The Okavango Delta, the elephant herds of Chobe and the silence of the Kalahari: Botswana is Africa's premium safari, wild, exclusive and uncrowded.
Botswana is synonymous with high-end safari. Instead of opening its parks to mass tourism, the country chose a "low volume, high value" model: exclusive camps, enormous private concessions and untouched nature where you're often the only vehicle for miles. The result is one of the purest and least touristy wildlife experiences in Africa, but also one of the most expensive if you're after the luxury lodges.
The heart of the country is water in the middle of the desert: the Okavango Delta, a maze of channels, islands and lagoons where you glide by mokoro (traditional canoe) among hippos, elephants and birds. To the northeast, Chobe National Park gathers the largest elephant herds in the world alongside a river teeming with life. And to the south and centre stretches the Kalahari, a vast semi-desert with black-maned lions, the Makgadikgadi salt pans and curious meerkats.
It's a destination for travellers who value nature over cities. Gaborone, the capital, is quiet and functional rather than touristy; the appeal lies outside, in the wildlife. You can travel on a tight budget (self-drive with a tent and mobile camping safaris) or go full luxury (fly-in safaris between lodges), but either way Botswana rewards those who take their time and ease slowly into the savannah.
The currency is the Botswana pula (BWP), which is divided into 100 thebe and whose name means "rain" (a treasure in a mostly desert country). In July 2026 one dollar is worth about 14 pula (verified July 2026), so it's worth working everything out in USD, since many lodges and safaris already quote their prices directly in dollars. Cards are accepted without any trouble in Maun, Kasane and Gaborone (Visa and Mastercard), but for tips, markets, park fees and small villages you need cash in pula. Withdraw money from ATMs in the cities before heading into the wild, because there are no banks at remote camps. Tipping is customary and expected on the safari circuit: about 10 USD per day for the guide and 5–10 USD per day for the camp staff, plus 10% in city restaurants.
Full converter for BWP →There are no direct flights from Latin America: almost every route goes through Johannesburg (South Africa). The most common option is to fly from Buenos Aires, São Paulo or Santiago to Johannesburg (with a stop in São Paulo, Addis Ababa or Europe) and from there take a short Air Botswana or South African Airlink flight to Maun (MUB), the gateway to the Okavango, or Kasane (BBK), the gateway to Chobe; Gaborone (GBE), the capital, is of less interest to tourists. Ethiopian Airlines also connects Buenos Aires with Gaborone and Maun via Addis Ababa. Allow 30 to 40 hours of total travel time. Argentines, Uruguayans, Chileans, Brazilians, Paraguayans, Colombians and most Latin Americans do NOT need a visa for tourist stays of up to 90 days. Within the country, distances are huge and many lodges can only be reached by light aircraft (charters from Maun), so a typical safari combines short domestic flights; if you drive yourself you need a 4x4 with camping gear and experience on sand roads.
The dry season (May to October) is the best time for the classic northern safari. With sparse vegetation and scarce water, animals concentrate around the Okavango Delta, the Chobe River, Moremi and Linyanti, and are much easier to spot. And, paradoxically, the Delta is at its highest between July and October, because that's when the water from the Angolan rains finally arrives. June, July and August are the coolest and driest months: pleasant days and very cold nights, so bring warm layers for the dawn game drives. It's high season, with prices and demand at their peak.
The rainy season or "green season" (November to April) turns the map around: the north becomes lush and has more mosquitoes, but the south and centre (Kalahari, Makgadikgadi, Nxai Pan) come alive with the zebra and wildebeest migration, the birth of young animals and green landscapes. It's the best time for the desert, there are fewer people and prices drop considerably (by up to half at some lodges). April–May and October–November are shoulder months with a good balance of weather, wildlife and rates.
Botswana's cuisine is simple, hearty and rural at heart. The national dish is seswaa: beef or goat boiled for many hours and shredded, salted and served on pap or bogobe (a thick porridge of maize or sorghum). It comes with morogo (wild greens sautéed with onion and tomato) and sometimes with nama ya podi (grilled goat). For breakfast or a snack there are vetkoek, fried dough buns filled with minced meat or jam. The most adventurous bite is phane: dried mopane worms, rich in protein, cooked in tomato sauce; trying them is a real local rite.
At safari lodges the food is usually international and very good (barbecues, buffets, South African wine), included in the package price. In Maun, Kasane and Gaborone there are restaurants to suit every taste. The typical popular drink is Chibuku, a creamy sorghum beer drunk in shebeens (neighbourhood bars), while St Louis and Kgalagadi are the country's commercial beers. A simple lunch in town costs around 5–8 USD; dinner at a tourist restaurant, 15–25 USD. Bottled water is cheap and it's worth always having some on hand in the desert.
Botswana is one of the safest and most stable countries in Africa: low violent crime, a solid democracy and friendly people. In Gaborone and the towns the usual urban precautions apply (watch out for pickpockets and don't show off valuables at night), but most of the trip takes place in camps and parks where the biggest risk isn't people but wildlife: always follow your guides' instructions, don't walk around camps at night without an escort and never approach hippos or elephants. The emergency numbers are 999 (police), 997 (ambulance) and 998 (fire).
When it comes to health, the key issue is malaria: there's a risk throughout the north (Okavango Delta, Chobe, Ngamiland, the northern Kalahari), especially from November to June, while Gaborone and the central-southern Kalahari are malaria-free. See a travel doctor before you leave about antimalarial prophylaxis (local malaria is chloroquine-resistant) and use repellent and long sleeves at dusk. The yellow fever vaccine isn't required unless you arrive from an endemic country (for example, if you're connecting through another African or tropical country, check your itinerary). Hepatitis A and B, typhoid, tetanus and being up to date with routine vaccines are recommended. Don't drink tap water in rural areas: use bottled water. Be sure to take out good travel insurance that covers medical evacuation, because many lodges are hours from a hospital.
Botswana can be as expensive or as affordable as you like, but it's not a cheap destination. Backpacker/adventure style, with a rented 4x4, a tent and camping in the parks, a day comes to around 150–300 USD per person: a 4x4 with camping gear starts at about 150 USD per day and camping in national parks costs around 20 USD per person, plus park fees and fuel. Guided mobile camping safaris ("mobile safaris") run from 350 to 600 USD per day all-inclusive. In comfort mode, mid-range lodges cost 400–900 USD per day, and the luxury camps of the Delta can easily top 1,000–2,000 USD per person per night in high season.
To give you an idea: a classic 7 to 10-day mid-range safari combining the Okavango, Moremi and Chobe comes to around 3,000–6,000 USD per person, not counting international flights. Internal charters between lodges add 250–500 USD per leg. Food and drink in town are moderately priced (lunch 5–8 USD, dinner 15–25 USD). One way to save without giving up on the wildlife is to travel in the green season (Nov–Apr), when rates drop by up to 50%, or to combine a few days of budget self-drive with one or two nights at a lodge as a treat.
English is an official language and is used throughout tourism, hotels, signage and government, so with basic English you'll get around without trouble; Spanish isn't spoken, but a smile and a few words go a long way on the safari circuit. The national language is Setswana, and a word you'll hear all the time is "Pula", which means rain and is at once a greeting, a toast and a celebration. Batswana culture is calm, respectful and community-minded; greetings matter (people ask how you are before getting to the point) and it's best to dress fairly modestly outside the lodges. Botswana also takes great pride in its nature and its conservation model.
On the practical side: plugs are types D, G and M (large three-pin plugs, British/South African style), so bring an adapter; the voltage is 230V. For connectivity, buy a local Mascom or Orange SIM in Maun, Kasane or Gaborone (cheap, with data), but bear in mind that in parks and remote lodges the signal is patchy or non-existent: part of Botswana's charm is precisely disconnecting. Many camps only have wifi in the common area. Driving is on the left (a British legacy). And one golden tip: on safari, get up early; the best sightings are at dawn, when the savannah wakes up.
Some countries tell their story as a battle, others as a miracle. Botswana is one of the latter. When the British flag came down in 1966 and its life as an independent nation began, it was one of the poorest countries on the planet: barely twelve kilometres of tarred road, a handful of university graduates, an income per head of around eighty dollars a year and a territory dominated by the sands of the Kalahari. Nobody would have bet on it. And yet, over the following decades it became the longest-running and most stable democracy in Africa, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and the continent's great natural sanctuary, home to the Okavango Delta and the largest elephant population on Earth.
This is the full story of Botswana: from the San peoples who painted the sacred hills of Tsodilo thousands of years ago, through the Tswana kingdoms and their open-air assemblies, the kgotla, the three chiefs who crossed the sea to ask Queen Victoria to protect them from Cecil Rhodes, the exile of a prince who fell in love with an Englishwoman, to the discovery of the diamonds that paid for schools, hospitals and roads. A country that decided, unlike so many of its neighbours, to spend its mineral wealth on its people rather than on the bank accounts of a few, and that in 2024 saw its first peaceful handover from one ruling party to another after almost six decades. The story of how the desert became a democracy.
Read the full history of Botswana →Pick a region and open each destination to see what to do, prices and how to get there.
These are the sources we cite most across this country's guides, with how many times each appears. Hard data —tickets, opening hours, requirements, transport— comes from the official source and carries the date we checked it. Restaurant and hotel picks come from guides and reviews, and we say so on each page.
