How We Spent Our Family Vacation is a new column that unpacks a single trip down to the cost, from the point of view of families who love to travel.
31.01.2025 - 11:53 / lonelyplanet.com
Jan 30, 2025 • 11 min read
If you’re planning your first trip to Botswana (or even your tenth), you have much to look forward to.
Consistently ranked by travelers as Africa’s best safari destination, Botswana is filled with wildlife that inhabits iconic landscapes, among them the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert, which together make up more than 90% of the country’s territory.
Botswana has become a byword for the exclusive safari, its government having wisely chosen to encourage quality of safari experience over mass tourism. All throughout the Okavango Delta and neighboring ecosystems such as Chobe National Park, tented camps of unrivaled luxury are located amid some of the most prolific wildlife populations on the planet. By one estimate, the Delta alone is home to more than 200,000 large mammals.
Elsewhere, the great expanses of salt pans and grasslands that make up the Kalahari provide wildlife and wilderness in equal measure. Whether you’re with a group, a private safari tour or driving yourself, Botswana really does offer safari tourism at its best.
Yet the country has other calling cards. In the Kalahari, you can spend time learning about one of Africa’s most ancient cultures, the San. And in Maun or Kasane, allow time to experience modern, urban life in this stable and relatively prosperous country. Best of all, Botswana is a safe and easy adventure that’s ideal for experienced and first-time travelers alike.
There are no bad times to visit Botswana. Targeting a time of year to visit depends on what you’re hoping to do when you’re here.
The best weather is undoubtedly from April or May until October. This is the dry season, bringing clear skies, cool evenings and nights (especially from June or July to August), and mild daytime temperatures. At either end of the season, while rains can linger into April or begin to fall in the second half of October, you can expect generally dry conditions overall. October is one month that deserves special mention: temperatures (and humidity) build in advance of the rains, and animals congregate around the last remaining water sources, making them easier to find. This is a standout month to visit.
The rainy or wet season takes up much of the rest of the year. That said, it rarely rains all of the time: in November and December, temperatures can soar, and rains might be restricted to an occasional afternoon thunderstorm. The rains really kick in, and temperatures remain high, from January to March. Some years, the rains never arrive; others, it rains heavily. Note, however, that water levels in the Okavango Delta are highest during the dry season, since they depend on rains that will have fallen months before in the highlands of Angola.
The wetter months do have
How We Spent Our Family Vacation is a new column that unpacks a single trip down to the cost, from the point of view of families who love to travel.
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