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Botswana - Hidden gems and affordable options
Author: Francis Naumann
Francis reports on how to get the best value from Botswana.
Botswana is all about quality as a safari destination; as a visitor you soon realise that you are enjoying one of Africa’s supreme safari experiences, and that the Okavango Delta could well be a Garden of Eden of today. You are looked after superbly in outstandingly comfortable, attractive small camps, meet extraordinary people, see incredible sights, and do not have to share the joy with hordes of other people.
Such quality and exclusivity usually warrants a high price, and one of our goals is always to find new alternatives that offer a great experience for a lower cost. On our recent trip, Jo and I found some excellent camps offering genuinely good value but still with high standards of accommodation, excellent food and interesting activities.
African Horseback Safaris’ Macatoo Camp is such a place. We spent two days riding good horses at speed over the floodplains and through the woodlands of the Delta. We were even able to ride to the airstrip to join our flight to Maun on the day we left. Awesome.
Mokolwane Camp is a great option for those who like to ride occasionally but as part of a mix of other activities. The accommodation is in tree houses, and as well as riding there are guided walks, game drives, fishing and boat trips, and Mokoro (traditional dug out canoe) excursions on offer in this delightful Delta camp. As well as these, they offer five day walking safaris through this part of the Delta.
Camp Kalahari is a great new camp on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, offering all of the activities that this area is known for including quad biking, walking with Bushmen, spending time with a family of meerkats, and game drives to see the intriguing desert adapted wildlife. While visiting the area we were lucky enough to team up with a couple of very keen and knowledgeable ornithologists, and to spend several hours spotting a plethora of different species of migrant waders and water birds in one of the temporary waterholes that arise when the rains come. It was an extraordinary feeling to be watching so many water birds in a desert.
Footsteps is a delightful semi-permanent camp just outside the northern edge of the Moremi Game Reserve in the Delta, and it offers a real wilderness experience, focusing its activities on walking and learning about the bush and all that lives in it. It is a very small camp with just three tents, and is ideal for families or groups of friends who want to get away from it all for a few days.
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in Africa, and very little visited as well. Year round game includes a number of desert adapted species and during the wet season huge herds of migratory game arrive here. There are a couple of excellent new camps within the reserve, including Kalahari Plains Camp and Tau Pan Camp, that are able to offer a different perspective on the wildlife of Botswana to that of the wetland Delta areas.
The Mashatu Game Reserve sits on the banks of the Limpopo River in the south east of Botswana, and is often overlooked in favour of the better known Okavango and Chobe regions. This is a great shame because it offers fantastic game viewing in a very rugged and remote wilderness setting. There are some excellent camps here offering authentic safari accommodation, good food and great guiding.
Additionally, Botswana is renowned for mobile safaris, and there are several truly outstanding operators who offer both tailor made private safaris and set departure trips. The joy of one of these safaris is that you are taken into the wilderness to the best locations for any given season, and that you leave no trace of your presence when you move on.
Value does not just apply to what you pay for something – it applies even more to what you get for the money. Botswana will never be a cheap destination, but it will always be great value for what it offers – the supreme safari, habitat, ecology and activity destination, providing privacy, low numbers of fellow visitors, wonderful hospitality in very small camps, and outstanding people.
It’s worth every penny