• Safaris - Go on the safari with a luxury camp.
• Mokoro Trips - Glide through the vast unspoiled wilderness of the Okavango Delta.
• Chobe National Park - Get up close and personal with Africa's largest elephant herds.
• Central Kalahari Game Reserve - Look for black-maned lions in the heart of the Kalahari Desert.
• Makgadikgadi Pans National Park - Watch the wildlife gather by the banks of the Boteti River.
• Rock Art - Leave behind the crowds and search for ancient rock art in the soulful and beautiful Tsodilo Hills.

GABORONE

Depending on your perspective, low-key Gaborone (or Gabs to its friends) is either terribly unexciting or one of Africa's more tranquil capital cities. There aren’t that many concrete reasons to come here – it’s a world of government ministries, shopping malls and a seemingly endless urban sprawl – and most travellers can fly to Maun or cross overland elsewhere. Yet, it can be an interesting place to take the pulse of the nation.

EASTERN BOTSWANA

Eastern Botswana is the most densely populated corner of the country and it's rich in historical resonance as the heartland of the Batswana (people of Botswana). Most travellers visit here on their way between South Africa and Botswana's north, and if you're in Botswana for a two-week safari, you're unlikely to do more than pass through. But if you've a little more time and are keen to see a different side to the country, Botswana's east does have considerable appeal and is home to the country’s most important rhino sanctuary and the Tuli Block, one of Botswana’s most underrated wildlife destinations. (See map for detail).

MAKGADIKGADI & NXAI PANS

Within striking distance of the water-drowned terrain of the Okavango Delta, Chobe River and Linyanti Marshes lies Makgadikgadi, the largest network of salt pans in the world. Here the country takes on a different hue, forsaking the blues and greens of the delta for the burnished oranges, shimmering whites and golden grasslands of this northern manifestation of the Kalahari Desert. It’s as much an emptiness as a place, a land larger than Switzerland, mesmerising in scope and in beauty. Two protected areas – Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans – preserve large tracts of salt pans, palm islands, grasslands and savannah. Although enclosing a fraction of the pan networks, they provide a focal point for visitors: Nxai Pan has a reputation for cheetah sightings, and Makgadikgadi's west is a wildlife bonanza of wildebeest, zebras and antelope species pursued by lions. Fabulous areas exist outside park boundaries too, with iconic stands of baobab trees and beguiling landscapes. Unlike the salt-encrusted pans at Makgadikgadi, Nxai Pan is a water-less, fossil pan covered in grass with acacia islands. The area comes to life after the summer rains in December, when big herds of migrating zebra and wildebeest, accompanied by other grazers, arrive to feast on the new grasses.

NOTHERN BOTSWANA

Famed for its massive elephants, and some of the world's largest herds of them, Chobe National Park in Botswana's far north-eastern corner is one of the great wildlife destinations of Africa. It encompasses three iconic wildlife areas that all carry a whiff of safari legend: Chobe Riverfront, which supports the park's largest wildlife concentration; the newly accessible and Okavango-like Linyanti Marshes; and the remote and soulful Savuti, with wildlife to rival anywhere. Whether you’re self-driving and camping under the stars, or flying into your luxury lodge, Chobe can be enjoyed by everyone.

The Unesco World Heritage–listed Tsodilo Hills rise abruptly from a rippled, ocean-like expanse of desert northwest of Maun and west of the Okavango Panhandle. They are threaded with myth, legend and spiritual significance for the San people, who believe this was the site of Creation. More than 4000 instances of ancient rock art and carvings have been discovered at well over 200 sites. The majority of these are attributed to ancestors of today’s San people. The hills can be explored along any of five walking trails.

KALAHARI

The parched alter ego of the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari is a primeval landscape, recalling in stone, thorns and brush the earliest memories of the human experience. It's no surprise that the Tswana call this the Kgalagadi: Land of Thirst.

The dry heart of the dry south of a dry continent, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve 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, it's also one of Africa’s largest protected areas. This is big-sky country, home to black-maned Kalahari lions, a full suite of predators and an utterly wonderful sense of the remote. The park is most easily accessible during the dry season (May to September) when tracks are sandy but easily negotiated by 4WD vehicles. Nights can be bitterly cold at this time and daytime temperatures are relatively mild. During the rainy season (November to March or April), tracks can be muddy and nearly impassable for inexperienced drivers. Watch for grass seeds clogging engines and searing temperatures in October.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was formed after a merger of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The Botswana side only has very basic campsites and most tourism happens on the South Africa side, which has excellent facilities. The red sand dunes in the inhospitable desert form a magnificent backdrop for wildlife viewing and photography.

See the below map for more details and points of interest - or download KML / GPX