Slow travel in Botswana

What is slow travel?

Slow travel is all about exploring an area at walking pace, giving yourself time to take in your surroundings, and never being in a hurry to move onto something else. It’s all about cherishing the moment.

On some tours, you’ll do a fair bit of camp hopping, spending no more than one or two nights in the same place before packing up and moving on.

However, when you travel slow, you tend to put down roots in the same camp for longer – several days at least, but often for the entire duration of your trip. Yes, you’ll cover less ground, but you’ll be able to get to know your location in far more detail than if you’re on a whistlestop tour.

Why is Botswana so suited to taking it slow?

Of all African nations, Botswana is perhaps the one least changed by the presence of humanity. The largely flat landscape is particularly suited to walking, and much of it is unspoilt wilderness with so much to discover, including:

Okavango Delta: The home of islands, plains, and rivers
‍Chobe National Park: Located in the northeast of the country, there’s a full spectrum of African wildlife to discover here, thanks to its forests, marshlands, wetlands and woodlands
‍Makgadikgadi Pans National Park: See Africa’s second largest migration as thousands of zebra migrate to fresh pastures

The advantages of taking it slow

Your camp feels more like home
‍Slow safaris often mean you’ll stay in the same camp and sleep in the same tent for a good few nights, maybe even for the entire duration of your trip. This gives you time to form an attachment with where you’re staying, something that’s missing when you’re hopping from location to location every couple of days on a faster paced tour.

You’ll also likely have the same team of guides throughout your experience, and of course the same team looking after you at camp. So if you’re the kind of person who likes to drop anchor and have the same base from which to explore the local area in detail, it sounds like travelling slow is the way for you to go.

Greater sustainability
‍Leaving the safari vehicles back at camp and heading out on foot is the most sustainable and least environmentally damaging way to explore the wilds of Botswana. You can enter the homeland of all kinds of wildlife without disturbing their habitat, and certainly without leaving a carbon footprint. What’s more, on a walking safari, you’ll most likely be staying in a solar powered camp that’s built to blend in with its surroundings and committed to recycling just about everything that can be recycled.

Quieter
‍4x4 safari vehicles need big, powerful engines to transport adventurers over sometimes tricky terrain, and that creates noise that simply isn’t there when you safari slow on foot. The quietness means you’re less likely to disturb wildlife and more likely to hear and see things you otherwise wouldn’t.

A more laidback approach
‍Driving safaris tend to happen in a hurry as you rush from location to location in the hope of spotting wildlife. That’s not an option when you’re walking. You’ll maintain a steady pace throughout, with more time to take in your surroundings, and still a great chance of spotting the Big Five.

A chance to see smaller species
‍There’s only so much you can see from inside a vehicle. But when you’re out on foot, the tiniest residents of Botswana, such as the elephant shrew, will be more visible.

A chance to meet local people
‍When you take things slow, you’ll give yourself time to visit villages and learn about traditional ways of life from the locals.

Where can you take it slow in Botswana?

Most national parks and reserves in Botswana don’t allow walking safaris. But here are some areas that do:

Camps bordering the Moremi Game Reserve: Guides will take you in search of hippo, elephant, giraffe and other wildlife.

Mokolodi Nature Reserve: A great place to track rhino on foot, a search that will begin in a vehicle to help your guides identify areas where these magnificent mammals have recently visited. It’s worth knowing that you could be walking anything from half an hour to five hours before seeing rhino.

Makgadikgadi Salt Pans: You’re sure to encounter a friendly meerkat or two on a walk through the golden grasses of the salt pans. Jack’s Camp is one of the most popular places to stay in this part of Botswana.

Okavango Delta: You’ll get the chance to gently explore waterways aboard canoe-style mokoros. Walks in the Okavango Panhandle will give you an opportunity to photograph the extremely rare and beautiful Pel’s Fishing Owl.

North of the Limpopo River: The mountains of this area of Botswana give you the best chance of seeing elephant in the wild on a walking safari.

Book with us, however leisurely you want to take things

You can take your time booking your slow safari experience with the Namibian Tours & Safaris team, or we can arrange your itinerary last minute. It’s up to you. Let us use our expertise to find you a camp and the kind of experiences that are at the perfect pace for you.