In November of 2015 Ivan and I went to Southern Africa. We got engaged there, which was awesome! – but even without the engagement part this place is a must-do before you die.
If you’re an animals and nature person like me, Botswana is the number one country I recommend (& coincidentally, Lonely Planet does too!). The volume of animals you see nuzzling, feeding, playing, killing, fighting, dying, migrating and more is beyond your realm of imagination.
Hundreds of elephants. Dozens of giraffe and zebra. Prides of lions. Leopards, hippo, ostrich, bulls, antelope, impalas, hyenas, baboons, monkeys, jackals, rare birds (like the near extinct Kori Bustard). Spiders the size of your first.
Everywhere you look there are animals in numbers (often only a few feet away). It is truly incredible.
Here’s how we did it (and on a budget):
Logistics:
Zimbabwe and Botswana are both quite remote countries with small and virtually non-existent airports.
Luckily, both are just a short flight from Johannesburg, so our travel time to Victoria Falls (our initial destination) from New York was about 16 hours in total. Our flights cost $1000, but since I optimized for time, it brought the price up a bit. I believe you can fly there for a little cheaper.
We knew we wanted to do a Safari and there are many ways to arrange. However, we were very happy with Lewis Safaris/Africa Tracks Safaris, which we were paired with via AfricanBudgetSafaris.com. That said, we would recommend booking directly with Lewis if possible to save costs.
During this time all of our food & tent housing were included, as well as transportation costs and admission to most parks. You do have to request a sleeping bag or bring your own, but I found the accommodations quite suitable if you’re fine with roughing it.
The cost of the Safari piece was about $1000 after taxes, tips and extras. If you opt to stay in hotels and lodges, you will pay more. But for us, this trip came out to about $2300/person (not including shots, supplies and travel insurance, which you will need).
Africa is by no means an affordable destination. However, we did it about as “budget” as we could without sacrificing too much.
Day One: Zimbabwe & the Zambezi River
From the minute we landed at the airport we were serenaded by Zimbabweans in traditional dress and saw baboons hobble by with babies on their backs.
On day one we took a short cab ride to our Hostel (Shoestring Lodge), which I highly recommend. Shoestring was $60 a night for a private room with air-conditioning, but I believe you could get shared rooms for less than $15 there.
This hostel was an adorable hippie haven with a small pool & artists/craftsmakers on-site. The café was delicious and music bumped at night -- yet the crowd was much more mature than some hostel scenes given that no matter how you do Africa, it’s somewhat expensive.
For two twenty somethings, I couldn’t think of a better place to stay and mingle, but it was nice to retain some privacy with the private room too.
That night we opted for a short boat cruise on the Zambezi river. The boat cruise included unlimited drinks and appetizers. It was a relaxing way to see Zimbabwe and we were able to see some animals (hippo, giraffes).
At the time, this was an epic experience, though once we made our way into Botswana I soon realized that animals are crawling all over this part of the continent.
Alternatives for night one are to visit Victoria Falls (which we did on our last day when our guides dropped us back at the hostel after our tent-camping safari), walking with lions, and more.
Mama Africa was a nice place to grub on some game meat for dinner. I also found the locals to be very friendly and liked that you can walk all over Vic Falls with baboons and warthogs crossing your path nonchalantly.
Day Two: Chobe National Park
On day two we met our driver at a nearby lodge who took us and the other seven campers on our journey to the Bostwanan border. There, we met our amazing guides Thuso and Moscow who became our great friends during this trip.
After clearing customs, our first meeting was a quick briefing on what to do and not to do. This was a wake-up call as I’d heard rumors that camps were often fenced off from animals. In Botswana, this is not the case. Animals can and will come up to your tent, and you do not get out of it at night. That said, this was hands-down my favorite part about the tent camping experience.
We were also instructed to buy fifteen liters of water between the two of us – an incredible volume of water which nearly all went used. Botswana is HOT in November. You will roast, but since we were often cruising in the open air Safari vehicle, the temp never drove me crazy. I would recommend going during a different time of year, but if you're unable, November still worked out perfectly for us.
From there we drove into Chobe National Park where we set up our tents. Pulling down and putting up the tent was a daily ritual as we were constantly on the move. All aspects of the camping experience were shared chores, but it was nice to pitch in. During the trip we all took turns washing dishes, chopping vegetables, assisting with other’s tents, putting together our cloth outhouse, digging the latrine hole, and more. There was an element of camaraderie to it that everyone really seemed to enjoy.
Our guides, however, handled most things – including cooking meals and even baking fresh bread over the campfire.
That afternoon we hit the ground running in Chobe National Park. The Savannah houses many different kinds of animals in the same stretch of land along a watering hole. During our first five minutes of the ride we saw hundreds of animals. An entire herd of elephants surrounded our Jeep, and giraffes necked five feet away.
During this time, there weren't other Safari groups crawling all over like I've heard there are in other parts of Africa, such as South Africa and Kenya. Another couple on our tour had gone to both, and said that Botswana was hands-down their favorite for animal-watching.
Every Safari we went on was unique, but Chobe still remains my favorite.
The vibe on Safari is also interesting. Everyone is quiet and in awe snapping photos of these majestic beasts and landscapes you just can’t believe are real. Suddenly you’ll turn a corner and come across a dead, rotting animal. The smell is god awful, but the neat part about this trip was the constant reminder that the circle of life IS real. For me it was nothing less than a religious experience.
At night we ate by campfire and sat around telling stories. Most of the animals won’t come near firelight (aside from hyenas), but it was still eerie to be outside in the dark knowing prides of lions were nearby.
During our first evening it rained like hell. Luckily our tents were industrial strength and held up perfectly. We were a bit worried because we’d booked the trip on the cusp of rainy season, which I’d usually try to avoid. However, the rain mixed with the sounds of the bugs and the elephants trumpeting added to the ambiance. What a way to fall asleep! (Just kidding - I barely slept night one).
Day Three: Chobe National Park & Savuti National Park
Day three we circled around Chobe, grabbed lunch, and then drove several hours to Savuti. Driving around Africa is no joke. The wind beats you in the face as you make your way down long stretches of highway and pass virtually no one. Botswana is one of the world's least populated countries and it's massive. Our guide frequently took us off-road where we drove on what seemed like bumpy patches of dirt for long stretches. This, to me, was a huge part of the fun and adventure, though it could be annoying at times too.
Savuti was another major highlight. Here we saw two brother male lions who were being filmed for a National Geographic episode. They were stunning, muscled males with thick manes, and watching them was my favorite animal sighting of the trip.
Afterward we caught a herd of elephants fighting over a much smaller watering hole as the sun set and lightening flicked in the background. The elephants moaned, bellowed and jeered at each other as they tried to get their share of drink.
Nearly all of our best animal sightings took place around watering holes. They're sort-of these community spots where all of the animals are forced to deal with each other, so its not uncommon to see something like a jeckal weaving between an elephant's legs.
Day Four: Savuti National Park & Moremi Game Reserve
Game drives ran twice daily starting at 6 a.m. and again at 1 or 2. In between we ate and shuttled around to various parks, which were often pretty significant distances apart and hours of driving. Along the way you could see some animals (mainly lone, more aggressive male elephants), but often the distance is vast and unchanging. I highly suggest bringing a Podcast or audio book to get you through the driving.
From Savuti we headed over to Moremi where we were able to see our first and only leopard.
We also saw a tragedy occur when two male antelopes fought over a female and stabbed her to death in the flank. She was pregnant and instantly gushed out amniotic fluid. As she stood still bleeding, her entire herd of a good hundred antelopes left her behind. We never saw a kill (though we did see lions feasting) – but experiences like this one made it clear that life can be unforgiving on the Savannah.
That night we made our way to a mid-sized village called Maun where we stayed at a small formal campground with showers and laundry service. The people in Maun are somewhat used to foreigners, but the elderly and kids were particularly excited. It made me feel very welcome in such a beautiful country where the kindness of the people was often one of the the biggest highlights.
Day Five: Maun & the Okivango Delta
The Okivango Delta is located on the basin of the Kalahari. It creates one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife since animals can drink and cool off among its endless canals, lakes, swamps and islands.
In the Delta bushmen and ethnic peoples live in super small, underdeveloped villages and paddle around on little flat boats called Mokoros.
We took a ride on the Mokoros, but because it was the hot and very dry season, it wasn’t the ideal time to go. The sun KILLED us and you absolutely cannot do this boat ride without gobs of sunscreen and a hat.
While the Delta was beautiful and we were able to see birds and elephants as we paddled by, it would have been much better in retrospect to do this part during the high-season. I hear it is much more impressive and manageable at this time.
That said, it was really interesting to me to see how the Delta peoples lived in their small village. All of the villagers had one room huts with little furniture and few posessions, but as per usual, looked about a billion times happier than any New Yorker I know.
Day Six: Free Day
You’ll need this!
Day Seven: Baobabs & The Salt Pans
On our final day we headed a pretty far distance to camp out under the stars atop Bostwana’s Salt Pans. Along the way we stopped to climb some of the country's biggest Baobab trees. We were also able to check out a group of ostrich, which were personally some of my favorite animals to see given their massive size.
Did you know people can ride ostrich in Africa?! That blows my mind.
The Salt Pans in Botswana are some of the largest salt flats in the world. They lie Southeast of the Okivango Delta and are surrounded by the Kalahari desert. For much of the year the salt pans are made up of a dry crust and are seasoned with small patches of grass.
During some parts of the year animals cannot be seen here, but it is also home to some of the world’s greatest migrations of Zebra and wildebeest.
The Salt Pans look and feel like Mars. The vast open space and endless stretch of sky provided one of the coolest atmospheres I've ever gotten to experience, and most campers sleep outside here.
Which is what Ivan and I did by accident when we got lost all night just after getting engaged (but see my post on How NOT to Get Engaged in Africa for more on that!).
Had things gone down the way they should have, we would have filled out bellies with a traditional dinner of game beef, stargazed and snoozed peacefully under the consteallations. Our night took a different turn, but I still have only the best things to say about the Pans.
Day Eight: Travel
We spent this entire day making our way back to Zimbabwe and hung out at the hostel that night.
Day Nine: Victoria Falls
You can do Vic Falls night one or night nine, but they are a must-see and are classified as the largest falls in the world.
Bring a raincoat and hat and walk the Falls while stopping off at epic gorge viewpoints. Rainbows are constantly present here and you will capture some great pictures.
Some people opt to swim in the falls dangerously close to the edge via the Devil’s Pool. We opted not to do this because it was $100, but it could be a cool experience.
From here we headed out to the airport and slept the entire way home. While the trip was quick and full of traveling (both flying and driving) I still think it is one of the best ways you can spend a slice of time here on Earth.
