Botswana National Parks and Game Reserves

I thought the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was the best national park in Botswana because of the combination of wilderness, beautiful sunsets and amazing stars, plus fantastic animal sightings. Many of the campsites within the reserve are kilometres away from the nearest other site and it feels like you’ve got the entire Kalahari to yourself. The landscape is mainly open so you can see large herds of antelope spread across the plains and the quality of the light is extraordinary. Predator sightings are very special because you’ll normally have the animals to yourself and can enjoy them in a relaxed manner, there’s no argy-bargy with other vehicles.

The riverfront section of Chobe National Park is the most popular National Park in Botswana, which makes it quite busy. The concentration of game is super high, especially towards the end of the dry season in August to October, but the busyness does detract from the overall experience. A river cruise through the national park is a really great experience and a highlight of any trip to Botswana. There are also fewer boats on the river than vehicles in the park. If you are self-driving, the middle of the day is way less crowded, but the animal sightings may be worse.

Predators in Botswana National Parks

Predators such as lions, leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs live all over Botswana in all the National Parks and Game Reserves. Lions are the easiest of these to spot because of their large size and confident nature. Wild dogs are probably the next easiest to come across because they hang out in large packs and also aren’t too shy. Leopards are much harder to spot (no pun intended) because they are more scared of people, they are often solitary and they camouflage themselves amongst the undergrowth and trees. Cheetahs are maybe the most difficult of all to see in the Botswana National Parks because there aren’t that many of them.

Relatively Common

To see lions, any of the parks are an option. They can be easiest to spot in the desert national parks because they stand out in the landscape and are naturally drawn to the waterholes and pans. These parks are great places to see the lions because there are very few other vehicles so you might have the sighting to yourself. In Chobe Riverfront you may also find them, or rather find all the other vehicles that found them before you.

Crocodiles live in the water and are mainly limited to Moremi Game Reserve and especially Chobe Riverfront where they’re easy to see.

Hard to See

Wild dogs are less common in the very south of Botswana but are known to live in the Central Kalahari around the Deception Valley area, in Khwai Community Concession, in Moremi and Linyanti. The packs are quite mobile so sometimes move from one year to the next. They are most active at dawn so this is our best chance to see them before they retire to their dens for the day.

You have to be lucky to see a leopard. They live in the highest numbers in and around the Okavango Delta and Moremi and Khwai are well-known for their leopards. Savuti also has some rocky hilly areas where leopards live. In the desert parks you might see a leopard visit a waterhole in the early morning, or randomly in a bushy area in the middle of the day as we did in the Central Kalahari.

Least Seen

Cheetahs are very elusive in Botswana, though if you’re lucky you can see them in the Central Kalahari Deception Valley area, the Salt Pans National Parks or Linyanti and Savuti. They are mainly seen in open grassland areas and unlike other big cats they hunt during daylight hours.

Brown hyenas have a smaller range and in Botswana are mainly found in the Central Kalahari and the Salt Pans. You can find out more about brown hyenas (and lions) in the Central Kalahari by reading Cry of the Kalahari*, a great book about monitoring these species and living in the wilderness for months at a time.

Niche Wildlife in Botswana

There are many other super cool animals that live in Botswana but are not so ‘famous’. The Central Kalahari in particular is a great area for less commonly seen animals such as caracal, honey badgers, Cape foxes, bat-eared foxes and meerkats.

Grazers in Botswana National Parks

Iconic animals such as elephants, hippos, buffalos, giraffes, zebras and many species of antelope all live in Botswana. The water-loving animals such as hippos, crocodiles and buffalos are confined to the regions near the Okavango Delta, while elephants are also most common in these regions though wander about in much of northern Botswana and south all the way to Khutse.

Elephants are very common in northern Botswana and you’re almost guaranteed a sighting. In the dry season they visit waterholes and rivers in huge numbers, in the wetter season they spend a lot of time in the bush but are still very visible. Chobe Riverfront is well-known for elephants playing in the river, while in Khwai elephants often wander through the campsites. Moremi Game Reserve and Nxai Pans also have many elephants. Small groups of male elephants wander further afield, through Makgadikgadi Pans, the Central Kalahari and down to Khutse.

Buffalos are more confined to the watery regions, seen in large herds in Chobe Riverfront and Moremi, though they also can be seen in Savuti and Linyanti.

Hippos spend most of the day in the water and are found in Chobe, Moremi, Khwai and Linyanti. A few also live in Savuti. As the sun goes down hippos emerge from the water to start grazing. They are a very dangerous animal – never get between one and the water.

Giraffes and zebras can be seen almost everywhere in Botswana. Makgadikgadi Pans is known for its zebra migration – they walk from the permanent Boteti River to the drier eastern side of the park every year and can be seen in huge numbers.

Antelope

Red lechwe and puku live only near the water in northern Botswana. Coming from the south, the Okavango Delta near Maun is the first place you might spot red lechwe. They are also quite common in Moremi and Chobe. Puku can only be found at Chobe Riverfront in Botswana, though they are more common in Zambia to the north. Sitatunga are another water-loving antelope. They mainly live deep in the Okavango Delta and are very rare, you must be very lucky to see one.

Sable and roan antelope live in the Okavango Delta and Chobe Riverfront, though they can be difficult to spot as they are quite rare. Impala live from the Salt Pans up through the north, while springbok live from the Salt Pans down to the south. Wildebeest are common throughout the National Parks of Botswana. As are kudu, red hartebeest, steenbok and waterbuck (in then north).