A self-drive safari in Botswana is a big adventure, we’ll make sure you know what to expect before you go. As the name suggests, on a self-drive holiday you will be driving yourself from one destination to the next. Along the way, you’ll visit exciting attractions, participate in fun activities and learning experiences and get to know the country an its people. You travel in a 4×4 rental car that is equipped to get you safely and comfortably from A to B. You will be staying at personal tented camps, lodges and guesthouses within the national parks and conservancies or just outside. Your accommodations offer activities you can book such as game drives, boat cruises or bush walks.
How to plan a self-drive holiday: Spend less time worrying, researching, and comparing, and more time living the experience
Planning a road trip can be lots of fun – or time-consuming, confusing, and nerve-wracking. When planning and booking with us, we’ll make sure it’s the former. After confirming the basics such as number of travellers, duration, and budget, your personal travel expert will ask you about your expectations, bucket list must-dos and general preferences for your self-drive safari. They will then put together a proposal including a detailed itinerary, accommodations, and driving distances. You can get involved as much or as little as you like. Once you’re happy, we will book your rental car as well as accommodations and share useful information with you to prepare you for your trip.
The best part: Benefiting from our expert advice and booking with us won’t cost you more than doing all the work of planning and organising yourself. We receive a commission from camps and lodges and can offer you the same rates you will receive when booking yourself. Plus the added and invaluable benefit of having an expert by your side. Our travel experts have visited the lodges and camps, driven the routes themselves and experienced the different activities. They will advise on the most magical spots where it’s worth staying an extra night. If you don’t want your travel plans ending on a dreaded to-do list, chat to our experts who will take the planning off your hands. All that is left for you is to look forward to your trip!
Cross-border self-drive tours: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa & Victoria Falls
Botswana’s location is ideal to combine your self-drive holiday with a visit to Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe as well as South Africa. You can cross the border in your rental car and either return to your starting point or return the car in an alternative bigger city once your trip comes to an end. On crossing-border self-drive tours, you have the advantage of visiting the most famous sites of Southern Africa all in one trip: from the Victoria Falls to the Okavango Delta to the Namib Desert. What an epic trip! Driving distances should not be underestimated though. If you would like to add South Africa’s Kruger National Park to your itinerary, you should plan sufficient travel days or choose a fly-in option.
Who should go on a self-drive safari in Botswana
If you prefer to travel at your own pace, stop along the way whenever you see something exciting and want to travel with your friends and family only, a private guided safari or a self-drive tour is the best travel style for you. Self-drive trips have the added benefit of enjoying ultimate privacy and the excitement that comes with going on an adventurous cross-country road trip.
Self-drive holidays in Botswana and its neighbouring countries will inevitably include some long days in the car and hundreds of kilometres covered in one day. While we make sure you have enough time to step out of the car and enjoy your surroundings, you should be prepared for long driving distances on gravel road. Therefore, you should be a confident and experienced driver to enjoy a self-drive trip safely. Knowing how to change a tire is another important skill to have!
Many Botswana trips focus on safari and the wildlife experiences for which the country is so famous. If you are planning to go on self-drive game drives in Botswana’s remote national parks and wilderness areas, you should have at least some off-road driving experience. Alternatively, you can join game drives organised by your camp and benefit from the driving skills and experience by your local guide. Guides know the national parks like the back of their hands, have extremely well-trained eyes to spot wildlife and know how to safely navigate large herds of elephants and buffaloes. This way, you will get the best of both worlds: the self-drive as well as the guided experience.
