Fun things to do in Botswana

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The official Tourist Information Office in Gaborone is run by the Department of Tourism. They have an excellent website and are helpful if you need information. Their office is only open on weekdays:

7:30am-12:30pm & 1:45pm-4:30pm M-F

They have an excellent website as well.
(Which does not work sometimes.)

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The sign says it all. “Littering is prohibited”. Botswana is a huge country full of natural beauty and not much litter. Please keep it that way. If you are driving you will come across many many rubbish bins (trash cans) to empty you litter. My favourite one (pictured) says “Feed Me”. The government of Botswana actively encourages local people to keep the environment clean for visitors. A Minister of Parliament was quoted as saying “tourists do not want to visit dirty destinations, and urged residents to take environmental sanitation issues seriously.” That works both ways. If you can wait 20-30 minutes while driving, you will come across a place to put it and somewhere to stretch your legs.

Sadly, some of my pictures show where litter was thrown near the bins and not in. Idiots.

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The Kalahri Desert is a huge semi-desert actually. It has sand alright. I know. I got my car stuck in it twice! The Kalahri is a massive 362,500 sq. miles (900,000 sq. km) covering much of Botswana and parts of South Africa and Namibia. The area does get some rainfall so there are plants and a variety of animals. It supports ostriches, lions and cheetas. It also has a few too many donkeys, horses, dogs and vultures. In addition to a wealth of animals, there is also mineral wealth – diamonds. There is a great paved road to help you get across Botswana – the Trans-Kalahari Highway.

Please see my Transport Tips for information about the Trans-Kalahari.

My trip to Botswana was really mostly to go on safari in Chobe National Park. It was an addition that I made after my tour that I am really glad I organised. Booking a day drive in and out from Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls it was a great way to spend an extra day in the area instead of hanging around the Falls especially since I had so much time on my hands.

The Second Largest National Park in the world, Chobe, was a delight as there were lots of animals to be seen, and home to a very large concentration of Elephants, it was the one place in Africa I got to see an Elephant Bath.

See more photos on my Chobe National Park pages.

If travelling from Victoria Falls as I did in Zimbabwe, book through Backpackers Bazaar:

backpack@iafricaonline.co.zw

Shop 5 , Old Vic Falls Centre
P.O.Box 44 Victoria Falls

See phone number below...

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I've seen so many sunsets on this trip. Each invariably aroused my admiration. The spectacle staged on from time immemorial and only the audience change.

I'm standing with my back to the noisy crowd on the boat. We share the boat with the other group who are loud and boisterous. It seems they don't respect anyone and anything. The captain reprimands them several times and even threatens to go back, but it helps only for a few minutes.
I think how lucky we are about the group we travel with. Although the people are much younger than us, we get on well. They are kind, friendly and funny in an intelligent way.

The sunset soothes my annoyance. I stare at it oblivious of the people behind me.

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A buffalo is the last animal we see during the Chobe cruise. Now we can say that we've seen four of the Big Five, namely a lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo, which leaves us with one more to see - a leopard. It will have to wait till another trip - our safari adventure is almost over.

A buffalo looks really impressive with its big body and a set of massive horns. Its nickname "widowmaker" speaks for itself. It is considered to be one of the most dangerous African animals ( the other two are a hippopotamus and a crocodile). The African buffalo is said to be responsible for death of 200 humans a year.

There are some subspecies differing in colour from dark brown or black to red (forest buffalo). Both male and female have horns, but those of males are larger.

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We had to wait till Chobe to view hippos in their full splendour, but at last we are rewarded. Groups of them can be seen on little islets on the river. Their massive bodies stand in stark contrast with fragile shapes of birds that surround them. Some birds even sit on the hippos back, but obviously they don't mind it.
This huge animal weighs from 1600 to 3000 kg(male) and about 1400 (female). They must have fresh water deep enough to submerge in it and grassland nearby. The hippo cannot stay out of water for too long because it risks dehydration. They feel best in water - mating and giving birth here. They can hold breath for several minutes and even walk on the bottom of the rivers.
They leave water after the sunset and come on land to feed on grass and crops. They can be dangerous to human - you should never get between a hippo and his watery home.

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During our African trip elephants were probably the animals that we spotted most frequently. We saw them in Etosha and Okavango delta, but it cannot compare to the numbers we saw during the Chobe cruise. Herd after herd of elephants going to the river, drinking water and playing with water. After these few hours I have no doubts that Chobe has the greatest concentration of elephants in Africa. In fact the population is growing steadily - from a few thousand in 1990 to today's 50 000. The number of elephants in Chobe is so high that culls were consideed, but luckily have been rejected.