Botswana

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When and Where to Go

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Botswana Safaris | Home | Zambezi Guide
 

Where and when  to go

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Average Monthly Temperature (F)
Min (night) 66 66 64 57 48 43 43 48 55 64 66 66
Max (mid-day) 90 88 88 88 82 77 77 82 91 95 90 91
Average Monthly Rainfall (inches)
4.3 3.1 2.8 1.0 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.2 2.0 3.7

Botswana is located on the tropic at relatively high altitude (3000 ft).  Therefore, at the solstice the sun is directly over-head giving high mid-day temperatures.  The climate is dry, however, and temperatures at night will generally be pleasantly cool and sometimes quite cold. 

Region Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Okavango / Moremi                        
Linyanti                        
Savuti                        
Makadikgadi / N'xai                        
Chobe                        
Outstanding  
Excellent  
Good  
Not recommended  
 
Time of year pricing range Special consideration
Dec - Mar Green season Excellent value.

Because of rains, game will be dispersed into the Makgadikgadi Pans, Kalahari desert and Savuti regions.  Wildebeest migration in Kalahari, Savuti and Makgadikgadi. 

April - May Shoulder Season Good time to travel generally.
June - November High Season Peak prices.  Because of dry conditions, excellent gameviewing in the Okavango / Moremi / Linyanti and Chobe regions

 

Linyanti and Savuti
 
Linyanti Concession (NG 15)
 - King's Pool - Premium Camp
 - Linyanti Classic Tented Camp
 - Duma Tau Classic Tented
 - Savuti Camp

Selinda (NG-16)
 - Selinda Camp
 - Zarafa Camp
 - Motswiri Camp

Kwando Safaris (NG 14)
 - Lebala Camp
 - Lagoon Camp

Savuti District - Chobe National Park
 - Savute Safari Lodge

This region constitutes two principal habitats.  The first is the fabulous game-viewing area that boarders onto the Caprivi strip of Namibia and is formed by the Kwando River which carries water from the Angola highlands down to the Linyanti Swamps, the drainage from which reforms into the Linyanti River flowing to the northeast, later becoming the Chobe River as it flows toward Kasane where it joins the Zambezi and goes on to Victoria Falls.  The principal concessions are the Kwando concession, Selinda Concession, and Linyanti Concessions.

A second principal area is to the East, the Savuti District of the Chobe National Park.  Although dry for much of the year, when the rains come in November and December, the animals from the well-watered regions of the Linyanti and Okavango head off for these regions in search of fresh grass and game-viewing from November - May is fabulous.

Central Okavango
 
Moremi National Park
 - Mombo Camp - Premium Camp
 - Xigera Camp

Kwara Concession (NG 20)
 - Kwando Kwara Camp

Jao Concession  (NG 25)
 - Jao Camp (premium)
 - Kwetsani Camp
 - Tubu Tree Lodge
 - Jacana Camp

Northern Okavango (NG 22 & 23)
 -Duba Plains
 - Vumbura Plains (premium)
 - Little Vumbura

Abu Elephant Camp (NG 26)

African Horseback Safaris (NG26)
 - Macatoo Camp

Okavango Delta & Moremi Game Reserve

The Okavango is a unique ecosystem, an inland delta situated in the middle of the largest stretch of continuous sand in the world – the Kalahari basin. This wetland lies like an oasis in an otherwise inhospitable landscape. Were land and delta meet, a mosaic of pans, grasslands, forests and lagoons provide an extremely rich and diverse habitat where a multitude of animals and birds flourish. This wetland is one of the natural wonders of the world, and is a fragile ecosystem that remains one of the world’s least spoilt and most beautiful wildernesses, and is home to various unique species e.g. sitatunga antelope and red lechwe.
 
Moremi Game Reserve is situated in the eastern corner of the Okavango Delta. Moremi is one of the most beautiful and varied reserves found on the African continent with huge concentrations of wildlife and incredible scenery.

Makgadikgadi Pans and N'xai Pan
 
 

Makgadikgadi Pans
 - Jack's Camp
 - San Camp

Makgadikgadi Salt Pans

The complex of salt pans found in Botswana’s eastern regions are a striking physical feature, and some of the largest of their kind in the world. The pans are huge, flat expanses of hot, sun-blasted terrain, fringed by vegetated islands and peninsulas, once part of a great superlake which covered much of northern Botswana. This desolate landscape offers nothing but sand and sky, and yet it’s eerily silent fossil beaches, stunted red baobab trees and mysterious stone walls, leave an impression on every visitor.

Nxai Pan

Although N'[xai Pan was also once part of the great superlake, it is quite different in character to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, as it boasts broad hectares of short sweet grasslands with occasional “islands” of trees. The rich grassland provides good grazing and attracts springbok, impala, gemsbok, giraffe, kudu, hartebeest, zebra, wildebeest, all followed by leopard, lion and hyena, as well as a wide array of birdlife. Baines baobabs, a cluster of seven trees which have been immortalized by many painters and photographers over the years, are located within the park, and make an excellent picnic stop.
 
Nxai Pan is home to the now famous pride of lions filmed by Tim Liversage in conjunction with National Geographic in “ROAR – Lions Of The Kalahari”.

Central Kalahari
 
 

Deception Valley Lodge

Grasslands Lodge

Leroo La Tau Bush Lodge
 
 

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The deserts beauty is uncompromisingly harsh, but utterly breathtaking and has captured the imagination of explorers for centuries. The Kalahari is characterized by vast open spaces, endless horizons, rolling golden grasslands and flaming sunrises and sunsets. The Kalahari has come to represent the vastness of Africa’s outback, with all the romantic undertones of nomadic hunter-gatherers, lions and golden grasslands gently waiving under a canopy of endless blue skies.

 Within this remote expansive landscape there is a rich diversity of life. The Central Kalahari is home to numerous unique dessert dwelling species, each with their own remarkable adaptation to survive the parched dryness. The summer rain transforms this desolate landscape into a thriving paradise, teeming with thousands of springbok, gemsbok and wildebeest, closely followed by hungry predators.

Chobe River and National Park

The North-eastern entrance to Chobe National Park is at Kasane at the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers, about 1 1/2 hrs from  Victoria Falls. 

Lodges:

Chobe Game Lodge

Chobe Chilwero

Impalila Island Lodge

Kubu Lodge


    
Cape To Cairo, LLC
African Business and Adventure Travel
2761 Unicorn Ln NW, Washington DC 20015
Tel (202) 244 5954 Fax (202) 244 5993
 (800) 356-4433
home:
www.capetocairo.travel / safari@capetocairo.travel