Botswana Travel Information
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Luxury Safaris
Geography - Botswana Travel Information
Botswana is a land-locked country dominated in geographical terms
by the
Kalahari Desert - a sand-filled basin averaging 1,100 meters
above sea level. The country lies between longitudes 20 and 30
degrees east of Greenwich and between the latitudes 18 and 27
degrees approximately south of the Equator.
The country is bordered by Zambia and Zimbabwe
to the northeast, Namibia to the north and west, and South Africa
to the south and southeast. At Kazungula, four countries - Botswana
, Zimbabwe , Zambia and Namibia - meet at a single point mid-stream
in the Zambezi River.
Money
Major credit cards, including Visa, Master Card,
American Express and Diners Club, are accepted widely. Most hotels
and lodges in Botswana accept foreign currency or travelers' cheque's
for your travel expenses.
There are also
Exchange bureaus at major
border posts. Credit card cash advances are available in major
cities through
Barclays Bank or
Standard Chartered Bank. Cash transfers are easiest through
Western Union money transfer. Please note that credit card cash
is also available at First National Bank.
Safety
The country remains a relatively safe place to
travel in, however there are a few incidents of crime. It is advisable
to take basic precautions: always lock car doors; always lock
your hotel room or house; do not leave valuables in your hotel
room or car; and take care with your bags in crowded places, particularly
the malls and nightclubs.
Important telephone numbers when you are Botswana
| Ambulance |
997 |
| Fire |
998 |
| Police |
999 |
| Med Rescue |
911 |
Weather - Detemine when to travel
Botswana 's climate is semi-arid. Though it
is hot and dry for much of the year, there is a rainy season,
which runs through the
summer months. Rainfall tends to be erratic, unpredictable
and highly regional. Often a heavy downpour may occur in one area
while 10 or 15 kilometers away there is no rain at all. Showers
are often followed by strong sunshine so that a good deal of the
rainfall does not penetrate the ground but is lost to evaporation
and transpiration.
' Pula ', one of the most frequently
heard words, it is not only the name of
Botswana's currency, but also the
Setswana word for rain. So much of what takes place relies
on this essential, frequently scarce commodity .
Seasons for travel in Botswana
The summer season begins in November and ends in March. It usually
brings very high temperatures. However, summer is also the rainy
season, and cloud coverage and rain can cool things down considerably,
although only usually for a short period of time.
The winter season begins in May and ends in August.
This is also the dry season when virtually no rainfall occurs.
Winter days are invariably sunny and cool to warm; however, evening
and night temperatures can drop below freezing point in some areas,
especially in the southwest.
The in-between periods - April/early May and September/October
- still tend to be dry, but the days are cooler than in summer
and the nights are warmer than in winter.
Rainfall
The rainy season is in the summer, with October
and April being transitional months. January and February are
generally regarded as the peak months. The mean annual rainfall
varies from a maximum of over 650mm in the extreme northeast area
of the Chobe District to a minimum of less than 250mm in the extreme
southwest part of Kgalagadi District
(see the map for districts). Almost all rainfall occurs during
the summer months while the winter period accounts for less than
10 percent of the annual rainfall. Generally, rainfall decreases
in amount and increases in variability the further west and south
you go.
Temperatures
Summer days are hot, especially in the weeks that
precede the coming of the cooling rains, and shade temperatures
rise to the 38°C mark and higher, reaching a blistering 44°C
on rare occasions. Winters are clear-skied and bone-dry, the air
seductively warm during the daylight hours but, because there
is no cloud cover, cold at night and in the early mornings. Sometimes
bitterly so - frost is common and small quantities of water can
freeze.
Humidity
In summer during the morning period humidity ranges from 60
to 80% and drops to between 30 and 40% in the afternoon. In winter
humidity is considerably less and can vary between 40 and 70%
during the morning and fall to between 20 and 30% in the afternoon.
For tourists that wish to travel to Botswana, the
best visiting months are from April through to October - in terms
of both weather and game viewing. It is during this period that
the wildlife of the great spaces gather around what water there
is - the natural waterholes and the borehole-fed dams - and are
at their most visible
VISAS
All visitors entering Botswana must hold a passport that is valid
for at least six months, except those with United Nations Convention
travel documents. Visitors must also have outgoing travel documents
and sufficient funds to finance their travel arrangements.
Valid entry visas for the countries which do require
them may be obtained from various embassies and high commissions
abroad. In countries where Botswana is not represented, visas
may be obtained from the British High Commission. Entry visas
obtained at border posts are valid for a maximum of 30-90 days.
Extensions may be obtained from any immigration office in Botswana
. No visitor is allowed more than a 90-day stay in every calendar
year, unless permission has been granted in the form of a waiver
pending the outcome of a residence permit application
Requirements for visa - Important Travel Information
- Completed immigration supplementary Form D by the applicant
(Visa form).
- Letter of support from the host.
- Two passport size photos (identical).
- Fee of P25.00 (around USD 5)
- Return visa or residence permit from his/her country of residence
- Return air ticket.
Visas are not required for these countries:
Commonwealth countries (except Ghana
, India , Nigeria , Sri Lanka and Pakistan )
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mauritius Netherlands,
Norway, Republic of Ireland, Samoa, San Marino Sweden, Switzerland,
Uruguay, Yugoslavia, United States of America
Health
Compared to the rest of Africa , Botswana is not a risky place
to visit from a health perspective. In spite of this, there are
certain precautions visitors should take even though there are
no legal requirements for taking these precautions. There are
no inoculations required except for visitors from yellow fever
zones.
Botswana 's public health system consists of different
kinds of health facilities: 23 district health teams, 3 referral
hospitals, 12 district hospitals, 17 primary hospitals, 222 clinics,
330 health posts and 740 mobile stops.
Tourism information - Travel by vision
- Helping the country attract a segment of the tourism market
with what is widely considered to be very significant growth potential.
- Raising the profile of the country as a tourism destination.
- Generating resources for conservation.
- Providing an incentive for the sustainable utilisation of natural
resources.
- Generating renewed pride in local culture.
- Facilitating and rewarding responsible tourism planning and
management practices.
Botswana views Eco-tourism as an enhanced travel package to
Botswana 's historical, cultural and natural environments, with
the aim of enjoying and learning, and in so doing promoting
the financial development of the local host communities, whilst
sustaining the natural environment and developing the tourist
industry. The Department of Tourism thus sees Eco-tourism as
minimizing the strain and disagreements caused by the complicated
interaction between the tourism industry, visitors, the environment
and local communities. Botswana National Eco-Tourism Strategy
will ensure tourism planning and management aimed at:
- Minimizing negative social, cultural and environmental
impacts;
- Maximizing the involvement in, and economic benefits
to, host communities;
- Maximizing revenues for re-investment in conservation;
- Educating both the visitor and the local people
as to the importance of conserving natural and cultural resources;
- Delivering a quality experience to tourists
What to pack - Before you travel
Attractions - Travel Highlights
Botswana is one of the finest tourist destinations
on the African continent. The Okavango , which
originates in the uplands of Angola to the north-west, flows into
and then spreads over the sandy spaces of the
Kalahari to form an immense and wondrous inland delta
of lagoon and labyrinthine channel, palm-fringed island and fertile
floodplain. A number of safari lodges and camps have been established
in and around this watery wilderness. This wilderness and the
nearby game-rich
Moremi Game Reserve and
Chobe National Park reserves, offer the visitors
the best of several worlds, appealing variously to the game-viewer
and bird-watcher, the hunter and the sporting fisherman, the explorer
of hidden places and the lover of Africa in its loveliest and
least spoilt state
However it is in the
Okavango
Delta and
Moremi Game Reserve that visitors will find unforgettable
beauty. In the lush indigenous forests of the delta and its islands,
and along the floodplains spawned by this great marriage of water
and sand, more than
400 species of birds flourish .
On the mainland and among the islands in the delta,
lions,
elephants, hyenas, wild dog, buffalo,
hippo and
crocodiles congregate with a teeming variety of antelope and
other smaller animals - warthog, mongoose, spotted genets, monkeys,
bush babies and tree squirrels.
Wildlife
Botswana is well known for its diverse range of wildlife. Most
of the major African game species can be found, along with a number
of species that are endemic to the region. Compared to the rest
of Africa the game has been well protected from the scourge of
poaching. The statistical picture reveals that the country is
home to 164 species of mammals, 157 of reptile, 80 of fish, 550
of bird and uncountable different kinds of insects.
The Government of Botswana has set aside thousands of square
kilometres of national territory as protected travel areas (around
17% of the country area) and wildlife management areas (another
20% of the country). Among the largest protected areas in Botswana
are
Chobe National Park in the north,
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (second largest protected area
in the world),
Moremi Game Reserve in Okavango Delta and the recently launched
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which spans the border between
Botswana and South Africa. In addition, the government carefully
monitors 42 Controlled Hunting Areas, where hunters may shoot
small quantities of game. Authorities issue only a limited number
of shooting permits each year.
Mammals
Mammals have a number of common characteristics that
set them apart from other animals; they breathe with lungs; females
have mammary glands that produce milk for suckling the young;
they possess a four-chambered heart; and nearly all species have
a covering of body hair. Approximately 164 species of mammals
have been recorded in Botswana .
The mammals that may be seen during your travel
through the country include the following: vervet monkey, chacma
baboon, wild dog,
bat-eared fox, black-backed jackal, large-spotted genet, small-spotted
genet, mongoose, spotted hyena, brown hyena,
lion,
leopard,
cheetah, aardvark,
Burch ell's zebra,
square-lipped (white) rhino, warthog,
giraffe, common duiker, klipspringer, springbok, steenbok,
impala, blue wildebeest, tsessebe,
gemsbok, sable antelope, roan antelope, reedbuck, waterbuck,
lechwe, bushbuck, kudu, eland,
buffalo,
hippopotamus,
elephant.
Birds
Some 550 bird species in total have been accepted for the
Botswana national bird list. These are species known to live in
the country at some time of the year, including the various rare
vagrants, which are from time to time recorded. Total numbers of
birds within the country fluctuate within a year and also from year
to year. On more local scale, many bird species may undergo irregular
movements within Botswana . Such movements may be triggered by rainfall,
temperatures, food, breeding requirements or a combination of these
(
see maps).
Not only is the diversity of bird species high
in the national parks and reserves, but also throughout the north
and east of the country. Over 400 species have been recorded in
the
Gaborone area alone. In many regions the terrain adds to the
ease of bird viewing on your African travel expedition..
The Department of Wildlife and National Parks has
recently instituted a bird research programme. Current research
projects include a study of the breeding sites of several aquatic
birds such as storks, herons, pelicans,
flamingoes and cranes.
The birds you are most likely to see include the
following:
ostrich; cormorant;
darter; stork; hammerkop;
greater and lesser flamingo; pygmy goose, knobbilled duck
and Egyptian goose; African jacana; black korhaan and
kori bustard;
Cape vulture, bateleur eagle and
African fish eagle; Cape turtle dove, laughing dove, red eyed
dove and Namaqua dove; bee-eater;
kingfisher; hornbill; fork tailed drongo; black and pied crow;
pied and whiterumped babbler; yellowbilled and redbilled oxpecker;
masked weaver, paradise and shaftailed whydah. The majority of
these species can be seen in the
Okavango Delta or by
River Chobe in northern Botswana .
Reptiles
About 157 species of reptiles have been recorded in Botswana
. Most obvious characteristic of reptiles is their dry, horny
skin that is usually modified into scales or plates. This prevents
rapid water loss and has allowed them to move on to dry land,
whereas amphibians are still restricted to moist habitats. Many
reptiles lay eggs that have thick shells and which undergo development
independent of water or parents.
All reptiles are cold-blooded, which means that
they absorb their warmth from the environment, as opposed to mammals
or birds which generate their heat internally. Many reptiles simply
sit in the sun until their body reaches correct temperature, and
subsequently shuttle between sun and shade, maintaining a constant
optimal temperature. They do not generate heat internally by metabolizing
foods as do mammals and birds.
The reptiles are divided into crocodilians, tortoises,
terrapins and turtles, snakes, lizards and amphibians. Some of
the most common for Botswana are:
crocodile,
python,
gecko,
tortoise,
black mamba, green mamba,
Cape cobra, Egyptian cobra, spitting cobra,
puff adder, horned adder, egg eater, tiger snake, boom slang,
shield-nose snake, Cape skink, striped skink, bushveld lizard,
sand lizard, ground agama, flap-neck chameleon.
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