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Botswana Travel Blogs

Background: Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name upon independence in 1966. Four decades of uninterrupted civilian leadership, progressive social policies, and significant capital investment have created one of the most dynamic economies in Africa. Mineral extraction, principally diamond mining, dominates economic activity, though tourism is a growing sector due to the country's conservation practices and extensive nature preserves. Botswana has one of the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection, but also one of Africa's most progressive and comprehensive programs for dealing with the disease.

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By mrandmrssimmonds
January 25th 2007

Day 207 - Early sunset cruise

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Chobe National Park

Snacks for the sunset cruise!

We got up late, well rested and full of energy for the day ahead. We went into town (or village perhaps) to have a look around and to buy some food and alcohol for the afternoon's cruise. We saw a sign saying 'Hot Bread Shop' and followed the arrows hungrily (bread is not up to much here on the whole). Next door to the bread shop was something even better - a deli selling the sort of things you'd find in Waitrose and loads of nice South African wines. We spent a 'kitty' fortune in there, and it was almost all [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
January 24th 2007

Day 206 - African Wilderness

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

Amazing what you can find on the side of the road in Africa

Today's journey began early and was one of the quietest yet on the truck. The destination was Chobe National Park. Time and again we would have to slow down for elephants either in or next to the road, and this wasn't even in a national park or protected area, just the genuine 'wild'. It's great to see so many and makes you wonder why people still think they're almost extinct. One time the driver stopped and we wondered why, only to spot a dead donkey in the road. Thankfully this was just a coincidence, although the real reason we'd stopped wasn't [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
January 23rd 2007

Day 205 - The African way

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

We spent the morning hanging around the campsite, and at 11:30 Ed decided to catch a taxi into town. The first hurdle was that the phone line in the campsite office was dead. So Ed borrowed the manager's mobile to call for a taxi, following instructions to "walk down the track until you come to a huge termite mound and climb the tree next to it" in order to get a signal. That half worked and in between crackles it sounded as if a taxi was on its way. Half an hour later Ed borrowed the same phone and climbed the [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
January 22nd 2007

Day 204 - The cook can cook even better

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

With just 8 people staying behind in the campsite whilst 14 others went into the delta, the cook was happy to do some more labour-intensive dishes, so for breakfast today we got delicious omelettes rather than hard-boiled eggs. After breakfast we went into town for a bit. Nothing terribly eventful but some time on the internet, a great lunch at French Connection and a bit of time exploring Maun. Its much more similar to towns in developed countries than we'd expected, although with more roads made of just sand. And hardly any white people. We also managed to buy the [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
January 21st 2007

Day 203 - 500 elephants spotted from the air

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

Elephants

The town of Maun, and in fact the whole of Botswana's tourism industry, owes a lot to the Okavango Delta. The Okavango River starts in Angola, crosses the Caprivi Strip in north-eastern Namibia and eventually empties itself in what's called the Okavango Delta. The Kalahari is next door, so all this water attracts a lot of wildlife. We had the option of a 2 night/3day excursion into the delta, travelling by traditional pole-driven canoes called Makoros. For one reason or another, including the attraction of a bit of peace and quiet whilst the majority of our group went off on the [View Full Entry]

By mrandmrssimmonds
January 20th 2007

Day 202 - 'Sleeping' the countryside go by

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

We had a nightmare of a journey today: 10 hours on a crowded truck with uncomfortable seats and no air-con in the African sunshine. Because of our long ride we left early which in turn meant getting up at 4.30am. With last night's antics in the bar not long past, a lot of us boarded the truck clearly still drunk and were asleep within seconds. After a couple of hours we crossed into Botswana, a rarity in Africa in that it's run quite competently by all accounts and enjoys - relatively - high standards of living. We are here for [View Full Entry]

By farrell
January 16th 2007

Botswana traveling

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Maun

Border Ferry Across the Zambezi

So I've been traveling in Botswana now for two weeks. I've come across some interesting travel methods. I left Lusaka on an overnight bus. I must say that the Lusaka bus station was much friendlier at 10PM than it was at 7AM. At 7AM everyone wants to direct me to a Livingstone bound bus, whether that is where I'm going or not. I'm white, I must be going to Livingstone. If they don't want to do that, they want to change money for you. At night, I got asked for a few cabs and one guy asked if I knew where [View Full Entry]

By farrell
January 15th 2007

Okavango Delta

Africa » Botswana » North-West » Okavango Delta

Mekoro on beach

I have returned to Maun after my sojourn into the Okavango Delta. After learning and seeing pictures of the Okavango Delta it became one of those places I just had to visit. The Delta is created where the Okavango River decides to battle the Kalahari Desert. The desert wins. The river dies a sandy grave. But in the process, it creates this magnificent wetland area in the middle of a desert. Inside the delta there are areas of permant swamp and annual swamp. Right now is the rainy season so the delta is slowly filling up with water. In April/June time [View Full Entry]

By le_flow
January 7th 2007

A modern path

Africa » Botswana » South-East » Gaborone

Creators of a nation
These three prominent men has all had a finger or more in the creation of Botswana. Now they stand tall as the national monument outside of Gaborone.

As we rushed down from Gaborone to celebrate New Years Eve in Cape Town, we had been arrested by Karma police a mere hours drive before the big city in the small town of Worcester - and sentenced to a 10-day meditation course. Therefore I sat in silence on my small meditation cushion, contemplating, focusing. Around me were 35 other meditators, all doing their best trying not to move, not to look, not to plan for the future, and not to drift into the past but to follow the teacher’s instructions and be in the present moment. Often I would catch [View Full Entry]

By katschtom
January 2nd 2007

What's new, pussycat?

Africa » Botswana

Leopard
Ein Leopard und seine Beute, ein junges Impala auf dem Baum

hi! we've been to botswana, which was wonderful as you can see on our pics! I'll tell you about one special adventure in detail: The elefant attack We were sitting on our vehicle, which means we've got no cover or protection around us, just benches on a vehicle, one higher than that before. And we came to an elefant, a big bull, which was standing alone. When we arrived he was interested in us, he looked directly at us and stopped eating. just stood there and watched us. And we watched him. Apparently he found us neutral, because after one minute [View Full Entry]

Links: Botswana Travel Blogs (all) | Botswana Travel Photos | Botswana Travel Forum | Botswana Facts | Map of Botswana

Travel Blog » Africa » Botswana