The Khama Rhino Sanctuary is one of Botswana's loveliest conservation stories: a reserve created by and for the community, with the aim of saving rhinos from extinction through poaching. Across some 8.585 hectares of sandy Kalahari savannah, near historic Serowe, it protects white and black rhinos and gives visitors one of the best chances in the country to see them up close in the wild.
But it is not just rhinos: the sanctuary is home to more than thirty mammal species —zebras, wildebeest, elands, kudus, gemsbok, giraffes, ostriches, warthogs— and more than 230 bird species, in a quiet and accessible setting. Its big advantage is proximity: it lies right on the route linking the south of the country with Maun and the north, which makes it the perfect stop to break the journey and add an easy, affordable safari, with the option of camping or sleeping in chalets.
This practical guide covers the sanctuary in detail: its star wildlife, how to do a self-drive or guided game drive, how rhino tracking on foot works, what entry and community accommodation cost, how to get there from Gaborone, Francistown or Maun, and how to combine the visit with historic Serowe, birthplace of the Khama family that gave Botswana its first leaders. An accessible destination with a cause, and highly recommended on any route through the country.
In the late 1980s, as poaching had almost wiped out rhinos in Botswana, the people of Serowe, with the support of Ian Khama (a soldier and future president, son of the first president Seretse Khama), pushed for the creation of a community reserve to save them. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust was set up in 1992 and that same year the first four white rhinos were introduced; in 2002 the critically endangered black rhino was reintroduced. The project restored an area once empty of wildlife and today generates benefits for the local community through tourism. That story is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The political and human backbone of the country: the capital born with independence, the old gold town, the historic kingdom of the Bangwato and the rugged corner where three countries meet.
Read the history of The east and Gaborone →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
To understand the sanctuary, you have to start with Serowe, the historic town it sits beside. Serowe is one of the largest traditional villages in southern Africa and the capital of the Bangwato people, one of the main Tswana groups in Botswana. For generations it was the seat of power of the Khama dynasty, a family of chiefs (dikgosi) that played a decisive role in the country's history.
Serowe was home to Khama III 'the Good', the kgosi who in 1895 travelled to England with two other chiefs to ask that their land not be handed over to Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company, a mission that saved the future Botswana from being absorbed. The same family produced Seretse Khama, grandson of Khama III, who would become Botswana's first president after independence in 1966 and the architect of the country's 'miracle'. It also produced Ian Khama, Seretse's son, a military officer and later president.
This lineage tied Serowe to the nation's history for good. The area still breathes that past: the Khama III Memorial Museum, the royal cemetery on Thathaganyana Hill and the village's traditional layout all recall the family that gave Botswana some of its most important leaders. It's no coincidence that the region's big rhino conservation project bears the Khama name and was driven forward by this family.
The sanctuary was born as a response to an emergency. Throughout the 20th century, and dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s, poaching to supply the illegal trade in rhino horn — highly prized in some Asian and Middle Eastern markets — decimated rhino populations across Africa. Botswana was no exception: rhinos, once fairly common in several parts of the country, were pushed to the brink of local extinction.
The black rhino in particular suffered a catastrophic collapse across the continent, and the white rhino was also seriously threatened. In Botswana, the combination of poaching and habitat loss meant that by the late 1980s the species was practically extinct in the wild across much of the country. Losing the rhinos meant losing not just an iconic species, but part of the country's natural heritage.
Faced with this situation, the community of Serowe came up with the idea of doing something concrete and local: creating a protected area where the remaining rhinos could live and breed safe from poachers, and where, over time, animals could be reintroduced to rebuild a population. That idea, born of local residents' concern, would become the seed of the sanctuary.
The project took shape in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Around 1989, worried about poaching, residents of Serowe began organising a wildlife reserve, with the support of Ian Khama — then a leading military and political figure, and a future president — and of the Bangwato community. The idea was twofold: on the one hand, to save the rhinos; on the other, to restore an area that had been left almost empty of wildlife and return it to its natural state, while also generating economic benefits for local people through tourism.
The Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust was formally established in 1992 as a community project, on some 8.585 hectares of Kalahari sandveld, a landscape of acacias, grasslands and waterholes ideal for rhinos. That same year, 1992, came the decisive step: the first four white rhinos were brought into the reserve, the start of the new population. Ten years later, in 2002, the far more endangered black rhino was reintroduced, broadening the project's conservation reach.
What stands out about the model is its community-based nature. This wasn't a national park imposed by the government, but an initiative of the Serowe community itself, which contributed the land and the management and receives the tourism income in return. The sanctuary thus became an example of community-based conservation, where protecting rhinos and benefiting local people go hand in hand.
The sanctuary didn't stop at bringing in rhinos: it set out to restore an entire ecosystem. The chosen area near Serowe had once been full of wildlife, but decades of hunting and human pressure had depleted it. By fencing and protecting the 8.585 hectares and managing their waterholes and grasslands, the project allowed wildlife to return and multiply.
Over time, alongside the white and black rhinos, the sanctuary came to host more than thirty mammal species — zebras, wildebeest, eland, kudu, gemsbok, impala, springbok, giraffes, ostriches, warthogs, jackals and more — and over 230 bird species. The reserve became a living mosaic of Kalahari savannah, where visitors can enjoy a full game drive and not just see rhinos. The recovery of the wildlife showed that, with protection and management, a degraded ecosystem can flourish again.
This work also had an educational side. The sanctuary became a place where schools and visitors learn about conservation, the threat of poaching and the importance of protecting iconic species such as the rhino. Its recognition as a member of international conservation organisations, such as the IUCN, reflected the value of this local effort with a global impact.
Today the Khama Rhino Sanctuary is one of Botswana's best-loved conservation destinations and a regular stop on the route linking the south of the country with Maun and the north. It offers visitors one of the best chances in the country to see white and black rhinos in the wild, whether on a self-drive game drive, a guided outing or an exciting rhino-tracking walk on foot with rangers. Around them, Kalahari wildlife and rich birdlife round out the experience.
The community model is still the heart of the project: tourism income — entry fees, camping, chalets, activities — goes to conservation and to benefit the Serowe community, closing the circle between protecting nature and improving people's lives. Its simple but comfortable facilities (camping in the shade of the mokongwa trees, chalets, reception) make it accessible to independent travellers and families alike, and its location on the main road makes it an easy and meaningful stop.
The sanctuary shows that conservation can grow out of local initiative and deliver concrete results: where a few decades ago rhinos had all but disappeared, today they graze and breed again thanks to a community's decision. Combining the visit with historic Serowe — cradle of the Khamas, the family that saved the country from Rhodes and led it to independence — turns this corner of east-central Botswana into a place where the country's nature and history meet.
