Early 2020
How about a safari this year? Excellent idea, and even better if we did it in a 4×4 with a rooftop tent!

What at first seemed a rather crazy project took on a more concrete form after some research on the Internet. It wasn’t long before we came across the website of two Frenchmen who have been living in Botswana for a number of years and who organize self-drive safaris to (re)discover Southern Africa. Julie and Vincent are both very good at advising us and super professional, and after a few emails back and forth, our itinerary is fixed, campsites and lodges booked, and the plane booked! We’re off to Botswana with Tawana Self Drive this summer!

The rest of the story is unfortunately familiar to everyone: bad news, suspense, cancellation, disillusionment.

BUT once again, Julie and Vincent are super responsive. Within a few days, the whole trip was rescheduled for next year, and we’re determined to come and enjoy the incredible nature of Botswana in July 2021.

July 2021

En route
Here we are. After a year and a half of waiting, we’re finally taking off for Botswana and our long-awaited trip! Arriving in Gaborone, we receive a full briefing on the car and all its accessories, and off we go for 12 days of adventure!

Mokolodi
Julie and Vincent’s itinerary starts with a few days in the south of the country. We discovered the Mokolodi Game Reserve, just a few kilometers from Gaborone, which proved to be a fantastic introduction to the safari experience.

Goo-Moremi
We then head upstream to the Goo-Moremi Gorge, where a short stroll allows us to stretch our legs after the first few kilometers. We head upstream to marvel at a huge waterfall at the foot of a cliff, home to the region’s last vultures.

Tuli Block
On the third day, we head for the Tuli Block reserve, which will truly be one of our favorites of the trip! The covid, chilling many people from embarking on an adventure, meant that the places we visited were fairly deserted, making our experience truly unique. We highly recommend Serolo Safari Camp, with its charming welcome and top-notch service! The game drive along the Limpopo River to meet the elephants at sunset was a timeless experience! The surprise reserved at the end of the day by guide Gerry (special mention to him, by the way) will remain one of the most extraordinary memories of the trip. Apart from the fact that it involved hyenas, we won’t tell you more about it – you’ll have to go there to experience it :-)

Rhino Sanctuary
Our last day in the south takes us through the Rhino Sanctuary, a reserve created to house and protect the endangered black and white rhinoceros.

Khumaga
We then head north towards Makgadikgadi National Park and the Khumaga campsite. Here, we took advantage of the afternoon to go for a self-drive along the Boteti River, and the sight we saw was magnificent: hundreds and hundreds of zebras come to cool off at this time of year.

South Camp

The next day, we continue our route to South Camp, passing the Baines Baobab, which is well worth the detour to admire these magnificent trees on the edge of the Kudiakam Pan (a former lake transformed into a highly photogenic salt desert)!

Gweta
The next stage of our journey north takes us through Gweta. Here we have the opportunity to meet the meerkats at sunrise, and even if waking up at 5am is difficult, the sight of these little creatures combined with breakfast on the savannah is clearly worth the effort. The end of the morning is devoted to a quad bike ride in the Ntwetwe pan, where we enjoy the typical, unsuspected desert landscapes that are unique to Botswana!

Nata
We finish our visit to this part of the region with a stop at the Bird Sanctuary in Nata, where we enjoy a divine aperitif while the sunset offers us the most beautiful of spectacles. Unfortunately, we miss the pink flamingos, as they would have stayed at the waterholes still full from last year’s particularly heavy rainy season.

Senyati
The last part of our trip takes place in Senyati. Here, we meet an original and charming owner. The bunker where you can watch the elephants drinking at the waterhole is breathtaking and one of the highlights of our trip.

Chobe
Kasane is the final stage of our itinerary, where we take advantage of 3 days to criss-cross the Chobe National Park by self-drive. Clearly the icing on the cake! We were also lucky enough to take a boat safari, which allowed us to discover another facet of the park that was just as beautiful and surprising, and to take part in a game drive to catch a glimpse of the lionesses and lion cubs – finally! We looked for them throughout our stay, and almost missed the spectacular big cats ;)

It was also in Kasane that we met Julie and Vincent, the conductors of our 12 days on the roads and in the Botswana bush. It was a warm and enriching encounter with this atypical couple, passionate about this part of the world, and we hope to see them again soon.

Thank you

Thank you so much for making this wonderful trip possible. We greatly appreciated your availability and responsiveness. The quality of all the documents we shared (road book, information on the regions we visited, self-driver’s guide, e-mail exchanges, etc.) was extremely professional, and we have to admit that letting ourselves be guided (without necessarily being bound by a fixed timetable) by our road book, knowing that everything had already been planned, is a priceless luxury. We can only recommend that any self-driver wishing to discover Southern Africa turn to you to organize the trip of their dreams.

COVID? NOW IS THE TIME

For those of you who are hesitating to go on a self-drive safari in these covid times, doubt no more and go for it! This is THE time to go to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, because you have the countries and the safari experience all to yourself, something that will never happen again in a lifetime. Julie and Vincent are the people you need to make your adventure a reality!

Published on: 7 August 2021