BOTSWANA TRAVEL INFORMATION

People: Botswana people are proud, almost arrogant people. Definitely compared to Zambians they do have quite an attitude - but usually are also quite switched on. The service is not so good - often you get the feeling they don‘t really want to help you. Score: 6

Landscape/Nature: as mentioned before, Botswana roughly is divided into the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert. Many animals in many landscapes. Its not the best of southern Africa but still very attractive. Score: 8

Transport/Infratructure: hmmm, not so good. There is not much asphalt and whats there is often potholed. The rest are gravel- and bushroads of which the quality greatly depends on the rainy seasons. The Delta you cannot even reach by car: you have to go with a mokoro (dug-out canoe) or small charter plane. Score: 5

Animals: Botswana has developed into one of the best wildlife destinations of Africa. Score: 10

Food: nothing special, based on what‘s available in South Africa. Most camps will take proper care of your appetite. Score: 7

Climate: nice in some months, but very cold in winter (juni) and very very hot in the dry season (september-oktober). Score: 7

Culture: the San culture is very interesting but not much is left. The best are the rock paintings like at Tsodilo Hills. Score: 7

Hygiene:  watch out, not always very good. Malaria and HIV are omni-present as is Billharzia. Score: 5

Price level: since Botswana is targeting the upper segment most camps are extremely expensive. To further discourage the self drives all entree fees to the national parks have increased a lot. Score: 5

Safety/Stability: no problem at all. With only 1.3 million people in a huge country, crime is almost not there. It was very unfortunate we got robbed in Francistown however, but it was said that was done by Zimbabweans (of course...). Score: 9

Excitement/Adventure/Challenge: very good, enough possibilities for real bush experiences etc. Score: 10

Overall score: 8.0

With this score Botswana WILL enter our top 10 travel countries around the world.

Accommodation: hereunder you will find our personal impression of the accommodation we booked in Botswana.

Chobe National Park: Muchenje Lodge is our favorite. Most of Chobe‘s safari lodges are in Kasane, which means that the park is mostly entered by the 30+ lodges from that side (like Chobe Safari Lodge, Chobe Marina Lodge etc etc). During game drives and boat cruises it is sometimes hard to make pictures without another tourist on it. But not Muchenje: they are located on the other side of the 60km tar road through the park on which side only 2 lodges are present, of which Muchenje is one of them. The rates at Muchenje are all inclusive and especially their full-day programme is fun: a long boat cruise with lunch followed by a gamedive. The lodge is situated on a hill with a view of the flood-plains of Namibia. The rooms are ok, standard. Management is good, but with the so-called Botswana attitude. The guides are ok, a bit arrogant but their knowledge is reasonably well.

Update 2010: unfortunately Muchenje was forced to change their full day program a little bit by the authorities. As they are no longer allowed to drop off their guests for the boat cruise half-way the park, they have to drive all the way to Kasane. That means that the morning gamedrive is very long (which is ok), but on the way back they have to take the asphalt road through the park which is a shame.

Okavango Delta: in 2009 I stayed for 2 nights in Kwara Camp, in a private concession of Kwando safaris. The camp consists of 8 tents on wooden platforms, which is the standard in this type of bushcamps. The management is local and reasonably efficient, but the problem with local managers is that they might be efficient but not real hosts. Fortunately Kwara always does main tables for their meals so one can always find other guests to chat with. The consession is beautiful and because it is private you won‘t find other cars. During my stay wildlife was not abundant but that‘s how it is, wildlife is unpredictable. Unfortunately I found some disturbing matters. Firstly, the guides act like gods since they are in a private concession. This meant the guides were driving off-track a lot, not only for the cats but for everything that moves. Which of course causes a lot of damage. Little Kwara camp is just next to Kwara and all in all 6 cars are doing drives in the area and they keep in touch via radios. Which means that there will always be 5 to 6 cars present once you have spotted a lion or a leopard. Besides that all the guides are almost non-stop chatting over the radio which is quite annoying. By the way, Kwara uses Uri 4x4 vehicles, army cars which are very very strong. They are brilliant. There is a separate chair in the left front of the bonnet for the spotter and you are with a maximum of 4 persons on one car, which is very very pleasant.
Another disturbing matter I found the level of noise in the camp. For a camp in the bush one might expect total silence at night and in the early mornings. But none of that. The staff makes a lot of noise from 5 o‘clock in the morning, the radio is always on volume 10 etc etc. Such a pity!

In 2010 I stayed at two other Kwando camps, Lagoon and Lebala, both of them near the Caprivi strip, right at the Linyanti river opposite Mamili NP and Modumo Reserve. Lagoon is a bit more rustic for which I preferred it, Lebala is more luxurious with sliding doors etc. I have understood that Lagoon will also be revamped at the end of 2010 with the same look and feel as Lebala, and the Kwara camps have already been revamped. t's not my thing, but I can understand and I am sure there will be many guests who will really enjoy the little extra comfort. The approach in any of the camps is the same with 2 gamedrives per day (Lagoon also does boat trips but it doesn't add much) and a lot of off-road driving. It did give me a brilliant wild dog kill! The same pro's and con's do count here as with the Kwara camps.

Moremi Nationaal Park: in 2009 I stayed at Xakanaxa Camp from Moremi Safaris. It‘s located at the fringes of the park towards the Okavango conservancy at one of the natural canals. It shares this spot with Camp Okuti and Camp Moremi, which means there is quite some traffic going on. The camp is beautiful with lots of eye for detail which is apparently set up by the German owner and later by full-time manager Flo. Unfortunately she has been struck by serious illness so the camp is currently in a transition phase regarding management. The new managers will be local which implies the same problems as at Kwara (no hosts). The set-up is tents again on platforms, but done in a really nice way, just like the main area. The food was much better as at Kwara. Gamedrives are done in Landrovers and Xakanaxa does not have any problems putting more than 4 persons on a car (such a pity). The guides have a reasonable knowledge of the bush despite some major mistakes (see travel report). My guide also went totally ballistic when he tried to find a predator and drove like a lunatic through the bush at 80km per hour. At least most cars stayed on the tracks.