Long sleeved shirt - lightweight

• Short sleeved shirt

• Shorts - for camp mostly, generally wore pants on all the drives/walks

• Fleece Jacket

• Down Jacket

• Gloves

• Ear warmers/touque

• Camp outfit

• Socks/Underwear/Warm socks (less than you think, we got these laundered every couple days)

• Pyjamas - if desired. it thankfully does cool off in the evening

• Bathing suit - a number of the lodges had small plunge pools

• Bucket/Sun Hat

• Sunglasses + croakies (makes quick picture taking easier) - darker lenses were a nice feature

Shoes

• Blundstones/Hiking Boots - something to wear all day on the drives. We chose something to keep our ankles covered (mosquitos) and that we could walk around in when we got out of the car

• Casual Shoes - We brought Sperry's (Samantha) and Converse (Bryan). Great for walking around camp and occasionally I would wear out on afternoon drives

Toiletries and Medicine Kit

All the lodges had shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash, insect repellent and just about anything you might have forgotten. We brought all the usual items: toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, lip balm (your lips will get dry), moisturizer, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, headband, comb, hand lotion.

We brought our usual medicine kit: first aid kit, Band-Aids, Polysporn, rehydration salts, aspirin, Advil, anti-histamines, Imodium, Sudafed, tums, gravel. We visited our travel doctor beforehand who prescribed Malaria pills and prescription strength Imodium. As well, we got a top up of our typhoid and dukerol.

Electronics and Camera Gear

See the camera gear we brought listed above. Key take away: bring more memory cards and or storage devices than you think you will need.

• Phone

• Kindle

• Headphones

• Chargers

• iPad/Computer/Hard Drive

• Adaptors - all of the lodges had adaptors built in which could be used with our North American and European chargers.

Other

• Local Currency or USD - for tipping. All lodges accepted credit card as well, so you can tip by card

• Passport - we obtained our visa upon arrival

• Refillable water bottle - bottled drinks are readily available, as are refillable water bottles if you forgot your own

• SteriPen - for water purification - which we never used because the water was filtered already

• Airtags - to put in our luggage, thankfully never used but useful when transiting through African airports

• Cards/Journal/Pens