Botswana Experience

Gabs a Great town

Advantages: Good social atmosphere
Disadvantages: small

Gaborone or as it is most widely known - "Gabs" is a great town. This town is the pride of the youth of Botswana. There is great shopping, good night life and the best social place to be in Botswana. From a tourist point of view it is also very good as the people are extremly friendly and helpful at all times. Gaborone is the capital of Botswana and is the primary place to visit in botswana. The languages spoken there are mainly Setswana and English ...

Raphael 28.11.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Gaborone (Botswana)

Watch out for the honey badgers

Advantages: Not many tourists
Disadvantages: Getting eaten by a lion, hippo, hyena, leopard, honey badgers

I went on a camping trip to Botswana a few years ago, on an organized tour with Explore (www.explore.co.uk) feeling that it was safer to have everything coordinated and someone at least knowing whom to contact if I was eaten by a hippopotamus or honey badger. It turned out to be a wise precaution (no I didn't get eaten by a honey badger) We flew from London to Windhoek in Namibia via Frankfurt. Our baggage flew to Frankfurt, where it decided to ...
...a hurried shopping trip to Woolworths, which is an African shop selling clothes and everything else, with the £50 each, that our travel agent representative had managed to get for us (possibly from the airline) This turned out to be plenty of money and were able to kit ourselves out with enough clothes for at least a week, and the local representative provided sleeping bags etc. The following morning we flew to Maun (rhymes with "town" as our guidebook ...

AndrewPo 17.11.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Botswana

Stay in Francistown Botswana

Advantages: Friendly Helpful Staff
Disadvantages: Disolate Area

A friend of mine lives in Francistown so I've had to go visit her a few times. I've stayed at The Marang Hotel for a weekend because my friend's place was crowded. The hotel was very pleasant and comfortable. Don't expect a five star building because you won't get it. The hotel is very basic like many hotels in Botswana. However the staff are amazing! Very friendly and helpful. Always greet you with a smile and offer you the best service you can ...
...I particularly enjoyed the food. The menu consisted of a few western dishes that we all know and there is a vast choice of African dishes to choose from. I would personaly recommend the African Dishes, Delicious stuff! All in all I'd recommend the whenever you are in Francistown, make a stop at the Marang Hotel, you won't regret it! ...

Raphael 28.11.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Botswana - Francistown - Marang Hotel

Quiet Safari

Advantages: Not crowded
Disadvantages: Sparce animal sightings

...Then you should go to Chobe National Park in Botswana. Like all National Parks in Africa Chobe has vast variety of Wildlife. However because the game park has such a vast area, the wildlife is very hard to spot. You have to travel for great distances to see a few of the animals, but the game rangers are very patient and polite!The weather there is lovely. Very sunny but often you get hard terrential rain which only last for short period of time. ...
...it seems as there are rarely many visitors there which means the place does not get crowded. Whenever you go to Botswana be sure to visit Chobe National park it is a great place and it is very close to Victoria Falls so that could be your next destination afterwards! ...

Raphael 28.11.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Chobe National Park (Botswana)

Visit Bots to avoid the tourists

Advantages: Relatively tourist free, unique.
Disadvantages: Dust, dust, dust.

Compared with other African countries, Botswana has a lower profile among foreign tourists. Say safari and most people think of Kenya, which means you end up seeing 25 trucks around every lion. Go to Botswana and you may have the whole pride to yourself. The Botswanan government has tried to encourage lower volume, higher price tourism in an attempt to keep away the flocks of backpackers who add little to the local economy. Yes you can get around ...
...to turn up at the gates of the gamepark and be able to get in. They only allow a certain number of passes per day, which are mostly pre-booked by organised safari companies. By car hire I mean 4x4 - there aren't that many tarmac roads in Bots so a four wheel drive is essential. The official language of the country is English, but indigenous languages vary with geography. The colonialists cared little for local cultures, so when they carved up Africa ...

Phil_P 24.02.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Botswana