Why we love it
Botswana offers water-based safari in the Okavango and some of the most private camps in Africa.
We shape the journey around the season, the right places to stay and the way you like to travel, pairing it beautifully with a Mozambique beach finish where it suits.
the plains at first light
Best for
Privacy, water safari, exclusivity
Best time
May to October
Style
Remote, exclusive, conservation-led
Pair with
a Mozambique beach finish
Atlas note
We tailor the routing, the stays and the pace entirely around you.
the plains at first light
Out where the maps run thin and the wild sets the pace.
Where to stay
The hotels we recommend in Botswana.
A handful of stays we would book first, each arranged as part of a bespoke itinerary shaped around you.
Swipe to explore · the stays we would book first
The places
Where to go in Botswana.
The corners of Botswana we know best, what to see in each, when to go and how we would shape the days. Swipe each card for more, and open the panels for the detail.
Swipe to explore · the regions worth knowing
The north · the water wilderness
Okavango Delta
The jewel of Botswana: a vast inland delta where the floodwaters bring the wilderness to life. Glide the channels by mokoro, then track game across palm-dotted islands from some of the most private camps in Africa.
Don't miss
- A mokoro safari
- Mombo's plains
- Island game drives
- Birding the channels
- Helicopter flights
- Sleeping out
The north-east · the great elephant herds
Linyanti
A private reserve of riverfront and woodland on the edge of the Delta. The Linyanti is famous for its great elephant herds and big predators, watched from a handful of low-impact camps with the wilderness to themselves.
Don't miss
- Elephant herds
- Wild dog packs
- Riverfront drives
- Night drives
- The Savute channel
- Hide photography
The far north · rivers and great herds
Chobe
A broad green river and the highest concentration of elephants in Africa. Chobe is for golden-hour boat safaris, with herds coming down to drink and a front-row seat from the water as the sun goes down.
Don't miss
- A river boat safari
- Elephant crossings
- Sunset on the water
- Hippo and croc
- Birding the banks
- A day to Victoria Falls
Central Botswana · the surreal salt pans
Makgadikgadi
One of the largest salt flats on earth, a shimmering emptiness that stretches to the horizon. Makgadikgadi is for quad-bike treks across the crust, meeting habituated meerkats and the wide, unbroken silence of the pans.
Don't miss
- A quad-bike trek
- Meeting the meerkats
- Sleeping out on the pans
- Walks with the San
- The zebra migration
- Star-filled skies
The south · desert solitude
The Kalahari
A vast red-sand desert of grassland, ancient riverbeds and immense skies. The Kalahari is for true solitude: black-maned lions, walking safaris with San trackers and some of the clearest night skies anywhere in Africa.
Don't miss
- Black-maned lions
- Walking with the San
- Deception Valley
- Desert-adapted game
- Stargazing
- The green-season plains
Signature experiences
Once in a lifetime.
The rare days we open up across Botswana, from the famous to the few-ever-see. Each one arranged privately, as part of your journey.
Swipe to explore · rare days out
The Okavango · on the water
A mokoro glide through the Delta
Pole silently through the reed channels in a dugout canoe, the wilderness waking all around you.
The Okavango · from the air
A helicopter over the floodplains
Lift off doors-off above the Delta, the herds and water channels laid out in a great mosaic below.
Makgadikgadi · across the crust
A private Makgadikgadi quad trek
Ride out across the salt pans to the very middle of nowhere, where the curve of the earth is all you can see.
The wild · after dark
A night sleeping out under the stars
A private star-bed under the great southern sky, the sounds of the bush your only company until dawn.
The Kalahari · on foot
A walk with San bushmen trackers
Read the desert with the world's oldest hunter-gatherers, learning the plants, the tracks and the old ways.
Chobe · golden hour
A sundowner cruise among the elephants
Drift the Chobe River as the herds come down to drink, a glass in hand and the sun sinking into the water.
Makgadikgadi · at first light
A morning with the meerkats
Sit among a habituated meerkat colony as they wake, standing sentry and using you as a lookout post.
The reserves · with a master guide
Tracking big cats with a master guide
Spend the day with one of Botswana's finest guides, following lion and leopard across their own wild country.
Things to do
What to do in Botswana.
The icons worth seeing, and the rare, one-off experiences we can quietly open up for you.
Not to be missed
- A mokoro glide through the Delta
- Game drives in Mombo
- Sleeping out under the stars
- Birding the waterways
Rare & remarkable · by private arrangement
Beyond the obvious.
The experiences we quietly open up for travellers who want something few others will ever have.
- A helicopter flight over the Okavango
- A private fly-camp sleep-out
- A quad-bike crossing of the salt pans
In frames
Botswana, in frames.
A few moments to set the mood. Click any image to view it larger.
Good to know
Botswana, answered.
When is the best time to visit Botswana?
May to October. We will refine the timing around your dates, the weather and the wider journey.
Who is Botswana best suited to?
Privacy, water safari, exclusivity. Tell us how you like to travel and we will tell you, honestly, whether it is the one.
Can Atlas&Co. arrange the full Botswana itinerary?
Yes. We shape the whole journey, including the stays, transfers, guides and the details, and can pair it beautifully with a Mozambique beach finish.
shall we?
Every Botswana journey we plan is private and made to measure.
Tell us your dates and how you like to travel, and we will shape the stays, the routing and the details around you.