Botswana

• The Kalahari

  Much of Botswana lies within the Kalahari Basin — not simple sand dunes, but grassland, scrub, woodland and seasonal pans, predominantly flat with an almost endless horizon from the air.

• The Okavango Delta

  Unusually, the Okavango never reaches the sea — its waters spread across the Kalahari sands instead, forming a vast inland delta that floods during the dry winter months.

• Chobe & Savuti

  The Chobe River provides a permanent water source that draws huge wildlife concentrations, while further south the Savuti channel has historically alternated between flowing and drying.

• The Makgadikgadi Pans

  Central and northeastern Botswana hold one of the largest salt-pan systems on Earth — an alien, shimmering landscape from the air.

• Tuli Block & the Limpopo Valley

  Along the southeastern border, the Limpopo has carved rugged terrain, rocky outcrops and enormous baobabs — a more varied, textured landscape than the flat central Kalahari.

• The Eastern Corridor

  Home to Gaborone and Francistown, the country's main population and transport corridor runs along the eastern border.

Botswana has a predominantly semi-arid climate — hot summers, a pronounced rainy season, and cool, dry winters. The wettest months, from November to March, can see temperatures occasionally reaching around 44°C, with thunderstorms building rapidly and bringing heavy rain, strong winds and reduced visibility. Winter, from May to August, brings dry, sunny days with generally excellent visibility, though nights and early mornings can be surprisingly cold, occasionally below freezing in the southwest — this is peak season for both flying and safari. The north around the Okavango and Chobe receives substantially more rainfall than the dry southwestern Kalahari, and the landscape can shift from dry, open terrain to greener woodland and wetland over relatively short distances.