We are planning to do a trip through Botswana at the end of the year (2013) starting and finishing in Joburg SA. We are looking for hints and tips as well as a good 4x4 rental place. I prefer to do the trip in the FFRR but getting it from Nigeria to SA is too expensive and a bit of a mission in itself, even if I container ship it.

Duration about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks.

So anyone who can give us some tips here, please do so, it will be much appreciated.

Bear in mind it will be an easy trip with kids (youngest will be my daughter at 3 1/2 by that time). MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
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Sounds a great trip ebajema...Botswana being one of the safest African states and one of the most scenic too

A mate of mine is owner of Foleys Specialist Vehicles. Plenty of "Africa experience" in Land Rovers

He has a link on his site that might have some useful info:

http://foleysv.com/fellow-overlanders Alcohol and eBay is never a good mix

2006 4.2 Supercharged, Java Black

Very cool thanks !! MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
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Just seen this section!

Eugene, my info is a few years old now but should be something to work from.

Botswana is pretty amazing, I have driven all round. The North obviously has access to Vic Falls, I used to take the Kisangulu Ferry over to Zambia and then in to Vic Falls that way, great to drive over the bridge and it always used to be easier to get in that way.

Chobe National Park is great, it might be a tricky trip with little ones but I drove all the way through the park, camping for 2 nights and out the bottom near Maun, amazing trip bit lots of soft sand, some good wildlife to be seen depending on the time of year.

Ocovango Delta is obviously a highlight, I got a tip to avoid Maun and drive round the bottom and up the West side, you'll see what i mean on a map, get to a place called Sepupa and then take a boat in to the Delta from there. Used to be a great place to park up and leave a vehicle for a few days. The mokoru's, dug out canoes are great and you get close to hippos and crocs and stuff, just a beautiful place to go.

Close to Sepupa is also Tsodilo Hills, good camping spot out in the bush and loads of very old cave paintings and stuff.

If you have time, I'd always recommend continuing West, some brilliant lodges on the edge of the river, take a quick trip over the border to Namibia and get to Etosha National park, the best park i have ever been to! Floodlit watering holes with just mind blowing amounts of wildlife.

There's loads more to see and you will love it I'm sure. I'm also sure that all of my spelling of places is wrong above, writing this from memory but will be close enough!

Make sure you report back

Mat

Hi Mat, thank you very much for the info. The trip is a little uncertain now mainly due to the high cost of accommodation over there, I mean we don't mind paying a bit of a premium but when you start talking about 500 USD per night for us 4, it gets a bit much.

So we are doing more research on this to see if there are cheaper options (4wd with big off-road trailer tent). So for now we are looking at Kruger park and the other parks in that area with Botswana being pushed out a bit. Also because the group of friends we planned to go with (a.o. our Swedish friends) can't make it this year.

So the trip is most likely postponed for a few years. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Sorry, just realised it was quite an old thread! Well, shame you won't get there but you'll enjoy SA if you make it down there, actually, it's pretty nice here in Mozambique too, lots of good places to drive to and it feels like proper Africa with grass huts, Baobab trees and red dirt roads.

Mat

All of Southern Africa is on our list at the moment. The good thing is that my wife is originally South African with family in Joburg and Cape Town area that we visit at least once a year, while she is now New Zealander so we can live there if we like (I met her there while I was working on a Shell project ).

So the plan is over the next decade to combine the SA family visits with little trips into the surrounding countries like Namibia, Botswana, etc.etc.

If you can just give me a map of the landmine free areas that would be great  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Ha, there are lots of landmines! I'll do you a quick map!

You're in a great position, has your wife got a hot sister?! Best not answer that! I have spent many years exploring Africa and love it but I've never actually thought of it as somewhere I would really live, NZ yes, same with Sweden and strangely, UK is near the bottom of my list!

We had the same discussion about Sweden, we could live there no problem at all, even with the winters being quite nippy

NZ is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. A good friend of mine described it as all of Europe(s beauty) in one country and I agree with him. The fjords, Alpine mountains, forests, lakes, volcanoes, green hills, beaches (including the lovely black sand back beach in New Plymouth where we walked the dog almost every evening) etc.. And the population is nice (a bit reserved, takes time to really get to know them), the country is well organized, not that cheap anymore (we were there for a wedding in Feb 2012 and it has gotten quite expensive) but still fine to live.

I loved Perth as well although it is a lot drier but warmer than NZ. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!