Chobe
Botswana
A river where elephants cross in the afternoon, watched from a boat a few metres away
Photo by Chris Stenger on Unsplash
Photos by Ray Aucott, Travel2Africa, Ida Kymmer and Colin Hobson on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Botswana
June to October (the dry season, when the herds come down to the river)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 193mm in Jan
Where it is
17.80°S, 25.15°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Take the river cruise in the afternoon and a game drive in the morning — not two drives, because the boat gets closer than any vehicle
- Go in the late dry season, when the inland pans have dried and the elephants walk to the river every afternoon
- Choose a smaller boat; the large double-decker cruises are cheaper and see the same animals from further away
- Leave the park before the gate closes at sunset, which is enforced
- Cross to Victoria Falls for a day, by the Kazungula border to Zimbabwe or the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia
- Fly to Maun from Kasane for the delta rather than driving it
Chobe travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Botswana
ExpensiveLodges and activity operators in Kasane quote in dollars or pula and take cards; park entry is charged per person per day, and a boat or drive bought in town usually includes it — check. If you are crossing to Victoria Falls for the day, carry US dollars in cash: Zimbabwe runs on them and its visa is paid at the border.
ATMs & cards
Absa, FNB, Stanbic and Standard Chartered all have machines in Kasane, along the main road. It is a proper town, so cash is not the problem it is in the delta; the problem is dollars, which no machine here dispenses.
Avoid these
- counting on a machine for US dollars, which you need in cash for a day in Zimbabwe
Use these instead
- Absa
- FNB
- Stanbic
- Standard Chartered
Non-SADC passports pay the $30 tourism levy on entry, by card. Tips for guides and boat skippers are cash.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Botswana
SafeThe park is unfenced and so, effectively, is Kasane: elephants walk through the town, hippos graze on lodge lawns at night, and warthogs and baboons are everywhere. Do not walk after dark, even between a restaurant and a lodge — take a taxi. The river has crocodiles along every bank, so nobody swims or stands at the water's edge. Malaria is present, most of all in the wet months. Crime is low.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Kasane — by day
- Chobe Riverfront — from the vehicle or the boat
- Kazungula
Worth more attention
- Kasane — on foot after dark, when elephants and hippos come through town
- Chobe River — the banks, which have crocodiles, and swimming, which nobody does
- Getting out of the vehicle in the park, anywhere but a marked stop
- Leaving food or bags open near baboons at lodges and picnic sites
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Botswana visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Visa-free for 90 days in any twelve months. Separately, every non-SADC visitor pays a $30 tourism development levy on arrival, by card or cash at the border, and the receipt is checked on departure.
Other passports
e-Visa required
Applied for through the Botswana e-visa portal before travel.
How to get it: Nothing to apply for on an exempt passport. Have a card ready for the $30 levy at the border, and keep the receipt.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Botswana
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Malaria prophylaxis for the delta and the north, particularly November to June
Getting treated
Gaborone and Maun have adequate private clinics; the delta camps have a radio, a first-aid kit and an airstrip. Every good camp has an evacuation arrangement — check that your insurance matches it, because the flight is the expensive part.
Malaria in the delta, worst in the wet months. Hippos and buffalo cause more injuries than predators. Tsetse flies in some concessions are a nuisance rather than a danger, and they are attracted to dark blue and black, which is why safari clothing is beige.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodLodge dining for the most part, and Kasane has a handful of restaurants along the main road for the nights you are not at one. Chobe bream from the river is the thing to order; seswaa, pounded beef with pap, is the national dish.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- UberNot here
- BoltNot here
- From the airport
- Maun airport to the town P80–150; the lodges collect you
No ride-hailing. Combis on fixed routes, hotel transfers and the safari operator’s vehicle are how everybody gets about.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Gaborone — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Botswana, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolut No local plan
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Setswana
- Hello (to a man)Dumela rradoo-MEH-la rah
- Hello (to a woman)Dumela mmadoo-MEH-la mah
- How are you?O tsogile jang?oh tso-KHEE-leh jahng
- I am wellKe tsogile sentlekeh tso-KHEE-leh SEN-tleh
5 more phrases
- Thank youKe a lebogakeh ah leh-BO-kha
- Yes / NoEe / Nnyaaeh-eh / NYAH
- How much?Ke bokae?keh bo-KAH-eh
- It is fine / all rightGo siamekho see-AH-meh
- GoodbyeSala sentleSAH-la SEN-tleh
English is official and universal in tourism, but Setswana is what Botswana speaks and the greeting is a small ceremony rather than a word. Add rra to a man and mma to a woman — dumela rra — and you will be answered warmly. Pula, the currency, means rain, which tells you most of what you need to know about the country.
Travel tipsReligion
Christian, with Tswana traditional belief alongside
Mostly Christian, with the older Tswana belief in Modimo and in ancestors persisting quietly beside it. The kgotla — the village meeting place where matters are settled by discussion — is the institution that actually shapes public life, and Botswana is proud of it. Sunday is a slow day; nothing about religion complicates a safari.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Greet properly — dumela rra or dumela mma — before asking anything; Botswana is formal and courteous
- Shake hands with the right hand, left hand supporting the right forearm, which is the respectful form
- Listen to your guide absolutely: everything in the delta is unfenced
- Tip guides, polers and camp staff in cash at the end of a stay
- Pay the $30 tourism levy on arrival — it is unavoidable and card machines at the border expect it
Don't
- Do not walk between tents after dark without an escort
- Do not raise your voice; Botswana finds it embarrassing rather than persuasive
- Do not photograph people without asking, and never at a kgotla or a village meeting
- Do not litter or take anything from the bush — the conservation rules are strict and enforced
- Do not expect to bargain; prices are prices here, unlike much of the continent
Where to stay in Chobe
No Holistay rentals in Chobe yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Chobe on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Kasane BBK
10 minfrom the airport· 4 km as the crow flies
10 min to the riverfront lodges.
Also worth pricing: Victoria Falls VFA — more flights; then a border and an hour and a half by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
