Botswana and Namibia are packed with unforgettable sites, activities and places. During our 2 trips, it has been hard to pick our highlights, but between the 3 of us, we narrowed it down to our favorites. This is a great starting place for planning your trip, and be sure to include some of these on your adventure. We spent most of our nights camping during our self drive trip so its worth reading our guide to camping if these highlights fit into your itinerary.
4 Best places we stayed
Best campsite for game viewing- Third Bridge
It was hard to pick between Third Bridge, Khwai Safari grounds and Thobolo. Ultimately, Third Bridge came up top simply for the boat trip we went on and the game that wondered through our campsite. Elephants roamed around during the day, leopards and hippos at night. A 2 hour boat trip to the lagoon, we saw unimaginable amount of small game and Hippos everywhere!
Third Bridge Campsite
Elephants, Hippos and even a Leopard wondering through the campsite both day and night. The guided boat trip is not to be missed
Khwai Safari Grounds
At Khwai Safari Grounds the sites are lined along a river and very closed to the watering hole. Elephants were abundant at the watering hole. At night we heard plenty of Hippo sounds (apparently from “Solo” the resident hippo) and even a Lion call.
Thobolo Bush Lodge
The waterhole at Thobolo Bush Lodge was pretty amazing too but the best view was from the bar in the lodge. We did however see wild dogs here which definetly put it on the list of favorite game viewing places.
Best Accommodation for a relaxing experience – Zambezi Mubala Camp
Zambezi Mubala Campwas a refreshing change of pace. After roughing it in campsites, this tented accommodation, as part of the Gondwana Collection had a welcoming bar, a restaurant, other kids (!), a safe site for Andi (if you don’t count the hippos!) to run around in and even fishing for Will. We thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of drinking ciders in the sun while Andi made new friends.
Best Campsite for being active – Erongo Rocks
We loved Erongo Rocks, and wish we had more time and more energy while there. The campsite are well designed to integrate the rock formations. There are plenty of walking and climbing paths and rocks to scramble around on.
Best Luxury Accommodation – Mount Etjo Lodge
We have a smaller pool of luxury to pick from but Mount Etjo comes out of top.
Top qualities of the Lodge
- spacious rooms with comfortable beds and great bathrooms, and good internet
- afternoon sun by the pool
- on site watering hole to view hippos, and other wildlife close up
- a unique lion encounter experience
- a cosy dining room with a central fire for pre dinner drinks
- a good buffet of game meat, salad and desserts
- a good breakfast selection
Towards the end of our trip this was a stop we made specifically for the Lion experience. After so much game, we hadn’t seen any big cats. Although pretty pricey, we felt we out budget could flex to it considering what we had saved on previous nights. And the one thing our itinerary was missing was a true lodge experience.
Honorable Mention for best Luxury Accommodation is Camp Kipwe and the Heaven’s Gate at Vingerklip Lodge. Both of these we actually stayed here as a couple on a previous trip. Camp Kipwe has a relaxing feel with fantastic sun set plateau and really good food. The Eagles Nest at Vingerklip was unique. Only 1 cabin located on the top of a table mountain that you have to hike to.
4 best Activities
Boat cruise at Third Bridge Campsite
Prior to booking third bridge campsite we actually wanted to stay at one of the Wilderness sites advertised by the Xoame group. These are accessible from third bridge campsite. However when we inquired about it, it seems that the hourly rate of the boat would apply making a wilderness site incredibly expensive. However, once at third bridge, we realised we didn’t need to stay at a Wildnerness Site, third bridge was great!
The new boat station at Third Bridge meant we could take a 2 hour cruise with one of the local rangers. She was knowledgably about the fauna and flora, and great to chat to about her life in Botswana. We took a cruise along the waterways and into the 2 big lagoons, and through plenty of Hippo alleyways. We stretched our legs on one of the islands inhabited by hundreds of smaller game animals.
Sunset cruise in Kasane
Kasane is a town in the North East of Botswana near the Zimbabwe and Zambia border as well as the entry way to Chobe National Park. It a great place to stock up or get tires fixed (although don’t stock up to much if you are crossing borders from here). Its an even better place to take in the wonders of the Chobe River. All along the river are lodges and hotels, and there is a hoard of different tour companies offering trips to Vic falls and river cruises.
Our hotel organized a river tour for us, and by far it seemed the best. The river is actually quite crowded, especially in certain areas, for example when the elephants cross nightly from the mainland to an island. During that time, we viewed 18 boats in the vicinity watching the elephants. There were smaller boat dedicated to photogrpahy, with tripods set up all along the center of the boat. There was dinner and drinks cruises. And there was small boats. We were on a large double decker potoon boat with plenty of space to move around.
Cave exploration at Ghuab
This rated really high on my personal favorites, and Andi loved it! She lived up to her name “Danger”
It is worth noting that this is for adventurous kids only. Confined spaces, darkness, climbing scrambling, and no quick exit!
Full disclosure- this isn’t the safest activity. They do warn you that the air gets think and if you have asthma or breathing problems it is not a activity you should partake in. The fact is that there is no air exchange within the caves. That means for every person going in there adds to the carbon dioxide and depletes the oxygen a little. The caves have not been explored to the full extent and the last professional cavers that visited only went so far before they retreated and said they needed extra equipment and oxygen.
Now that the warnings, but if you think the kids are confident and capable, it is a thrilling experience.
Ghuab cave is located on private land and is part of Ghaub Nature Reserve and Farm. The 2.5km of passages is part of the third largest cave system in Namibia. The experience wasn’t the easiest to book. It seems it is only possible to do if you stay at either the campsites of rooms as part of the Farm and only booked on arrival. Even then there was a communication mix up with our booking. the farm itself is quiet. Only 3 other groups there and the grounds looking a little unused. Perhaps it slow season or past it prime, however it is a stop worth making. The campsite are well designed, and they even have hot water “donkeys” in the campsites.
The farm is also home to around 12 rhinos which are watched by a 24hour rhino patrol. You can join them on a tracking or can take Rhino drive. If your lucky, you may even see some wondering around the hiking paths.
Back to the caving. after a short drive with the guide, you will stop at a pretty inconspicuous spot. The guide has been guiding here for over 25 years and is fantastic with kids. He clearly know the cave system really well and had recently guided a group of kids of the local school.
After descending a spiral staircase the guide unlocks a iron gate and then the adventure really begins. You are equipped with helmets and headlamps, and the guide does take water but its worth taking a small backpack with camera and extra water.
Once inside the cave, it is incredibly hot and humid. The guide will disappear through a narrow crack and as you follow the first big cavern reveal itself. From there, there are various tunnels the guide will take you down, including into a small cave which is the guides special place. He take kids here and encourages them to make small statues out of the mud and shape their names in mud on the wall. These remain unchanged for decades. There are hundreds of small statues here and I hope one day, Andi can go back and see her name and her warthog.
There is also underground lake. I pictured a large cavern with a open body of water. In fact, it a descending tunnel which leads down to the water. It has been explored by cave divers, but apparently they didn’t get too far.
Rock scrambling and hiking at Erongo Rocks
Erongo Rocks features twice in this post. The fact that the campsites are situated within a the Erongo Mountains and boulders for scrambling, as well as well mapped hiking trails makes this worthy of being mentioned twice. We spent hours climbing the small hills around our campsite. Unfortunately we didn’t have the energy or time for a longer hike as we had initially planned but I would go back to experience more of this wonderful place.
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls doesn’t actually make the list of our best experiences but its worth talking about. Although once in a life time experience, the price of it was pretty steep. Possibly, we just had a really bad day too. It as unbearably cold. We were expecting the wet- afterall its a waterfall, but day itself was not the best weather.
We booked the trip from Botswana where a driver takes you across the Zambian border. The massive bonus in this means that your do not need to stress about documentation for your car, and the guide is there to help with the process if need be. It also meant we had a break from driving (it was about an hour drive each way) We calculated that the price would have been the same had we taken our own car over. The driver is a driver, rather then a guide. There was little communication and general friendliness- which is incredibly unusual in Botswana when dealing with people who works within the tourism industry.
Total cost for a 4 hour trip was approximately GBP400
Perhaps we didn’t make the most of it. At this point in our trip we were constantly cold due to the cold front coming through and the accommodations really not being set up for the low temperatures. Doing it again, we probably would have taken our own car. We would have also stopped somewhere for lunch. Actually, I might have preferred staying in Livingstone in Zambia for the night or even close to Vic Falls in Zimbabwe for a night.
