For those with the budget for a bit of luxury, you’ll find no shortage of excellent luxury safari lodges. You might want to add high-end activities like helicopter and hot air balloon rides to your travel plans.

Budget travellers might want to rent a 4×4 and drive themselves to save on costs.

While a trip like this will certainly allow you to enjoy much of Botswana’s extremely varied landscapes, you are unlikely to have as rich an experience as if you’d been accompanied by a guide and been able to drive on private roads.

Also, in many cases in Botswana and other parts of Africa such as Zambia, self-drive is not, in fact, a cheaper option than flying, and in some cases you can only fly in. This means self-drive is more for those that truly want the experience of self-drive – not necessarily those who simply plan to save on costs.

A better idea for the more budget-focused traveller to Botswana would be to join a mobile safari, where the level of accommodation is basic, but you are accompanied by an expert guide throughout your trip.

If you’d like the best available options for your budget, we recommend asking an expert safari travel agent to help you plan your tour.

With more than 20 years of experience and 8 visits to Botswana, we can help to plan your Botswana safari at no extra cost.

Start planning now.

In the case of South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Mozambique, this is true, and it is possible to spend an action-packed week in these destinations for under $3,000 per person sharing.

However, you will find this is not the case in Botswana. The lower population density and remoteness of many of the camps means that logistics drive up the prices.

Botswana also has a stronger currency than its neighbors, meaning dollars, euros and pounds don’t go quite as far.

The main reason why Botswana is a more expensive destination is that their government is serious about conservation, and they don’t want natural areas to be spoiled by over-trading, and so have kept lodge numbers low. Fewer lodges mean more competition to get in, and the lodges can charge higher prices and still have a high occupancy.

New African Safaris generally recommends including a trip to nearby Zambia or Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls. Not only is this a popular attraction, but spending a night or two across the border from Botswana is a good way to stay more nights for less.

When it comes to Botswana safari lodges, some – perhaps 20% of them – offer full-board, meaning you get all meals and selected activities, usually including at least 2 game drives or walks a day.

The majority of lodges offer all-inclusive pricing, meaning local beers, wines and spirits are also included. Particular items like French champagne are often available at an additional price.

If you want a truly all-inclusive price for your Botswana safari package, New African Safaris can plan everything from in-country transfers, vehicle and equipment hire, additional activities etc, so that you aren’t surprised by additional costs, or disappointed that activities you expected are out of your budget if you went there expecting to be able to do them.

However, it is always advisable to allow a bit extra for tips.

In some cases, you’ll be able to add this when signing a bill, but in others, cash will be more practical, or the only option available.

In restaurants, a minimum of 10% is acceptable for basic service, although if you received excellent service and/or are feeling generous, you might want to go as high as 15 or even 20%.

For porters, US $1-$2 per bag is recommended.

Botswana has very high quality safari guides, and it is customary to tip them between US $10 and $20 per person per day.

In terms of tipping drivers, US $5 should be enough for shorter transfers. For half-day drives, $20-$25 is recommended, and around $30-$35 for a full day.

Many lodges have spa facilities, and a discretionary 10%-20% tip is recommended for spa treatments, usually given directly to the therapist.

Beach bums might consider looking at our recommended additions to your Botswana itinerary for a safari and beach combined tour.

Tourism is highly valued by local people, and tourists are welcomed and treated with respect. This makes Botswana the perfect destination for first-time visitors to Africa.

Most crime that does happen tends to be petty and opportunistic rather than serious, and concentrated around built-up areas, like Gaborone, Maun and Francistown, rather than in nature areas such as national parks. As in any city, it pays to keep an eye out for your valuables.

For those with a little longer, we’d then recommend the marshy Linyanti area, the Savuti channel (May to August), and the Boteti River or Makgadikgadi Pans.

For those with a little longer still, or on their second visit to Botswana, we’d recommend a visit to the desert regions of the central Kalahari.

The Mashatu region near the Zimbabwean and South African borders is best combined with a trip to either of these countries.

Those wanting to visit South Africa as well as Botswana will enjoy the stark, dry beauty of the Kgalagadi National Park in the southwest part of Botswana, although either this or Mashatu might also be added onto a longer trip to Botswana.

We can hire you a fully-kitted vehicle with camping equipment, and pre-book your campsites, or else you can choose to stay in lodges along the way.

The easiest self-drive route would be from Kasane town to the east of Chobe, down to the Makgadikgadi Pans, and south to Maun, which is a town close to the Okavango Delta, as the roads here are of high quality and manageable in most vehicles.

However, if you keep to the main roads, you risk missing a lot of the more unique experiences that you might have if you were taken down a private road by a guide.

If you’d like to go a bit more off the beaten track, you can drive through the Moremi, Linyanti and Khwai Concession areas, although you will need to know how to handle a 4×4, and you’ll need a proper GPS/satellite navigation system, which we can arrange for you.

Our advice is that self-drive is a great option for the truly adventurous who want to get up to their elbows in navigating their way through Botswana.

If you were considering self-drive purely from a budget perspective, we can recommend a number of other more affordable Botswana safari options that don’t involve advanced driving abilities.

While it might be expected that you’ve flown into the country, the term “fly-in safari” refers to the use of small aircraft flown between airstrips, often located adjacent to safari lodges or just outside national parks, in order to spend as little time on the road as possible and more time actually on safari.

In some cases while touring Africa, fly-in might be the only practical option when it comes to more remote locations. In South Africa, for example, driving might prove to be the cheaper option, with Cape Town to the Garden Route being a popular scenic drive.
However, in Botswana, driving between lodges often requires 4×4 vehicles and involves great distances through undeveloped land, making fly-in both more affordable and less taxing in terms of difficulty of navigation.

A mobile safari usually involves a dedicated private guide who will take you on a tour within a national park or by road between a number of regions.

The most basic experience involves dome tents and bedrolls in private bush campsites with basic shower and toilet cubicles. A chef will prepare your meals and your guide will take you out into nature during the day, either on walks or in a safari vehicle. In some cases, weather dependent, you’ll get the opportunity to sleep under the stars and experience all the sounds and smells of the African night.

In other cases, your guide may take you to luxury tented facilities.

You may do this as part of a small group, or a private group.

Luxury level and group size will usually depend on your budget.

You might choose to spend all of your time touring Botswana on mobile safari, or you might choose to add 3-4 nights of bush camps and mobile safari onto a package that includes fly-in transport and lodge accommodation.

The main reason you’d choose to go on mobile safari is the quality of the guiding, which is truly top class in Botswana and takes you right up close to nature, and shows you details you wouldn’t normally experience otherwise.

While some might argue that you miss out on the scenery that you might see on an overland trip, in some cases, your light aircraft might fly quite low and offer fantastic views.

In a few cases, helicopter transfers are possible, and can take you in low over game reserve areas.

The downside of air transfers for safari in Botswana is that they come with a higher price tag than overland options.

They are the best option for those that want to spend 2-3 nights in each of the best areas, with luxury lodgings, 5-star decor and service, and fine dining.

For those that have a slightly lower budget, or want to get as much bang for their buck as possible and perhaps stretch to a 7-12 day safari for less, a mobile safari is a good option.

That isn’t to say that all mobile safaris are more affordable, as there are some very luxurious options available, but on the whole, they are the more budget-friendly option than fly-in.

You can opt for very basically accommodated mobile safaris where you choose to set up your own tents, whereas on the other end of the scale, you have tented structures with wooden floors and canopied beds.

Self-drive Botswana tours are for the truly adventurous. Usually the choice to self-drive is less about budget, and more about wanting to feel like you’ve conquered the challenge of navigating Africa.

You might choose to rent a fully kitted-out 4×4 vehicle with a rooftop tent and cooking equipment, or you might simply drive between luxury lodges.

New African Safaris can plan any combination of mobile, self-drive or fly-in Botswana safaris for you – let us help you plan.

As Botswana is landlocked, travellers who would like to add some relaxation on a pristine sandy beach, delicious fresh seafood and coral reefs to their trips might want to look into a safari and beach package including Mozambique or some Indian Ocean islands.

Botswana also shares a border with South Africa, making a visit to the winelands and beaches of Cape Town, or a trip to the scenic Garden Route another possible addition to a Southern African tour itinerary.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park spans across the South African border to Botswana to the west, and Mashatu is also close to the border further east, making both nature areas easy add-ons to a trip including both South Africa and Botswana.

If you’d like to plan a multi-country trip to Africa, we recommend you contact us and let us help you plan.