Botswana in the wet season

[Hockeymachine]

I’m Canadian and I just joined this forum as I’m planning a trip your area. My wife and are planning 3 to 4 weeks in Botswana, north west Zimbabwe and southern Zambia in January/ February. We are 67 years old and want to see wildlife, birds and scenery. The debate is to stay in midrange accommodation with all inclusive safari or self drive 4x4 Toyota with all the camping gear. Our preference is the self drive camping option or combination of both.

I have done some 4x4 driving but nothing hard core and mostly on rock climbing mountains. I do not have experience in sand, mud and clay and being the wet season I’m sure there will be lots.

Can anyone advise me on parks that I could access with my skill level? I understand Nxai Pan is one of the best parks for wildlife in the wet season so advice on that particular park would be helpful. We are very flexible on our length of trip and where we will go so open to any and all ideas.

If the consensus is to do an organized trip then any recommendations on good reasonably priced companies would be great.

cheers

Gary and Pam

[Fluffy]

It is all in your budget.

[Tony Weaver]

Check first if the areas you want to visit are open and accessible. Big parts of Zambia are closed in the wet, as is Mana Pools. Botswana options also narrow somewhat. The heat in January can be next level.

[Tweni1]

Hi Gary and Pam

Your plans sound awesome! The best advice I can give is to do the self drive and camping option, but do not do it alone. You probably will get stuck a few times and need to be in a convoy with the right recovery gear etc. That's kind of "the cost of doing business" in the general scene. If you're going to do that then definitely get on with booking camp sites. I can recommend Botswana Footprints for this - they can do all of the bookings for a small fee. The wet season definitely has its challenges, but also has its rewards. Take anti-malaria tablets (malarone is one). If you can't convoy then I personally would not be comfortable going anywhere worth going... and then the organised trip is your best option.

In terms of parks to visit, it kind of depends on how wet the wet season is. This last wet season pretty much did not happen in Botswana and you could have gone places that in normal weather would have been really challenging. Nata bird sanctuary could be good - they're almost finished building a new camp there that is well away from the main road.

[Wazungu Wawili]

I’m Canadian and I just joined this forum as I’m planning a trip your area. My wife and are planning 3 to 4 weeks in Botswana, north west Zimbabwe and southern Zambia in January/ February. We are 67 years old and want to see wildlife, birds and scenery. The debate is to stay in midrange accommodation with all inclusive safari or self drive 4x4 Toyota with all the camping gear. Our preference is the self drive camping option or combination of both.

I have done some 4x4 driving but nothing hard core and mostly on rock climbing mountains. I do not have experience in sand, mud and clay and being the wet season I’m sure there will be lots.

Can anyone advise me on parks that I could access with my skill level? I understand Nxai Pan is one of the best parks for wildlife in the wet season so advice on that particular park would be helpful. We are very flexible on our length of trip and where we will go so open to any and all ideas.

If the consensus is to do an organized trip then any recommendations on good reasonably priced companies would be great.

cheers

Gary and Pam

I never comment south of the Zambezi, but I see you want to visit Zambia too. Much of Zambia is inaccessible during the rains from November to May. Why don’t you visit East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) in January/February which is the dry season?

[Kalahari Safari]

Just to comment on the Botswana part of your plans.

Do the 4x4 camping option but insist that your vehicle has a awning mounted to cater for the occasional downpour.
As far as the accessibility of the parks is concerned you can basically use all of them but there might be muddy sections which, normally, have detours to avoid the worst.

The Chobe - Savuti area is mainly sand tracks and much easier to navigate when wet(ish).

Nxai Pan access is a deep sand track from the Gweta to Maun road and should be easy, not so inside the park where there is plenty of black cotton soil and pans which could become a quagmire when flooded.

You can easily also access Khumaga on the Boteti from Phuduhudu, as it is sand tracks all the way.
Check the regional weather forecasts once you are starting off and adjust accordingly.

Note:
That time of the year you don't necessarily need advance bookings, so you can take chances for short term adjustments of the
routing.

ZIM:
NW Zimbabwe would mean the Hwange NP area, here the wet can force you to detour.

ZAM:
Mostly not open during rain season, except Kafue NP around Hook Bridge and down to Itezhi Tezhi whereas the last 60 kms of access road is really bad in the wet.

[alannymarce]

The heat in January can be next level.

Good point; I've seen 53 deg C in Botswana at this time of year.