Family Safari Vacations in Botswana
Family Safari Vacations in Botswana
Botswana is in Africa’s malaria belt and we do not recommend that young children should travel to this country. However, for families with children aged over six, Botswana is a superb safari destination.
Botswana is a spectacular safari destination for families with slightly older children, catering perfectly to those seeking jaw-dropping wildlife encounters, seriously impressive accommodations, inspiring activities, and the option for private vehicles and charter flights throughout. Typically, the minimum age at lodges is 6 years, though keep in mind that certain activities are restricted to 12 and above.
Why choose Botswana for your Family Safari Vacation?
Alternative activities
Botswana is known for its vast private reserves, where guests can indulge in a riveting selection of activities, including day and night game drives, boating, catch-and-release fishing, and traditional mokoro canoe rides to explore the Okavango Delta’s iconic water channels. Meerkat encounters, quad biking, and horse riding can also feature as part of a Kalahari Desert add-on.
Big game viewing
Botswana delivers a truly dynamic game-viewing experience with remarkable wildlife density and endless expanses of pristine, unfenced space. The Okavango Delta guarantees year-round predator–prey sightings, with abundant leopard, lion, cheetah, hyena, and wild dog populations. Majestic elephant mega-herds are found in Chobe National Park and the private Linyanti reserves. Meanwhile, the Kalahari Desert’s black-maned lions testify to the big cats’ aptitude for survival in the harshest environments.
Multi-generational private villas
Botswana features some of Africa’s most exquisite luxury accommodations, including a handful of family villas with private plunge pools and their own butlers, chefs, guides, and game-drive vehicles. Several small safari camps work perfectly for exclusive takeovers, offering the ultimate privacy and schedule flexibility since activities aren’t shared.
Where to Go
What is the best time to visit Botswana?
Broadly speaking, the best time to visit Botswana is between May and August, when the Okavango Delta floods reach their peak and water levels are highest. September and October still produce impressive wildlife sightings. However, temperatures begin to soar in October, making travel increasingly uncomfortable. Botswana’s green season is between November and April, a good time to visit the Kalahari Desert for its spectacular zebra and wildebeest migration.
Family Activities
Elephant mega-herds
Meet the meerkats
Quad biking
Bushman walks
Kids’ programs
Boat cruises
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans sleep-out
Victoria Falls
-
Botswana’s elephant mega-herds are a sight to behold, with extraordinary populations in Chobe National Park and the private reserves of the Linyanti. The dry months of June through November are ideal for theatrical sightings, when the herds congregate at water sources to drink, bathe, and parade across the rivers.
Visitors to the Makgadikgadi Pans can choose to meet the inquisitive, habituated meerkat families that populate burrows within its arid terrain. Botswana is one of the best places in Africa to encounter meerkats, and observing the busy little clans as they go about their day is totally captivating.
Quad biking on the salt-crusted Makgadikgadi Pans, usually offered between April and October (depending on the pans’ dryness), is a dynamic way for visitors to explore the stark desert landscape. Speeding through this desolate, ancient terrain with the wind whistling through you is utterly exhilarating.
A journey back in time unfolds as you take to the ancient desert accompanied by Zu/’hoasi Bushmen, the earliest inhabitants of these time-forgotten lands. Uncover some of their incredible survival skills on an educational bush walk. You’ll learn some fascinating tracking tips and gain insight into local delicacies, including berries, bulbs, and even scorpions.
Some of Botswana’s lodges offer programs specifically tailored to younger guests. These programs teach them all sorts of wilderness survival techniques, including how to recognize animal calls, track wildlife, make bows and arrows, and light a fire in the bush. Older children might also try their hand at fishing or learning how to pole a mokoro boat.
Boat cruises take pride of place in Chobe National Park, where guests have front-row seats to the permanently flowing Chobe river and its sensational wildlife, including the epic mega-herds for which the region is famed. Water levels permitting, motor boating is also offered at specific Okavango Delta locations to explore the deeper water channels.
Subject to weather conditions, Makgadikgadi Salt Pans sleep-outs can be arranged at certain lodges from July through October, offering guests the chance to spend a night under the desert’s spectacular, zero-light pollution star-filled sky. You might like to add a scenic helicopter transfer and view this incredible landscape from the air.
Victoria Falls is easily accessible from northern Botswana and offers a wide range of superb activities for kids, such as whitewater rafting and bungee jumping.
Wildlife you can expect to see on safari in Botswana
Botswana delivers some of Africa’s most exciting and exclusive game viewing, with seemingly endless space for wildlife to roam undisturbed. All Big Five species are present in abundance – lion, rhino, leopard, elephant, and buffalo. Healthy wild dog populations exist amongst hyena, jackal, cheetah, and bat-eared fox, while the Kalahari Desert is home to the majestic black-maned lion. Typically between November and April, extraordinary numbers of zebra and wildebeest traverse the Makgadikgadi Pans, making this Africa’s second-largest migration – a truly magnificent sight to behold!
Best Lodges for Families
-
Chitabe Lediba
From C$2,563 – C$4,198 ppLocated in the Chitabe Reserve, where the seasonal Gomoti River brings ever-changing wildlife across a mosaic of woodland, wetland, and grassland habitats, Wilderness Chitabe Lediba is an intimate five-tent camp where land-based activities take center stage.…
-
Little Vumbura
From C$2,480 – C$4,074 ppLocated within the Vumbura Concession, on an idyllically remote private island, Wilderness Little Vumbura is a delightful little camp in an area that attracts a diverse spectacle of wildlife. Nestled within 148,000 acres of pristine wilderness, the ancient…
-
Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge
From C$3,713 – C$5,681 ppWithin a vast 22,500-hectare terrain bordering the Okavango Delta’s Moremi Game Reserve, &Beyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge is a uniquely designed, contemporary lodge providing high-standard accommodation, service, dining, and wildlife viewing. The…
-
Mma Dinare
From C$1,788 – C$2,397 ppMeaning ‘Mother Buffalo’ in Setswana, Mma Dinare is a laidback camp, open year round, in a game-dense private wildlife concession on the edge of the Okavango Delta ’s Gomoti river. The camp borders Moremi Game Reserve , where the wildlife is prolific, and…
-
Splash Camp
From C$2,162 – C$2,882 ppSplash Camp delivers family-friendly accommodation within the Okavango Delta’s stunning 175,000-hectare Kwara Private Concession, bordering Moremi Game Reserve. There’s a private space for exclusive-use groups, ideal for those traveling with young children,…
-
Machaba Camp
From C$1,275 – C$1,871 ppMachaba Camp is a classic 1950s-style ground-level tented camp with a homely, down-to-earth atmosphere, making it ideal for those seeking an authentic bushcamp experience without forfeiting creature comforts or levels of service. It’s located on the beautiful…
-
Camp Kalahari
From C$1,469 – C$1,926 ppCamp Kalahari is the laid-back, more affordable sister property to Jack’s Camp and San Camp, all operated by Natural Selection. Offering adventurous, explorer-style accommodation, Camp Kalahari is cozy, hospitable, and family-friendly, with a terrific…
Best Trips for Families
Talk to someone who’s been there
Real expertise doesn’t come from a few trips to Africa. All our specialists have either been guides, run the camps, or grown up and lived in Africa. That’s over 600 years of genuine safari experience.
