Khama Rhino Sanctuary
With the rhinos all but disappeared from Botswana, the residents of Serowe banded together in the early 1990s to establish the 43-sq-km Khama Rhino Sanctuary. Today the sanctuary protects 30 white and four black rhinos. Some rhinos have been released into the wild, especially in the Okavango Delta, joining imports from Botswana’s regional neighbours. The sanctuary is also home to wildebeest, impalas, ostriches, brown hyenas, leopards and more than 230 bird species.The best time for spotting the rhinos is late afternoon or early morning, with Malema's Pan, Serwe Pan and the waterhole at the bird hide the most wildlife-rich areas of the sanctuary.
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Francistown
Francistown is Botswana’s second-largest city and an important regional centre – there’s a fair chance you’ll overnight here if you’re on the way north from South Africa, or driving without haste between Gaborone and Maun. There’s not much to catch the eye, but there are places to stay and eat, as well as excellent supermarkets for those heading out into the wilds.
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Tuli Block
Tucked into the nation’s right-side pocket, the Tuli Block is one of Botswana’s best-kept secrets. It's a unique corner of Africa where nature & culture combine in spectacular wildlife, stunning scenery and fascinating history. Wildlife is a big attraction, but so too is the landscape, which is unlike anywhere else in Botswana. With its moonscapes of muddy oranges and browns, its kopjes overlooked by deep-blue sky, it’s the sort of Dalí-esque desert environment reminiscent of Arizona or Australia. Yet the barren beauty belies a land rich in life. Elephants, hippos, kudus, wildebeest and impalas, as well as small numbers of lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas, circle each other among rocks and kopjes (hills) scattered with artefacts from the Stone Age onwards. More than 350 species of bird have been recorded.
Unless you're flying in, you’ll need your own vehicle to reach (and explore) the Tuli Block. Once there, most roads in the Tuli Block are negotiable by 2WD, though it can get rough in places over creek beds, which occasionally flood during the rainy season.Until it has been upgraded, avoid the deeply corrugated gravel road that runs north and roughly parallel to the South African border from Sherwood and Martin’s Drift. Far better if you’re coming from South Africa is to approach via the border crossings of Platjan or Pont Drift. From elsewhere in Botswana, the lodges can be accessed from the west on the paved road from Bobonong
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Makgadikgadi Pans
Within striking distance of the water-drowned terrain of the Okavango Delta, Chobe River and Linyanti Marshes lies Makgadikgadi, the largest network of salt pans in the world. Here the country takes on a different hue, forsaking the blues and greens of the delta for the burnished oranges, shimmering whites and golden grasslands of this northern manifestation of the Kalahari Desert. It’s as much an emptiness as a place, a land larger than Switzerland, mesmerising in scope and in beauty. Two protected areas – Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans – preserve large tracts of salt pans, palm islands, grasslands and savannah. Although enclosing a fraction of the pan networks, they provide a focal point for visitors: Nxai Pan has a reputation for cheetah sightings, and Makgadikgadi's west is a wildlife bonanza of wildebeest, zebras and antelope species pursued by lions. Fabulous areas exist outside park boundaries too, with iconic stands of baobab trees and beguiling landscapes.
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Nxai Pan National Park
Unlike the salt-encrusted pans at Makgadikgadi, Nxai Pan is a water-less, fossil pan covered in grass with acacia islands. The area comes to life after the summer rains in December, when big herds of migrating zebra and wildebeest, accompanied by other grazers, arrive to feast on the new grasses.

Nata Bird Sanctuary
This 230-sq-km community-run wildlife sanctuary was formed when local people voluntarily relocated 3500 cattle and established a network of tracks throughout the north-eastern end of Sowa Pan. Although the sanctuary protects antelope, zebras, jackals, foxes, monkeys and squirrels, the principal draw is the birdlife – more than 165 species have been recorded here. It's at its best in the wet season when the sanctuary becomes a haven for Cape and Hottentot teals, white and pink-backed pelicans and greater and lesser flamingos.

Kubu Island
Along the southwestern edge of Sowa Pan is a ghostly, baobab-laden rock, entirely surrounded by a sea of salt. In Setswana, kubu means ‘hippopotamus’ (in ancient times this was a real island on a real lake inhabited by hippos).
The sprawling Kubu Island Campsite
(www.kubuisland.com) has 14 sites and is one of Botswana’s loveliest, with baobabs as a backdrop to most campsites, many of which also have sweeping views of the pan. There are bucket showers and pit toilets.
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Chobe National Park
Famed for its massive elephants, and some of the world's largest herds of them, Chobe National Park in Botswana's far north-eastern corner is one of the great wildlife destinations of Africa. In addition to the mighty pachyderms, a full suite of predators and more than 440 recorded bird species are present – watch for roan antelope and the rare oribi antelope.
Chobe was first set aside as a wildlife reserve in the 1930s and became Botswana’s first national park in 1968. It encompasses three iconic wildlife areas that all carry a whiff of safari legend: Chobe Riverfront, which supports the park's largest wildlife concentration; the newly accessible and Okavango-like Linyanti Marshes; and the remote and soulful Savuti, with wildlife to rival anywhere.
Whether you’re self-driving and camping under the stars, or flying into your luxury lodge, Chobe can be enjoyed by everyone.
From central Kasane, the Northern Gate is about 6km to the southwest. Unlike all other national parks operated by the Department of Wildlife & National Parks (DWNP), you do not need a campsite reservation to enter, though you will be expected to leave the park prior to closing if you do not have one. All tracks along the riverfront require a 4WD vehicle, and you will not be admitted into the park without one.
You can either exit the park through the Northern Gate by backtracking along the river or via the Ngoma Bridge Gate near the Namibian border. If you exit via Ngoma, you can return to Kasane via the Chobe transit route. (If you’re simply bypassing Chobe en route to/from Namibia, you do not have to pay park fees to travel on this road.) Be advised that elephants frequently cross this road, so keep your speed down and do not drive at night.

Savuti
Savuti's flat, wildlife-packed expanses and rocky outcrops, awash with distinctly African colours and vistas, make it one of the most rewarding safari destinations on the continent. With the exception of rhinos, you’ll find all of Africa’s most charismatic megafauna in residence here or passing through – on one afternoon wildlife drive, we encountered 15 lions and two leopards.
The area, found in the southwestern corner of Chobe National Park, contains the remnants of the ‘superlake’ that once stretched across northern Botswana – the modern landscape has a distinctive harsh and empty feel to it. Because of the roughness of the terrain, the difficulty in reaching the area and the beauty you'll find when you get here, Savuti is an obligatory stop for all 4WD enthusiasts en-route between Kasane and Maun.

Tsodilo Hills
The Unesco World Heritage–listed Tsodilo Hills rise abruptly from a rippled, ocean-like expanse of desert northwest of Maun and west of the Okavango Panhandle. They are threaded with myth, legend and spiritual significance for the San people, who believe this was the site of Creation. More than 4000 instances of ancient rock art and carvings have been discovered at well over 200 sites. The majority of these are attributed to ancestors of today’s San people. The hills can be explored along any of five walking trails.
Although there are some signposts, most trails require a guide (expect to pay around P50 to P60 for a two- to three-hour hike, or P100 per day), which can be arranged at the Main (Rhino) Camp. The hills are well signposted off the Sehitwa–Shakawe road, along a good gravel track. The turn-off is just south of Nxamasere village. It’s around 35km from the main road to the entrance to the site.
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Maun
As the main gateway to the Okavango Delta, Maun (pronounced ‘mau-uunn’) is Botswana’s primary tourism hub. With good accommodation and a reliably mad mix of bush pilots, tourists, campers, volunteers and luxury safariphiles, it’s a decent-enough base for a day or two. That said, if your only business in Botswana involves staying in the lodges and tented camps of the delta, you may do little more than hang around the airport. No great loss: the town itself has little going for it – it’s strung out over kilometres with not much of a discernible centre – but some of the hotels and camps have riverside vantage points.
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Okavango Delta
A unique geological formation where a delta is formed by a river (the Okavango) flowing into the Kalahari desert instead of the ocean. Part of the Delta is designated as the Moremi National Park. The beauty of the Okavango Delta is best discovered by mokoro canoe or an overnight stay on a small island.
Viewed from above on a flight from Maun, the Okavango is a watery paradise of islands and oxbow waterways. At ground level, the silhouettes of dead trees in the dry season give the delta a hint of the apocalypse. There is something elemental about the Unesco World Heritage–listed Okavango Delta: the rising and falling of its waters; the daily drama of its wildlife encounters; its soundtrack of roaring lions, saw-throated leopard barks and the crazy whoop of a running hyena; and the mysteries concealed by its papyrus reeds swaying gently in the evening breeze. A stirring counterpoint to Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, the Okavango Delta, is one of the world’s largest inland deltas. Generally, the best time to visit the delta is from July to September or October, when the water levels are high and the weather is dry. Tracks can get extremely muddy and trails are often washed out during and after the rains (November to March). From January to March, the Moremi Game Reserve can be inaccessible, even with a state-of-the-art 4WD. Bear in mind that several lodges close down for part or all of the rainy season, but others revel in the abundant birdlife. Mosquitoes are prevalent, especially in the wet season. Although a few visitors arrive from Chobe National Park and Kasane, Maun is where you'll have the most choice when it comes to organising safaris. Charter flights into the lodges and camps of the delta from Maun are considerably cheaper than those from Kasane.
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Moremi Game Reserve
Moremi Game Reserve, which covers one-third of the Okavango Delta, is home to some of Africa's densest concentrations of wildlife. It’s also one of the most accessible corners of the Okavango, with well-maintained trails and accommodation that ranges from luxury lodges to public campsites for self-drivers.
With the recent reintroduction of rhinos, Moremi is now home to the Big Five (lions, leopards, buffaloes, elephants and rhinos), and notably Africa's largest population of red lechwe (a type of antelope). The reserve also protects one of the largest remaining populations of endangered African wild dogs.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was formed after a merger of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The Botswana side only has very basic campsites and most tourism happens on the South Africa side, which has excellent facilities. The red sand dunes in the inhospitable desert form a magnificent backdrop for wildlife viewing and photography.

Central Kalahari Game Reserve
The dry heart of the dry south of a dry continent, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an awesome place. If remoteness, desert silences and the sound of lions roaring in the night are your thing, this could become one of your favourite places in Africa. Covering 52,800 sq km, it's also one of Africa’s largest protected areas. This is big-sky country, home to black-maned Kalahari lions, a full suite of predators and an utterly wonderful sense of the remote. The park is most easily accessible during the dry season (May to September) when tracks are sandy but easily negotiated by 4WD vehicles. Nights can be bitterly cold at this time and daytime temperatures are relatively mild. During the rainy season (November to March or April), tracks can be muddy and nearly impassable for inexperienced drivers. Watch for grass seeds clogging engines and searing temperatures in October.

Gaborone
Depending on your perspective, low-key Gaborone (or Gabs to its friends) is either terribly unexciting or one of Africa's more tranquil capital cities. There aren’t that many concrete reasons to come here – it’s a world of government ministries, shopping malls and a seemingly endless urban sprawl – and most travellers can fly to Maun or cross overland elsewhere. Yet, it can be an interesting place to take the pulse of the nation.
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