Nightclubs and bars in Botswana

A great part of the excitement on a Botswana safari is to sit next to a crackling fire at night and lance a spotlight into the African night to seek out nocturnal visitors.

Hyenas in particular are frequent visitors to the fenceless camp sites and it was great fun to highlight them slinking in the dark within metres of where we were sitting. I cannot imagine what we would have done if we saw a lion!

Our spotlight also found owls, nocturnal monkeys and even hippos when we camped near the river.

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Spend a night in a hide, you will be fed well, then it's time to sit, look and listen for the nocturnal life, when you get weary, it's up to the hide itself, where you will be supplied with a mattress and indeed you will be able to spot any animals roaming about should you choose not to sleep.

Normally you will sleep in your clothing, so don't expect luxury at these places, wrap up warm in the winter months too.

Dress Code: Safari gear.

Take a night drive with a guide and tracker to spot the nocturnal life of Africa.
It's hunting time for the cats and a good time to spot leopard. Other 'cuties' to be seen are nagaapies (bushbabies), anteaters, porcupine, African kangaroos, hyena, jackal, long eared foxes and bats to name just a few.

Take a jacket as the evenings can get chilly.

When you are wildnerness camping the whole point is the lack of bars, nightclubs, etc because the bush provides its own music. Every night we went up into our tree-house tent on the roof of our vehicle, dangled our legs over the side, and sat star-gazing and listening to the nocturnal bush come alive. It was incredible. One Sunday evening the local village was singing, and the music of their voices carrying over the River Khwai was enchanting and exquisite.

Dress Code: None needed

Enjoy the bushveld, sit around a campfire, gaze at the stars and tune into the night sounds, feel your heart race the first time you hear lions roar in the distance..

Dress Code: Long sleeves and long pants to protect you from mosquito bites
Socks and closed shoes - scorpions come out to play at night

Nightlife doesn't eally exist when there are only a few of you in an isolated safari lodge. It will usually consist of sitting in the bar or around the dining table discussing what you have seen that day. Occasionally there were get togethers around a campfire which would tend to go on quite late, but generally since most people were tired after a long day and had to be up at 5:30/6:00 the next morning, nights were usually pretty quiet.

Dress Code: Very informal.
As you are only allowed a few kilos of luggage in a soft bag, wearing a tuxedo or evening dress for dinner isn't high on the list of priorities

The bar at 'Audi Camp' in Maun.
Botswana is not the most happening of places, and most of the activity tends to be centered around the camps/hotels. This one is particularly lively and has a good selection of drinks....

Dress Code: Anything goes.

There ain't much to doat night except sit round the camp fire. But its best to get any early night so that you can wake up early to go game spotting. If you have a good spot like and you're confident you can find you way back to you're camp site, then a night drive is goodfor spotting nocturnal animals.
If you havent made you're campsite yet and it gets dark, then good luck. I would strongly advice setting up campin the dark.

This is our camp site on magadigad pan. Its a dried out river bed, but you need to beware if there was recent rain its gets soft and you're vehicle will sink. If you're quick enough you can winch you're self out of this situation. As there are no treesto tie the winch to the best thing to do is attach it to a spare tyre and bury it.