When you go private and guided in Botswana, you get perhaps the best safari experience available to travellers.
When you go private and guided in Botswana, you get perhaps the best safari experience available to travellers.
In Botswana, “private guided” can mean different things depending on how you travel. Some safaris are designed around flying or transferring between lodges, with expert guides and trackers leading your game drives in each reserve, while others are fully mobile journeys accompanied by a private guide throughout. Both approaches offer exceptional wildlife experiences - just in slightly different ways.
1. Lodge-Based Private Guided Safaris (Most Popular)
This is the classic Botswana safari experience. You fly or transfer between carefully chosen lodges, and in each location you explore the area with expert lodge-based guides and trackers. Game drives are conducted in open safari vehicles, often off-road, in some of Africa’s most wildlife-rich and remote reserves. This style works exceptionally well in Botswana, where vast distances, seasonal flooding and protected areas make light aircraft and lodge expertise the most efficient and rewarding way to travel.
2. Mobile Private Guided Safaris (Fully Accompanied)
A more specialised option, this style involves a private guide travelling with you for the duration of your safari, usually on a mobile or camping-based itinerary. There are no lodge guides – your guide handles the driving, wildlife interpretation and logistics throughout. This approach suits experienced safari-goers seeking maximum flexibility, exclusivity and access to areas without permanent lodges.
The guides who conduct our tours – whether lodge-based specialists or private mobile guides – are masters in their field. They embrace the wildlife, the history, the landscape, the local people. And they thrive on giving every guest an amazing experience that will stay with you long after you wave goodbye to Botswana through your aeroplane window as you fly home. (They also know when to leave you alone, so you can enjoy time together.)
Botswana is the perfect place to experience the difference a private guide can bring to your adventures. Even the wide open spaces have stories to tell, and only expert guides can tell them. They’ll take you off the beaten track and into permit-only areas for adventures in the bush you simply wouldn’t have on your own.
And when it comes to spotting wildlife – well, it takes an expert eye to know where to look and an experienced tracker to get you to the places where there’s something amazing to see in the first place.
Popular places in Botswana where having a private guide is worth its weight in gold include the Okavango Delta, particularly the Moremi Game Reserve, Chobe National Park, the Central Kalahari and its parched desert landscapes, Savuti with its ever-changing marshes, the vast salt pans of Makgadikgadi, and even Victoria Falls just across the border in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
If this style of travel isn’t quite what you’re looking for, consider a Namibia private guided safari or a Botswana self-drive, each offering a different way to experience the region.
Private guided tours mean exactly that: a safari designed around you and your interests, offering flexibility, expert guidance and a more personal way to experience Botswana.
Whether you choose to fly or transfer between carefully selected lodges, where lodge-based guides conduct private game drives, or prefer a specialised camping safari with a private guide and vehicle accompanying you throughout, we can tailor any of our example itineraries to suit your needs.
Let us know where you want to go, what wildlife you want to see, your budget and the time you have available, and we’ll get to work.
There’s something to see all year round in Botswana, and here’s a brief guide as to what you can expect when:
This is winter in Botswana, a time for peak wildlife viewing as the surroundings are less green, making it easier to spot wildlife, especially in and around watering holes.
Despite the name of the season, in the Okavango Delta, water levels are at their highest, making it a good time to explore aboard a mokoro (canoe).
This runs during the Dry Season, and is the time when schools are on holiday and camps and lodges get booked up fast.
These are the rainy summer months in Botswana, where the surroundings are at their most lush, especially in the south, and the zebras are on their migration. It’s usually dry for most of the day, with thundery showers in the late afternoon. Even normally parched areas such as Central Kalahari and the Makgadikgadi Pans see rainfall this time of year, creating seasonal lakes that are a magnet for all kinds of bird and animal life.
You should devote as much time as you can to your Botswana safari. We’re not just saying that to get you to book a longer, more expensive trip. It’s just simple maths. The more time you have, the more you can see and the more you can enjoy each experience rather than rushing through and try to cram-in everything.
If you only have time for a short safari, you should focus on a particular area of Botswana, such as the remote camps of the Okavango Delta or the Kalahari and get a guided tour of that particular region.
This length of time gives you scope to combine visits to two or more of Botswana’s prime safari regions as well as a visit to Victoria Falls (perhaps).
With this amount of time to spare, the world’s your oyster – or in this case Botswana will be your oyster. You can really make the most of your trip to the country, with scope to spend more than one night in at least one or two camps, so you’re not driving every day.
On a private guided tour, what activities are included?
Namibia only or add Botswana and Victoria Falls?
What guarantee do I have that on arrival, everything is sorted and arranged as per the planned itinerary?
Why is availability often limited in Botswana?
Do lodges have WiFi or phone signal?
What does “Fully Inclusive” mean at Botswana lodges?
Whether you want to fly-in to destinations or prefer to drive between camps, we can accommodate your wishes. You might want to stay in a traditional tented camp for part of your trip, and experience the modern luxury of a contemporary lodge at other times. Again, we can help. We’ve been arranging dream guided tours for our customers for over 35 years, so we know what works and what doesn’t.
Whatever your itinerary, you’ll be guided by experienced professionals who’ll make your experience all the more memorable, thanks to their knowledge of Botswana and their uncanny ability to ensure you get to see the wildlife and other sights you want to see.
"A dream come true"
We had the most amazing family holiday, everything worked so perfectly, the arrangements and accommodation was spectacular!
"Unforgettable trip to Namibia – Thank you Namibia Tours & Safaris!"
We are a group of four from Romania and spent 3 unforgettable weeks in Namibia. We can't recommend them enough, and for any future travels in Namibia or other parts of Africa, we will definitely use their services again.
"We had a great experience"
From the time we put the key in the ignition till we boarded the plane in Windhoek nothing went wrong.
"Unforgettable bird photography trip in Namibia"
It was a fantastic experience, everything was very well organised, went smooth and according to expectations. It was our first self drive in Africa and it was a great, unforgettable time.
