Botswana - A pure jewel of Africa!

Botswana is definitely a great safari destination. The wild fauna and flora are queen, and the animal shows can be compared in few other countries. Barely larger than France (582,000 km²) with a very low population density (3.5 inhabitants per km²), the country is almost as sparsely populated per km² as its western neighbor, Namibia. The Okavango Delta, Moremi, Chobe, Makgadikgadi, Central Kalahari and Tuliblock, are monuments of African nature.

The city of Maun, considered the tourist capital of Botswana, is the starting point for the majority of expeditions to the major nature reserves in the North and the Okavango Delta.

The main ethnic groups of the country are the Bushmen (or San), Tswanas and Bakalangas, with English and Tswana (or Setswana) as official languages.

If the flora and fauna are the stars of this destination, the traveler will be happy to discover the many facets of the Botswana culture by meeting, among others, Bayei villagers in the Okavango or Basubiya in the Chobe, or finally the San people.

Botswana is truly a jewel of Africa, with an incredible wealth of wildlife, endless colorful landscapes and ethnic diversity. It has diverse habitat types for wildlife, including the Okavango Delta with its flood plains and numerous channels, the Kalahari Desert, large meadows, Zambezi mopane and teak forests, a shrub savanna - the bush - and saline plains as far as the eye can see, the sections, sometimes dotted with huge baobabs. It is customary to describe Botswana as an "African miracle" as much for its natural wealth (wildlife, landscapes) as for its mineral wealth (diamonds and minerals), its economic success and its democratic stability often cited as an example. The traveler who goes for the first time in the country will immediately feel conquered and very quickly immersed in a world where the wilderness is still intact. The landscapes that compose it were immortalized in the movie "The gods fell on the head" which made it possible to make known to the Westerners the culture of the San people.

If one comes to Botswana, it is above all to engage in the contemplation of nature and its animals. Considered one of the last wild sanctuaries in all of Africa, Botswana stands out for its abundance of exceptionally rich wildlife in parts of the country. More than 160 different species of mammals have been recorded, including the famous Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros). The African elephant population is the largest in all countries. There are no less than 22 species of antelopes, from the small oreotragus to the big kudu, to the Cape's moose, the oryx, the black hippotrague, the Lechwe cobe, the steenbok and of course the impala, to name a few. You can also discover hippos, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, baboons and smaller mammals such as galago and porcupine. Cheetahs, hyenas (spotted or brown), wild dogs, Cape foxes, jackals and ratels, also populate the various reserves.

Botswana also has more than 550 species of birds (ostriches, Kori bustards, vultures, marabouts, eagles, cormorants, flamingos, pelicans, herons, jabiruses from Senegal, cranes, ibises, hawks, rollers, hornbills, touracos, weavers, parrots, etc ...) and 170 species of reptiles and amphibians (crocodiles, turtles, chameleons, monitor lizards and snakes).