Makgadikgadi Pans

Currency budget Botswana

Botswana charges every non-SADC visitor a $30 tourism development levy on arrival, payable by card at the border or the airport. Lodges here are priced in dollars and take cards; pula is for fuel, park gates, tips and the village shops. Activities on the pans — the quad bikes, the sleep-out, the meerkats — are usually sold by the lodge, so ask what the rate includes.

ATMs & cards

Do not count on a machine in Gweta or Nata. Draw pula in Maun, Kasane or Francistown before you drive in. Tips for guides are cash, in pula or dollars.

Non-SADC passports pay the $30 tourism levy on entry, by card. Fuel, park gates and tips are where the cash goes.

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

The pans are the risk people misjudge. In the dry season the crust looks solid everywhere and is not — vehicles break through into the mud beneath and are stuck for days. In the rains the pans flood and cannot be crossed at all. Drive only on established tracks, go with a guide or in convoy, and carry water, fuel and a way to call for help. The A3 has cattle, donkeys and elephants on it, and the UK FCDO says animals on Botswana’s roads are a particular risk at night: arrive before dark. Dry-season nights on the salt fall close to freezing. Malaria is present in the rains. The UK FCDO does not advise against travel to any part of Botswana.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Botswana visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Botswana

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present

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

Lodge catering, which is how you eat out here. Seswaa — beef pounded with salt and served with pap — is the national dish and turns up at lodge dinners and in Maun. Fill the cool box in Maun or Kasane if you are self-driving; the village shops along the A3 are small.

Getting around

• Hire car — a 4x4 from Maun or Kasane on the tarred A3 to Gweta or Nata; off the tar, the pans and the parks need four-wheel drive and experience
• Safari vehicle — the lodges’ own vehicles and guides take you onto the pans, to the meerkats and into the parks, which is how most visitors do it
• Quad bike — out across the salt in the dry season, with a guide, and only then
• On foot — with the lodge guides to the meerkats and the San walks; never alone on the pans
• Airport: Maun (MUB), 2h 30m by road east to Gweta

eSIM

A data eSIM for Botswana, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works hereWorks hereRevolut No local plan

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say 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

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.

Religion

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.

Do'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