Most of Botswana is seen from a safari vehicle, and there is nothing wrong with that. But step out of it, even for a morning, and the bush changes completely. This is our honest guide to walking safaris: what they are really like, where to do them, and the true story of one walk none of us will forget.
In a vehicle you watch the bush. On foot you are in it. The pace drops to a slow wander, and the small things take over: tracks in the sand, chattering birds, the smell of wild sage, even the honest whiff of a carcass somewhere downwind. Your guide reads it all like a newspaper. People who are restless after hours of sitting in a vehicle often find that walking is the part of the trip that makes them feel most alive, and it is where Botswana's guiding, some of the best trained in Africa, really shows.
A few years ago one of the Tribes team was in the Linyanti on a walking safari with a hugely experienced guide. A slow morning walk of a few kilometres had already delivered a hyena den with three females asleep outside it, a careful detour around a herd of buffalo, raptors overhead and giraffe browsing the treeline. Then, out on a parched, open plain, she and the guide spotted a bull elephant at the same moment, a long way off but walking steadily towards the river, and towards them.
The guide made a quick decision. The instructions were short and absolutely clear: do exactly as I say when I say it, do not move, no photographs, and whatever happens, do not run. The only cover on the plain was a long-dead fallen tree, so behind it they stood, still and silent. The elephant knew precisely where they were. He walked up to the tree, laid his trunk over the bough and sniffed them, close enough to touch, while the guide made soft, gentle clicking sounds to let him know they were there. The bull kicked a little dust, then moved slowly and calmly away towards the water. She spent the rest of the day, by her own admission, unable to string a sentence together.
That is what walking gives you. Not danger, this was a relaxed elephant, an expert guide and a managed moment, but closeness of a kind no vehicle can offer, with the largest and most gentle land mammal in Africa. Botswana holds the largest elephant population on the continent, and meeting one on foot, on its terms, is something else entirely.
The same trip ended with two long-hoped-for honey badgers scurrying down the middle of the road at dusk, followed for a happy few minutes, and then a surprise: faint lights in the distance that turned out to be the entire camp crew, guides, kitchen staff, waiters and managers, waiting at a candle-lit bush dinner and singing as the vehicle rolled in. We tell you this partly because it is true, and partly because it is a fair picture of how Botswana camps look after people.
Walking is at its best in the private concessions, where camps are allowed to offer it properly: the Linyanti and Selinda in the far north, Khwai and the private Delta concessions, and out on the Makgadikgadi, where you can also walk with San guides and learn to read the desert. National parks are mostly for vehicles, which is one more reason we lean on concessions when we plan. Short interpretive walks are offered at many camps; dedicated walking camps go further, building whole days around it.
If you have done a safari before and want to go deeper, walking is the natural next step. If it is your first trip, a morning walk folded into a drive-based itinerary is the perfect taster. Tell us how wild you want it and we will build the right amount of walking into your trip, alongside the water, the drives and everything else. Our ways to safari page has the full picture.
Walking is only ever done with a professional, armed and highly trained walking guide, in areas they know intimately, and every walk starts with a clear safety briefing. Your job is simple: listen to your guide and do exactly as they say. Managed that way, walking safaris have an excellent safety record.
Reasonably, but this is not hiking. Walks are typically two to four hours at a gentle pace, with plenty of stopping to look, listen and learn, and they head out in the cooler early morning. If you can comfortably walk a few miles, you can do this.
Yes. Camps set their own minimums and for walking these are higher than for game drives, usually in the mid teens. Tell us who is travelling and we will confirm the exact rules for each camp on your route.
You will see differently. A vehicle covers more ground and gets closer to predators; on foot you notice tracks, birds, insects, plants and the way it all fits together, and any large animal you do meet is a moment you will never forget. The best trips combine both.
Tell us how wild you want it and we will build the right amount of walking into your Botswana trip.
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