People: People from Botswana were friendly, but a bit more on the professional level rather than naturally friendly like in Namibia. As in travellers, we again met some older couples, many from South Africa. Similarly to Namibia, we usually only had short conversations on the go, but did spend one fun boozy evening with some South Africans in Moremi.

Food: Again, we self-catered apart from a visit to Nandos which means I can’t judge the Botswanan cuisine.

Weather: Again, we were rather lucky with the weather, with the sun being out most of the time. Unfortunately, we did get some rain during our most important safari days which we partly blame for not seeing as many animals as expected.

Costs: We put our Namibia and Botswana budget together, since it is hard to separate. Botswana was a bit more expensive (mainly the campsites in the national parks), but not much more. On average, we spent 65€ per person, per day which already includes our rental car that was already over 70€/day, and the car insurance. So all in all not too bad I think!

Accommodation: Camping, camping, camping! While we had one of our best campings in Gweta (Planet Baobab), we also had some really bad ones that were extremely overpriced for barely any facilities (Savuti, South Camp Moremi etc). We also wild-camped three times.

Infrastructure: Travelling Botswana, you definitely need a 4×4. The roads in the national parks are incredibly bad sometimes: deep sand, deep puddles, mud that got us stuck once,… But surprisingly we made it through Botswana without any flats or other issues!

Illnesses: All good!

Safety: Apart from the nightly elephant visit in Moremi, we never felt unsafe.

Itinerary: We followed a typical route: after visiting Chobe Riverfront, we ventured into Savuti, and through Khwai to Moremi and Maun. Afterwards, we detoured to the East to see the pans (Makgadikgadi and Nxai), came back the same way to Maun and then took the rather unusual route up to Drotsky Cave and back into Namibia at the tiny Dobe border poast. We had to give a miss to Central Kalahari Game Reserve because the campings were fully booked, and Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park because it was too far off our route. A reason to come back one day, maybe!?

Highlight: Savuti.

Lowlight: Moremi, what a disappointment…

Click on the photos below to see our full photo album of Botswana: