Although Botswana may not be at the top of your bucket list (and admittedly wasn't at the top of mine until 6 months ago, either), you'll wonder why not as soon as you lay eyes on this incredible country and its curious mix of desert and wetlands, its warm and hospitable people, its density of exotic African wildlife, and its nearly overwhelming number of national parks. Amazingly, 80% of Botswana falls within[...]
For nearly 50,000 years, the San people, also known as Bushmen, have inhabited parts of southwestern Africa and lived off the land. Today, numbers are dwindling as their way of life is increasingly threatened by a modern world (and even more so by government reappropriation of their lands), but a small community of Bushmen people still reside in Botswana near Ghanzi and have tried to keep their fading traditions ali[...]
Encompassing well over a million hectares of seasonally-flooded marshland, the Okavango Delta in Botswana's north has been named one of Africa's Seven Natural Wonders as well as a World Heritage Site for the remarkable landscape and diverse ecosystem sustained by its life-giving waters. With more than 80% of the country classified as desert, the Delta rises like an (extremely large) oasis out of the otherwise arid K[...]
By our second full day on the road, we are starting to get the hang of things, waking up around 530am, packing up our tent, digging into a big egg and bacon brekky, and helping to wash up all the dishes before setting off on a 5 hour drive towards our camp. We've heard plenty of talk that Elephant Sands is the best camp on the entire trip, so we are all excited when we arrive around 11am. After a delicious pasta[...]
Botswana's first and most diverse national park, as well as one of the largest conservation areas in a country dominated by nature reserves, Chobe National Park is a standout among all of southern Africa's safari destinations. Botswana is actually home to the largest population of elephants in the world, with nearly 150,000 of those elephants estimated to live within Chobe. Driving around this rugged and honestly un[...]