With a landscape that varies from watery deltas to salt flats and teems with game and luxury lodges, Botswana’s place in the safari A list is assured.
However, its reputation for being a pricey option can be a sales barrier for agents – as can the lack of a direct flight, and a coastline for offering safari and beach combos.
However, there’s no shortage of unique and compelling sales points that can help clued-up agents clinch a sale. The major issue is education, says Dawn Parr, the Botswana Tourism Organisation’s (BTO) representative UK and Ireland.
“A lot of agents don’t understand the destination,” she says. “That’s why fam trips are invaluable; there is nothing like experiencing it for yourself.”
Dawn also feels that agents and their clients put too much focus on the Okavango Delta and Chobe. The BTO wanted to showcase the wider variety of the country’s offering, such as the vast Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and Tuli’s basalt outcrops, so took five agents on a fam trip last month.
The BTO wants agents to encourage their clients to linger longer, staying for seven to 10 days rather than swinging by for two or three as part of a wider, southern Africa safari itinerary. And the message has been grasped by the agents on this fam.
“They said that each time they moved camp they felt they were starting their whole trip over again,” says Dawn.
Costs
Botswana’s high-end/low-volume tourism policy allows for small eco-lodges set in pristine wilderness regions. Many camps are on concessions – government-owned land leased to private operators where the number of visitors is limited to the number the camps can cater for.
“Botswana really is your great expedition,” says Dawn. “You feel like you are the first person to see these things, and at lodges such as Kwando’s in the Kalahari you feel like you’re the only people on the planet.”
Naturally, this sense of privacy and exclusivity adds to the price – as does the reliance on internal flights for multi-centre safaris. However, as Jean Claffey, long-haul department supervisor at Joe Walsh Tours puts it, they add to the experience as “the flights are like getting a taxi to your next stop”.
Having said all that, Dawn is also keen to stress that a safari here needn’t cost the Earth. “We want to get the message across to agents that they should not be afraid to sell it to clients who don’t have loads of cash,” she says.
For clients looking to save some pennies, Botswana’s National Parks, like those at Moremi and Chobe, famed for its large elephant population, are the way to go. However, as Mandy Mountjoy, Steppes Travel country director, notes: “Based on our one-night stay, the Chobe region seemed incredibly busy, with vast numbers of boats on the river.”
Quality
Overall, the agents were particularly impressed by the quality of the product. “The camps were all wonderful, with knowledgeable guides, friendly staff at camp, wonderful food and a lovely atmosphere,” says Yvonne Dann, Experience Holidays travel consultant.
“We received a warm welcome wherever we stayed, and all the staff were truly special and happy to help wherever required,” reports Lindsay Wyatt, personal travel expert at Kuoni’s Milton Keynes agency. She adds that the game viewing is “second to none” – on the group’s first drive they saw a leopard and two cheetahs.
Mel Broughton, leisure reservations and marketing executive at Medway Travel Management, feels the element of exclusivity adds to the experience. “The game drives were superb,” she says. “And as visitor numbers in the reserves are limited, our encounters with the game were very private. When we came across a pride of lions or a herd of elephant, we were always the only vehicle with the animals, which made the experience all the more magical.”
The undiscovered South
The group started in the less-visited south and worked its way north. After overnighting in capital Gaborone, the agents headed off from Limpopo Valley Airfield to their next base, Tuli Safari Lodge. Activities here included a cultural tour through the Northern Tuli Game Reserve – famed for its rock formations – to Motlhabaneng, for a display of traditional dancing at the local school an a lesson in making palm wine. A game drive to the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers allowed the group to overlook the spot where the borders of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe converge, in addition to spotting birdlife and big game.
A key feature of private concessions such as Tuli is they allow for everything from night drives to walking safaris, and the group were able to try both.
“The morning walk from Tuli Safari Lodge was extremely memorable as it ended with a bush breakfast on a ridge overlooking a floodplain with baobab trees, elephants and giraffe,” says Mandy. “What a great place to enjoy breakfast!”
The second stop for the group was the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a vast area where they hardly saw another vehicle or even a tarred road. After flying west with Moremi Air the group stayed at Kwando’s Tau Pan lodge. On game drives they spotted smaller animals such as meerkats, aardwolves and hyena. One of the highlights of this area is meeting the local San ‘bushmen’ and the next morning the group went on a San-led nature walk.
Another short flight took the group to their next camp, Kwando Safari’s Nxai Pan, which sits amid the salt pans. The starkly different landscape led to a very different game drive experience, with the mighty trees at the Baines’ Baobabs site proving the perfect spot for a bush brunch.
“The salt pan was like another world, and we were spoiled with the amount of wildlife we saw,” says Jean.
The unique North
After the Kalahari and the salt pans the watery world of the Okavango – the world’s largest inland river delta – provided yet another massive contrast. The group’s camp was Ker & Downey’s Shinde, where a highlight was navigating the floodplains in a mokoro, or dug-out canoe, which, along with the game drive that day, generated no shortage of stories for the group to tell as they relaxed around the fire after dinner.
Jean recommends a trip in a mokoro. “You discover so much wildlife on the water up close – it was very relaxing.”
Next up was a transfer with Safari Air to Kasane, at the top of the country, where the group overnighted at Mowana Safari Lodge before hitting the Chobe River, renowned for its boating safaris and vast elephant population. Here they inspected the Zambezi Queen – a stunning, three-tiered luxury river boat – before beginning the long journey home.
