Botswana

Botswana family safari

Botswana is the quintessential safari destination, a land of untamed beauty and boundless wildlife in the heart of southern Africa. On a Botswana family holiday you will experience pristine wilderness and exhilarating wildlife encounters, with huge herds of elephants and abundant predators. At night, sit out around the campfire at a wonderful range of accommodation, from exclusive safari camps to private mobile camps in the heart of the bush.

This is a place where you will watch hippos grunting as the morning mist rises over the Okavango Delta. You’ll see baboons screeching and leaping from branch to branch and lions stretching and padding quietly off in the dawn sunlight. You will float down a waterway in a traditional mokoro canoe, embark on a guided bush walk at sunrise and take a thrilling game drive at sunset.

Two teenagers on a Botswana family safari

Get close to Botswana’s resident wildlife

In one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, the only crowds will be the wildebeest congregating around a waterhole or a herd of elephants slowly plodding across the Kalahari. And the landscape, from the tranquil waterways of the Okavango Delta to the vast expanses of the Makgadikgadi Pans, is constantly changing and always beautiful.

Family safari, Okavango Delta mokoro trip

Experience the pristine Okavango Delta by mokoro

Why take the kids to Botswana?

A Botswana family holiday offers the chance to witness an astounding array of wildlife ranging across remarkably diverse ecosystems. Some of our favourite activities on a Botswana family holiday include:

Getting an eyeful of huge herds of elephants
Taking in Okavango’s blissfully peaceful waterways from a dug-out canoe
Discovering Africa’s iconic wildlife on a wilderness game drive
Soaking up the sounds of the bush around a campfire under the vast African sky
Taking a mobile camping trip through the game-rich Moremi Game Reserve
Learning to shoot a bow and arrow with San Bushmen
Having water-based fun at Victoria Falls – rafting, canoeing, zip-lining and much more
Adding a stopover in Cape Town or relaxing on an Indian Ocean beach

It’s this variety of activities, combined with the remote and breath-taking landscapes that make a Botswana family safari such a success. From playful meerkats to majestic elephants, adventure and wildlife is around every corner. The children will revel in tracking and spotting anything from the Big Five to the humble dung beetle and everything in between.

Moremi Game Reserve

Adding Victoria Falls to your Botswana family holiday

Most of our Botswana family safaris will either start or end with time in Victoria Falls, one of Africa’s most incredible spectacles. Known as ‘The Smoke that Thunders’, this is pure and un-tamed nature in all its glory. There’s a whole wealth of exciting activities to keep even the most adventure-loving teens entertained. These include bungee-jumping, gorge high-wiring, zip-lining, canopy tours and micro-lighting.

Victoria Falls also serves as a great option for relaxation at the end (or beginning) of your holiday, in lieu of beach time. Choose from a lush riverside lodge overlooking the Zambezi to a boutique b and b in the heart of town. We can advise on the best choice for your family.

Combining Botswana with South Africa or the beach

Cape Town is one of Africa’s great cities, sitting at the tip of the continent. As most flights from Europe to Botswana will go via South Africa, it works well to combine your Botswana family holiday with a few days in Cape Town. Here you can enjoy the culture, colour and lively restaurant scene of Cape Town and climb Table Mountain. Perhaps visit Robben Island and the penguins of Boulder beach, before heading to Botswana for your safari.

The spectacular ‘Panorama Route’ north of Johannesburg is also worth visiting (with its family-friendly activities and extraordinary scenery), and works well with UK flight routes.

If you would like to add some beach time after your safari, head to Mauritius, Mozambique or the Seychelles. You will need to spend a night in Johannesburg en route, but can then finish off your holiday on a sun-drenched Indian ocean beach.

Family at Victoria Falls on Botswana family safari

Include the Victoria Falls with a Botswana family safari

Family holiday itineraries to Botswana

All of our Botswana family holidays are bespoke meaning that they are tailor-made specifically for your family, taking into account the ages of your children, your interests and your budget. However, to give you an idea of what you could do on a family holiday in Botswana, have a look at our sample itineraries, Botswana Highlights & Vic Falls (8 days) and Botswana Highlights & Vic Falls (11 days).

If you’d like to read more about some of the places you’d like to see on a Botswana family safari, see Places to Visit in Botswana. And to find out what the weather will be like when you want to travel, visit When to Go.

Ring us when you are ready to start planning and we’ll be delighted to advise you on the best safari in Botswana for your family.

Will all children enjoy a Botswana family safari?

For expert advice on family-friendly safaris in Botswana, and to compare with other safari destinations, check out our family safari holidays section.