Product Description

A safari in northern Botswana takes the traveller to a wilderness populated almost exclusively by wildlife. Here are the predators and their prey; here, too, are the elephants, the hippos and the astonishing birdlife of the Okavango Delta. This third edition of Bradt's "Botswana Safari Guide: Okavango, Kalahari, Chobe Desert" provides unrivalled coverage of the region's wildlife, environment and history, as well as a thorough evaluation of when, where and how to go. Accommodation options for all budgets - from lodges to camps and hotels - are fully revised and updated. 'If you can take only one book to Botswana, make sure it's this one' - "BBC Wildlife". Chris McIntyre is a director of a UK travel company specialising in southern Africa. He travels regularly throughout the region, including extended trips to Botswana.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12852 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
"There can be few people better qualified to write a travel guide on Botswana than Chris McIntyre...Like all good guide books, this is packed with all kinds of practical and wide-ranging advice - from driving near elephants to maps with GPS references and how to shake hands Botswana style....What's more, even the nuts-and-bolts sections are well-written and make enjoyable reading. In particular, the region-by-region chapters on the country's reserves, camps and lodges had me longing to jump on the first plane to Maun. Each area is painstakingly described - clearly the result of meticulous first-hand research...If you can take only one book to Botswana, make sure it's this one." --BBC Wildlife

"…gives a complete coverage of this unique ecosystem and its bird and plant life." --NHBS (Natural History Book Services

Customer Reviews

The most comprehensive guide on Northern Botswana to date!
I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time!! None of the other guides on the area even comes close. It is the most detailed guide I’ve read on the Okavango, Chobe, Makgadikgadi, and the northern Kalahari. In my view the information seems to be very up-to-date (which is not true for Bradts second edition on Namibia!). This book is suitable for people going on an organized safari (I envy them their $'s and the luxury that awaits them :-) ), and those planning an independent self-drive. The maps are good, and a number of useful GPS coordinates are included. The descriptions of off some of the beaten track sites that I have visited are very accurate. If you are a self-drive tourist you might want to look at Mike Mains: "African Adventurer's Guide to Botswana". It has many trails that are more detailed in the same region, but lacks the overview given in this guide describing the many concession areas surrounding the Okavango. The book also includes a very useful section on Livingstone in Zambia, telling you how to get the most out of your visit to the famed Victoria Falls. What do I miss? Talking to Elein Drotsky, she mentioned that here sisters company could arrange boat trips from Shakawe to Maun, water levels permitting. There is no mention of this or any other such service in the book, guess I'll have to do some digging on that one myself. All in all, your $’s, £’s, €’s or Rand’s will be well spent on this guide.

excellent, informative and up to date
To confirm what the other reviwer said, this guide is up to date, friendly and helpful. Has important information missing from the Lonely Planet guide, including excellent details on travelling between towns, road conditions, directions, GPS co-ordinates etc - all of which are missing from LP. Furthermore, of the telephone numbers I tried, these ones worked and LP's didn't.

In sum, this is a sizeable book with the level of detail you need.

Note that this guide only deals with Northern Botswana, ie there is nothing on Gabarone here.

Truly Essential
Bradt Travel Guides have done it again! Their latest entry in their increasingly wonderful catalogue, the Botswana Travel Guide, represents another great example of how a travel guide should be: detailed, informative and exhaustive. By using almost exclusively their Botswana guide I was able to plan my self-driving trip down to the last detail. Botswana is not an easy Country to explore on your own steam, but with the help of the Bradt travel guide I was able to reach even the most remote and inaccessible areas as the guide has easy to read maps and gives precise directions, even offering GPS coordinates. Anyone considering a trip to the northern part of this breathtaking country (in particular the Okavango Delta, the Chobe National Park, the Moremi Game Reserve, the Great Salt Pans, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Tsodilo Hills) look no further: the Bradt Travel Guide to Botswana is the only guidebook you need.