Botswana

Närkontakt med vilda djur och storslagna landskap. Men framför allt: ett äventyr som gör sig allra bäst i fyrhjulsdriven bil, komplett med camping- och matlagningsutrustning. Följ med Vagabond på en långresa genom södra Afrika.

Säg Botswana och många safariälskare får något vått i blicken. Vagabonds chefredaktör åkte till det avlägsna Okavangodeltat för att testa världens lyxigaste ekoturism.

Welcome to one of Africa’s most extraordinary places. There is something elemental about the Unesco World Heritage–listed Okavango Delta: the rising and falling of its waters; the daily drama of its wildlife encounters; its soundtrack of lion roars, saw-throated leopard barks and the crazy whoop of a running hyena; and the mysteries concealed by its papyrus reeds swaying gently in the evening breeze. Viewed from above on a flight from Maun, the Okavango is a watery paradise of islands and oxbow waterways. At ground level, the silhouettes of dead trees in the dry season give the delta a hint of the apocalypse.

Vagabonds guide till lyxsafari i Botswana. Tips på boende och sevärdheter.

Kasane lies in a riverine woodland at the meeting point of four countries – Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe – and the confluence of two major rivers, the Chobe and the Zambezi. It’s also the northern gateway to Chobe National Park, and the jumping-off point for excursions to Victoria Falls. Although it’s not overly large, there’s certainly no shortage of lodges and safari companies, as well as petrol stations and supermarkets for those heading out into the wilds.

Famed for some of the world's largest herds of massive elephants, Chobe National Park in Botswana's far northeastern corner is one of the great wildlife destinations of Africa. In addition to the mighty pachyderms, a full suite of predators and more than 440 recorded bird species are present; watch for roan antelope and the rare oribi antelope.

Depending on your perspective, low-key Gaborone (or Gabs to its friends) is either terribly unexciting or one of Africa's more tranquil capital cities. There aren’t that many concrete reasons to come here – it’s a world of government ministries, shopping malls and a seemingly endless urban sprawl – and most travellers can fly to Maun or cross overland elsewhere. Yet, it can be an interesting place to take the pulse of the nation.

As the main gateway to the Okavango Delta, Maun (mau-uunn) is Botswana’s primary tourism hub. With good accommodation and a reliably mad mix of bush pilots, tourists, campers, volunteers and luxury-safari-philes, it’s a decent-enough base for a day or two. That said, if your only business in Botswana involves staying in the lodges and tented camps of the delta, you may do little more than hang around the airport. No great loss: the town itself has little going for it – it’s strung out over kilometres with not much of a discernible centre – but some of the hotels and camps have riverside vantage points.