Best things to do in Botswana

Botswana safaris go well beyond traditional game drives. You can glide through papyrus-lined channels on a mokoro, track lion spoor on foot with expert guides, cruise the Chobe River by boat, sleep under the stars during a fly camping night, meet San Bushmen communities, and try specialist activities such as quad biking, horseback safaris and helicopter flights over the Okavango Delta.

A mokoro is a traditional dugout canoe, now mostly crafted from fibreglass to protect Delta trees, propelled by a poler standing at the back. It glides silently through the Okavango's narrow channels at water level, bringing you within metres of grazing lechwe, basking crocodiles and feeding elephants, offering one of Africa's most peaceful wildlife experiences.

Yes, walking safaris are widely available across the Okavango Delta and private concessions in northern Botswana, ranging from short morning strolls to multi-day expeditions. Guides and trackers, some from Bushman communities with generations of tracking knowledge, identify animals from their spoor and interpret alarm calls to predict where predators are likely to be.

Yes, boat safaris are a highlight of the Chobe River, whose permanent water draws large herds of elephant, buffalo and zebra to its green floodplains. Boat trips reach areas inaccessible by vehicle and let you photograph wildlife from water level, and Chobe is also the only place in Botswana where you can spot the rare puku antelope.

The Okavango Delta is Botswana's activity hub, offering mokoro trips through its channels, walking safaris on its islands, game drives in surrounding concessions, fly camping under the stars, and helicopter flights that reveal the Delta's channels and floodplains from above. Activity choice depends partly on water levels, which vary seasonally.

Yes, in parts of the northern Okavango and around the Makgadikgadi Pans, descendants of San Bushmen communities guide visitors and share tracking and survival knowledge passed down over generations. These cultural encounters add a human dimension to Botswana's wilderness safaris, connecting travellers to the people who have called these landscapes home the longest.

Fly camping is Botswana's most minimal form of mobile safari. You walk or boat to a remote Delta island where staff prepare bedrolls under mosquito nets and a campfire, with no tents or structures between you and the night sky. Several Delta lodges offer it as an optional one-night extra during a longer stay, for travellers seeking genuine wilderness immersion.

Yes, horseback safaris in certain private concessions let you approach giraffe, zebra and antelope herds that would otherwise flee from vehicles. Around the Makgadikgadi Pans, quad biking across the ancient salt flats offers an otherworldly experience, often paired with meerkat encounters at habituated colonies during the same outing.

Hot air balloon safaris are not a typical Botswana activity; that experience is more closely associated with East African destinations such as the Maasai Mara and Serengeti. Botswana's signature aerial perspective instead comes from helicopter flights over the Okavango Delta, which reveal the scale of its channels, islands and floodplains from above.