Where to Stay in Botswana

Botswana cleaves into two distinct accommodation worlds. In the north, safari lodges and tented camps stand on private concessions amid raw wilderness. Down the southeast corridor that links Gaborone to South Africa, business hotels and roadside guesthouses serve truckers and government travelers. The Okavango Delta, Chobe River front and Moremi Game Reserve rule the luxury market with canvas-walled suites hung above hippo channels and lion territories. Inside wildlife concessions, prices leap: a basic tented room costs more than Gaborone's best hotel suite. Gaborone and Francistown deliver mid-range business hotels, student hostels and casino resorts that feel closer to Pretoria than the Delta. Maun, the safari gateway, hosts backpacker camps where overland trucks idle under camel-thorn trees and jet-fuel from charter planes mingles with wood smoke. The Tuli Block and Central Kalahari add remote lodges where solar panels hum beneath star-drilled skies and the night carries only jackals and crackling campfires. Botswana is safer than most Southern African countries. Yet accommodation prices mirror the government's high-value, low-volume tourism policy. Expect mid-range European prices for basic bush camps and luxury Asian resort rates for premier Delta lodges. Budget travelers live on supermarket food and campsites. Everyone else books fully inclusive packages because once you leave town there is nowhere to eat or shop.