Hello,

since there is not all too much content on Africa I'm gonna give you a quick report on my 11 day leg of Botswana on my rtw trip.

getting there

a bit of a cheat: I came from South Africa so I flew from Cape Town to Gaborone which was 137€.

Flights to Botswana shouldn't be too hard to find from anywhere though as there are daily flights from Johannesburg to the main spots in Botswana (Gaborone, Maun, Kasane)

Gaborone

I planned on staying for 2 nights which became 3 because I met someone. Gaborone is big in size but not in population. It's quite far too walk anywhere and there isn't really too much interesting to see there anyways. The center has some modern buildings but is still under development. There is the 3 chiefs monument, which is kinda cool to look at but that takes about 5 minutes. Other than that there are mostly malls. For a tourist Gaborone really isn't too interesting.

Maun

Maun is the gateway town to the Okavango Delta, which is one of the main attractions of Botswana. I got there by overnight bus from Gaborone. It left at 20:00 arrived at 5:30 and was 180BWP (~17€).

In Maun I did an overnight Mokoro trip to the Okavango Delta. It included going to an island in the delta by Mokoro (a dugout canoe), a 3h game walk in the evening, camping, a longer game walk in the morning and a trip back via mokoro. It also included food and a guide who did all of that with us (one mokoro can take 2 people). It was 1020BWP (~84€) per person (and we tipped some).

Also I did a scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. There are numerous companies offering this, most of them have an office at the Airport. I called a bunch of them, one quoted me 1200 BWP and two of them said they'd call back. For lunch I was in town so I just walked to the airport and asked at one of the offices and I got a spot on a flight for 900BWP (~75€). The flights are 1h on 3 to 5 seater Cessna airplanes (mine was 5, I was co-pilot!). This was actually the highlight of my trip.

Kasane

From Maun I had a flight booked to Kasane (1076BWP). Kasane is basically in the Chobe National Park and close to the borders to Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The highlight there is the Chobe River, which around dry season (Winter, June - August) has a very high density of animals due to the lack of water elsewhere. My accommodation there offered pretty good deals on game drives. So I did a 3h game drive in an open 4x4 along the river shore and the next day a 3h boat ride on the river. The park is packed with Elephants, Buffaloes, Giraffes, Impalas, Hippos, Crocodiles, etc... Both game drives were 260BWP each (that included park fees and we got picked up from the accommodation).

Onwards

From Kasane I went to the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe side is way nicer to look at than the Zambia side, all the Zambia side has basically is the devils pool) and then walked across the bridge to Zambia.

My guesthouse also offered daytrips to the Victoria Falls (that's how I got there as well, I just didn't come back with them).

Expenses

Generally Botswana is one of the more expensive African countries. Accommodation is not cheap in Botswana, especially in Gaborone because it's not really a tourist destination. Food varies a lot. Restaurants with western style food mostly have dishes for like 80 - 120 BWP. On the streets of Gaborone you can get the staple pap/beef/morojo for as little as 15 BWP.

In total excluding getting there I spent: 7885.05 BWP, 716.82 BWP/day – ~656.39€, 59.67€/day ( more detail )

Verdict

I would highly recommend Botswana, especially the northern parts. The scenery and wildlife around the Okavango and Chobe are absolutely amazing. With the Victoria Falls so nearby it kinda offers another famous african sight.

If I did it again I wouldn't fly from Maun to Kasane because the main roads are pretty good and the buses are comfortable enough and way cheaper. I also didn't get to visit any of the salt pans unfortunately, so on the way from or to Maun I'd stop somewhere close to the Makgadikgadi pans.