Travel in Botswana

If you have a particular outdoor or travel passion, be it hiking, biking, golf or skiing, there’s a Bucket List trip for you to experience this year. These are all topics I have specialized in for three decades, and I continuously try new outfitters and new destinations to find the best trips on earth, so I figured I’d kick off the New Year by sharing some of that expertise.

If 2022 travel trends were all about a return to travel, then 2023 was the year we went further than ever before. Travelers took to the skies, rails, roads, and seas to cross off goals on their bucket lists with Arctic adventures, luxury yacht cruises, and even the first tourist trip into space.

African countries are seeing a surge in international travel, fueled by luxury safari experiences with repeat visitors. Returning travelers remain excited by the continent’s iconic wildlife. However, they want to mix up their experiences beyond spotting game from the back of a Jeep.

The principals of the innovative London and New York-based travel company Black Tomato made their name by assembling detail-oriented and sometimes very out of the way travel plans for exceedingly curious, adventurous clients. Having surveyed the market to ascertain what their clients are interested in now and the changes they see in the travel landscape, they’ve come up with the ways they see that travel happening in the next year and in what parts of the world those ambitious travelers could be.

In the chilly predawn hour of late July, the peak time for a winter safari in Botswana, I sink deeper into the seat of our electric Land Cruiser, bundled in layers of scarves, blankets, and jackets. We’re on the move. A predator, the elusive African leopard, was spotted near our lodge the night before. While tracking this large nocturnal cat will ultimately prove difficult, I have already witnessed a different rare sight on this trip: a crew of all-woman guides known as the Chobe Angels, the first in Africa and the only such team in Botswana, where women still represent less than 5% of all safari guides.

In this series, Lonely Planet’s team of writers and editors answer your travel problems and provides tips and hacks to help you plan a hassle-free trip. When it came to a question about a 4WD self-drive safari in Africa, we knew Namibia-based guidebook writer Mary Fitzpatrick would have the answer.

While the big boys are continuing to expand their portfolios—with some spectacular announcements for 2024—the coming year is also shaping up to be a good one for people who prefer a bit of whimsy, a dollop of homegrown style and the one-of-a-kind feeling of an independent hotel (or at least one that’s part of a small regional group). From Aspen to Athens, Bhutan to Botswana, here are 15 new hotels that share a close attention to detail, a distinctive character and a genuine interest in sustainability.

The first-ever Botswana Tourism Investment Summit will be held in the country’s capital, Gaborone, from today, the 23rd to the 24th November 2023. This event organized by the International Tourism and Investment Corporation (ITIC) in partnership with World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, aims at promoting Botswana as a land of untapped tourism potentials to becoming a major conduit for foreign investment flows to the country. Furthermore, Botswana’s project developers will be connected to investors. Bankable projects in quest of investments will be highlighted through presentations. In addition, the ITIC and BTO teams are preparing up to assist the different parties in brokering joint-ventures, partnership agreements or in entering the shareholding capital of these exciting strategic moves focused on high returns.

Crystal Cruises and Abercrombie & Kent have teamed up to offer travelers a unique travel experience. 

Botswana is a country where an array of tribes, each having transmitted from generation to generation, its culture, and traditions. Although their art and crafts, beliefs, ceremonies, legends, and rituals differ, they live in perfect harmony, united by their rich history.

According to the US Department of State, Botswana has the best credit rating in mainland Sub-Saharan Africa. The Government of Botswana offers a cutting-edge package of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to attract foreign investments to its tourism industry in the context of the structural reforms it has undertaken to enhance the industry’s value chain and its multiplier effect on other sectors of the economy. This strategy falls under the ‘Reset Agenda’ rolled out by the authorities of Botswana to transform the country into a high income economy by 2036.

Botswana stands out as a reference in sustainable tourism in Africa. 37% of its land are protected as national parks or wildlife management areas to preserve the country’s wildlife and rich natural treasures.

The first-ever Botswana Tourism Investment Summit will be held in the capital city, Gaborone, from the 22nd to the 24th November 2023. Organised jointly by UK-based International Tourism Investment Corporation (ITIC) and Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) in collaboration with World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, the Botswana Tourism Investment Summit will offer a unique platform to international investors and tourism forward-looking professionals to explore the country’s untapped investment opportunities.

This is part of our global guide to the Best Places to Go in 2024—find more travel inspiration here.

I have been watching a pride of nine lions slowly waking up from their siesta. The adolescent siblings playfully nudge one another. One stretches against a log, reminding me of my dog back home, almost prompting me to hop out of the open-sided Land Rover and get closer. But then I catch a glimpse of a paw the size of my head, with claws so sharp they could slice through mosquito netting with no effort at all, and I’m reminded that this is Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve, home to a rich array of wildlife like bush elephants, leopards, plains zebra, giraffe—and I am just a guest here.

Botswana makes for a memorable trip with kids. From quad biking across Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to encounters with elephants, lions, and giraffes, few countries can match it for variety.

Botswana is famed for its enormous expanses of pristine wilderness that have been given over to fence-free national parks and private game reserves, allowing its abundant wildlife to roam free. But what’s the best way to explore the country?

Flying in for a few nights at a splendid luxury lodge is a marvelous way to see the remote corners of beautiful Botswana, but to truly enjoy this country’s monumentally wild spirit, it’s all about taking to the open road.

Although Botswana is one of the most expensive destinations to visit in Africa, it’s on every safari-goer’s bucket list for some very good reasons: its vast swathes of untamed wilderness, fence-free national parks and wealth of wildlife.

From the watery wilderness of the Okavango Delta to the sweeping semi-arid savanna of the Kalahari Desert and the lunar-like salt pans of Makgadikgadi, Botswana offers superb wildlife-watching year-round.

Botswana is one of Africa’s most stunning safari destinations, famed for its high-end, low-impact tourism model, vast fence-free national parks and spectacular wildlife. And there's good news for travelers: many visitors can get a visa on arrival and start exploring.