Third Bridge

Botswana

　　Literally the third log bridge after entering the reserve at South Gate (although First Bridge and Second Bridge were, at the time of writing, easy to bypass in the dry season along parallel tracks), this ramshackle bridge spans a reed-filled, tannin-coloured pool on the Sekiri River. The neighbouring campsite is...

Chobe Safari Lodge

Botswana

　　One of the more affordable upmarket lodges in Kasane (or Botswana, for that matter), Chobe Safari is excellent value, especially if you’re travelling with kids (family rooms and tents are available). Understated but comfortable rooms are priced according to size and location, though all feature attractive mosquito-netted beds and modern...

Whale & Penguin Painting

Botswana

　　On the southeast corner of Female Hill, and accessible along the Rhino Trail, look for the amazing whale and penguin paintings that suggest an intriguing link between the early San and the Namibian coast. ...

Museum

Botswana

　　This dusty little museum adjacent to Kuru Art Project is well worth half an hour of your time, with some interesting displays and an informative timeline of San history. ...

Savuti Marshes

Botswana

　　For decades since the early 1980s, this vast open area in southern Savuti consisted less of marshes than sweeping open plains, save for occasional inundations during the rainy season. But the area’s name again makes sense with the return of water to the Savuti Channel. Once-dry tracks now disappear into...

Baines’ Baobabs

Botswana

　　In the south of the park are the famous Baines’ Baobabs, which were immortalised in paintings by the artist and adventurer Thomas Baines in 1862. Baines, a self-taught naturalist, artist and cartographer, had originally been a member of David Livingstone’s expedition up the Zambezi, but was mistakenly accused of theft...

Nxai Pans National Park

Botswana

　　This 2578-sq-km park is one of the most accessible places to experience the salt pans that are a Kalahari speciality, although it's more about smaller pans surrounded by grasslands and scrubby vegetation than the vast, salty wastes that you find further south. Wildlife is a highlight here, with elephants, giraffes...

Zebra Painting

Botswana

　　One of the most fascinating paintings is the zebra painting on a small outcrop north of Female Hill. This stylised equine figure is now used as the logo of Botswana National Museum and Monuments. It lies beyond the main trails. ...

Khutse Game Reserve

Botswana

　　This 2500-sq-km reserve, which is an extension of the southern boundary of the CKGR, is a popular weekend excursion for Gaborone residents, but it’s still deliciously remote and crowds are rare, especially from Sunday to Thursday. It has all the attractions of the Kalahari, including good (if low-density) wildlife watching,...

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Botswana

　　In 2000 the former Mabuasehube-Gemsbok National Park was combined with South Africa’s former Kalahari Gemsbok National Park to create the new Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The result is a 28,400-sq-km bi-national park that is one of the largest and most pristine arid wilderness areas on the continent. The park is also...

Chobe National Park

Botswana

　　Chobe National Park is one of Africa's great wildlife destinations. Famed for its massive elephants and enormous elephant population, Chobe, which encompasses nearly 11,000 sq km, is itself the size of a small country and an important epicentre of Botswana’s safari industry. The park encompasses three iconic wildlife areas that...

Chief's Island

Botswana

　　The largest island in the Okavango Delta, Chief’s Island (70km long and 15km wide) is so named because it was once the sole hunting preserve of the local chief. Raised above the water level by tectonic activity, it’s here that so much of the delta’s wildlife retreats as water levels...

Moremi Game Reserve

Botswana

　　Moremi Game Reserve, which covers one-third of the Okavango Delta, is home to some of the densest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. Best of all, it’s one of the most accessible corners of the Okavango, with well-maintained trails and accommodation that ranges from luxury lodges to public campsites for self-drivers....

Central Kalahari Game Reserve

Botswana

　　The dry heart of the dry south of a dry continent, the CKGR is an awesome place. If remoteness, desert silences and the sound of lions roaring in the night are your thing, this could become one of your favourite places in Africa. Covering 52,800 sq km (about the size...

Kuru Art Project

Botswana

　　This fabulous art project provides opportunities for local artists (14 at last count) to create and sell paintings and other artwork; it’s worth spending an hour or two leafing through the various folios of artworks. Some of the artists here are well known around the world and their works hang...

Chapman’s Baobab

Botswana

　　About 11km south of Green's Baobab is the turn-off to the far more impressive Chapman’s Baobab, which, until it crashed to the ground suddenly on 7 January 2016, had a circumference of 25m and roots that extended 1km out into the surrounding area. It was historically used as a navigation...

Kasane Forest Reserve

Kasane

　　This small but relatively dense patch of forest straddles the Kazangula–Nata Rd. ...

Caracal Biodiversity Centre

Kasane

　　Signposted as Biodiversity Centre, about halfway between the main highway and the Chobe Safari Lodge, this research and education centre rescues small wildlife species, then rehabilitates some into the wild and keeps the rest. It has some birds, a mongoose or two and a particularly large selection of snakes. If...

Nhabe Museum

Maun

　　This neglected museum is in a historic building built by the British military in 1939 and used during WWII as a surveillance post keeping tabs on German Namibia. The museum offers a few displays about the history of the Ngamiland district and some dusty exhibitions of photography, basket weaving and...

University of Botswana

Gaborone

　　Botswana's biggest university sits on the city's eastern outskirts. ...

Debswana House

Gaborone

　　The home of Botswana's diamond industry, Debswana House is an important local landmark. ...

Mosque

Gaborone

　　One of the focal points for Botswana's Muslim community, this mosque is an important local landmark. ...

Botswana National Reference Library

Gaborone

　　Next to Debswana House, this library is ideal for anyone doing any research about Botswana and the region. ...

Parliament

Gaborone

　　Botswana's parliament building sits at the western end of the Mall in an area dominated by government ministries. ...

National Museum & Art Gallery

Gaborone

　　Botswana's National Museum closed in mid-2016 for a much-needed overhaul. Prior to the closure, the collection itself was fairly modest, with plenty of stuffed animals alongside sections on the country's precolonial and colonial history, while the art-gallery section had a similarly unremarkable portfolio of traditional and modern African and European...

Three Dikgosi Monument

Gaborone

　　It’s an interesting kind of history when your nationalist heroes are three guys who argued your country should continue to be a protectorate of Africa’s biggest imperialist power, but welcome to Botswana. The dikgosi (chiefs) are memorialised in imposing form at this large, badly placed (in the shadow of an...

Gaborone Game Reserve

Gaborone

　　This reserve was established in 1988 by the Kalahari Conservation Society to give the Gaborone public an opportunity to view Botswana’s wildlife in a natural and accessible location. It seems to be working: although the reserve is only 5 sq km, it’s the third busiest in the country and boasts...