16 Enjoyable—and Fascinating—Info about Botswana’s Wildlife & Wonders
Think about watching a herd of elephants—all totally different ages and sizes—wade throughout the Chobe River at sundown. It’s one of many issues that shocked me most throughout my too-brief keep in Botswana…I didn’t count on to see elephants fortunately hanging out submerged in deep water, trunks holding greenery up over their heads out of the water.
It wasn’t the one shock in Botswana, although. From the shimmering Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to the luxurious Okavango Delta, Botswana’s various ecosystems are a haven for each wildlife and folks.
Earlier than that first go to, I didn’t know a lot about Botswana—its historical past or the way it got here to be one in all Africa’s premier safari locations, identified for breathtaking landscapes and ample wildlife that thrive on protected lands in reserves, wildlife administration areas and nationwide parks.
Listed here are 16 fascinating information about Botswana—from its historic cultures and landscapes to the distinctive insurance policies that make it a year-round African safari vacation spot. Whether or not you’re drawn to the wildlife or the wide-open areas, Botswana provides one thing unforgettable for the entire household.
Botswana’s Wildlife from Antelope to Zebra
Effectively over 800 animal species dwell in Botswana, together with the Huge 5—lion, leopard, elephant, black rhino and buffalo—in addition to an array of different wildlife, from giraffes, zebras, and hippo to no fewer than 22 species of antelope (assume herds of swish impala, solitary bushbuck and enormous teams of wildebeest).
Botswana is house to the biggest elephant inhabitants on the planet. The very best place to see them is on a ship within the Chobe Nationwide Park, the place they cross the Chobe River each afternoon to drink and swim.
Generally known as “The Land of The Giants,” Botswana’s Chobe Nationwide Park is house to Africa’s largest inhabitants of elephants (Loxodonta africana). There are an estimated 120,000 Kalahari elephants in Chobe.
On its web site, Birdlife Botswana gives a downloadable checklist of almost 600 avian species which were noticed in Botswana. Botswana’s chook species come from 92 households. Notably properly represented are diurnal and nocturnal raptors, cuckoos, francolins and spurfowls, larks, cisticolas, and, maybe surprisingly for a semiarid nation, geese, geese, herons and egrets. There isn’t a higher place on the earth to see the slaty egret or wattled crane than the Okavango Delta.
The nationwide chook of Botswana is the kori bustard; it roams the Kalahari grasslands and is the biggest flying chook native to Africa.
The annual zebra migration throughout northern Botswana is the longest and one of the beautiful migrations on the continent —and only a few individuals find out about it! Hundreds of plains zebras make an annual 300+ mile migration from Namibia to Botswana and again once more, shifting with the seasons and rainfall, seeking recent grazing land.
It begins with the rains in late November or December after they depart the wetlands of northern Botswana and head deeper into the Kalahari Desert and Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, bursting with life from the rains, and repeats on the finish of the season, round April and Could, because the land dries up once more.
Botswana’s Linyanti Sport Reserve is a superb place to see leopards and African wild canines. The northwestern nook of Chobe meets the Linyanti River—this can be a fragment of just about 350 sq. miles (900 sq. kilometers) of the secluded Linyanti Reserve. It’s quiet, and wildlife viewing within the Linyati area is superb. Massive concentrations of elephant, lion, sable, roan antelope, hippos and wild canines peak within the dry winter months.
The Linyati space provides spectacular birding year-round and is finest identified for its huge herds of elephants, which transfer right down to the Linyanti River firstly of the winter months and solely transfer again inland as soon as the principle rains arrive.
Our new Epic Botswana & Namibia Safari consists of witnessing the massive recreation and predator populations of the Linyanti. Restricted to only 7 vacationers, this final African safari journey additionally consists of coasting the emerald waterways of the Okavango Delta and June by October.
Botswana’s Various Landscapes: Desert to Delta
For a way of scale, Botswana is roughly the dimensions of France however has solely 2.5 million individuals. France has a inhabitants of over 68 million!
About 84% of Botswana’s land mass is roofed by the Kalahari Desert. However desert doesn’t imply desolate! Quite the opposite, the driest areas obtain 4.3–7.9 inches (110–200 millimeters) of rainfall per 12 months; the wettest can obtain greater than 20 inches (500 millimeters) in very moist years.
Even the place the Kalahari Desert is dry sufficient to qualify as a desert as a consequence of low precipitation, it’s not technically a desert as a result of it has dense floor cowl that helps wildlife. Key flora embody:
acacia species (equivalent to camelthorn and blackthorn),
shepherd’s timber,
silver cluster-leaf, and
grasses like Schmidtia and Stipagrostis.
In wetter areas, vegetation could be dense, with forests of Rhodesian teak and acacia dominating the north and east. The kiwano fruit, native to the Kalahari, thrives in sure areas, too.
To see the Kalahari within the inexperienced season, take a look at our new Botswana: Kalahari, the Delta & Past itinerary, restricted to only 7 vacationers from November to March.
The Okavango Delta is the biggest inland delta on the earth with an space of over 8,000 sq. miles (20,000 sq. kilometers) through the driest intervals. In the course of the inexperienced season, the waters of the Okavango move from the highlands of Angola, carving out spillways that stretch the delta to an unimaginable space of 9,000 sq. miles (23,000 sq. kilometers).
The Okavango Delta is a marshy, swamp-like space teeming with life. As a result of Botswana experiences little rainfall, typically for lengthy intervals, wildlife finds it safer to dwell nearer to the delta, the place water is obtainable year-round. For us, this implies assured wildlife sightings!
Southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan just isn’t a single pan, however a number of with sandy desert in between.
Collectively, the salt pans cowl 6200 sq. miles (16,057.9 kilometers) within the Kalahari Basin and type the mattress of the traditional Lake Makgadikgadi.
the biggest, Sua (Sowa) Pan, covers about 1,900 sq. miles (4,921 kilometers).
Ntwetwe Pan
Nxai Pan is a seasonal house to massive herds of zebra and wildebeest. The x in its title represents the press sound within the Khoisan language.
There’s some confusion over the world’s largest salt pan, with each the Makgadikgadi and Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni described that manner on-line. The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is a single salt flat of 4,100 sq. miles (10,619 sq. kilometers), not often has a lot water, and is mostly claimed to be the world’s largest salt pan.
Current research of human mitochondrial DNA recommend that trendy Homo sapiens first started to evolve within the Makgadikgadi-Okavango round 200,000 years in the past. New DNA analyses recommend {that a} founding maternal line of Homo sapiens emerged in a area of what’s now Botswana that was house to the traditional Makgadikgadi-Okavango wetlands. Members of that inhabitants migrated northeast and southwest between 130,000 and 110,000 years in the past.
Taylor Swift’s music video ‘Wildest Desires’ was shot within the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. If the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans look acquainted to a few of your loved ones members on safari, it is likely to be as a result of Taylor Swift’s ‘Wildest Desires’ music video was shot there in 2015.
Do you know which you can go on unbelievable horseback safaris in Botswana? (Taylor Swift did.) Botswana provides various safari experiences: safari boat cruises, mokoro canoe adventures, hikes, safari walks and and even solar-powered safari autos!
The San of Botswana are thought-about the oldest inhabitants on Earth. Archaeological proof suggests they’ve lived in Southern Africa for round 25,000 years. The Tsodilo Hills are the non secular house of the San, and the hills are house to many well-preserved examples of rock artwork and engravings. The very best level in Botswana is Tsodilo Hills, 4,500 ft above sea stage.
Botswana’s authorities is dedicated to preserving nature and wildlife and providing guests unique safari experiences. Virtually 40% of Botswana’s land is protected in nationwide parks, concessions and wildlife administration reserves.
“Botswana has lengthy prioritized wildlife conservation. The nation’s strategy to tourism facilities round neighborhood involvement and thoroughly managed visitation. It’s turn out to be a mannequin of sustainable wildlife tourism that promotes each conservation and rural financial growth. For guests, that interprets into wholesome wildlife populations and unimaginable viewing.”
The border between Botswana and Zambia is the shortest on the earth. Botswana shares borders with Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, however the border between Zambia and Botswana is simply 492 toes (150 meters) lengthy. Vacationers can cross between Botswana and Zambia by way of the Kazungula Ferry on the Zambezi River.
On the brand new November–March Botswana Inexperienced Season Picture Expedition, 8 company keep in an expensive stilted lodge overlooking the Zambezi River from the Zambia facet, and revel in time in Nat Hab’s personal Gomoti Camp within the Okavango Delta.
The very best time in your Botswana safari is totally different for panorama photographers, birders, visiting the Kalahari for the zebra migration, and should you’re embarking on a safari with children. The query isn’t, “When is the perfect time for a safari in Botswana?” however “When is the precise time for your finest safari in Botswana?” The reply is determined by your wants and wishes:
Do you need to see the zebra migration, {photograph} lush inexperienced landscapes or catalog migrating birds as they make their manner throughout the northern Botswana panorama? A Inexperienced Season safari could also be simply best for you.
Do you relish the concept of cool June evenings and mornings on safari, watching wildlife as they adapt to more and more dry circumstances? Do you’re keen on taking your vacation time simply earlier than children around the globe are out of college on trip? Search for late Could or early June itineraries.
Should you purpose for peak wildlife viewing—together with a little bit of wild time along with your children or grandkids—then maybe a peak season household Botswana safari is precisely what you’re on the lookout for.
Collectively, Pure Habitat Adventures and World Wildlife Fund have teamed as much as organize almost 100 nature journey experiences across the planet, whereas serving to to guard the magnificent locations we go to and their wild inhabitants.
Uncover the World’s Finest
Nature Journey Experiences
Our weekly eNewsletter highlights new adventures, unique provides, webinars, nature information, journey concepts, pictures suggestions and extra. Join right this moment!
Have a query or remark? Click on any of the buttons beneath to get in contact with us.
