Botswana is truly one of Africa’s last edens. They are the most peaceful democracy on the continent of Africa, and the vast majority of tourism is concentrated around the northern areas.
The entire Okavango Delta is a haven for low impact, high yield eco friendly tourism, and the region recently gained UNESCO world heritage status.
The Okavango Delta is a mixture of islands, waterways, lagoons and savanna, surrounded by a dry semi arid region, and in that way form a natural eden for the wildlife to find their source of sustenance in this veritable paradise for wildlife and birdlife.
To the north of the Delta is the Savute and Linyanti areas, which form the southern sections of the famous Chobe National Park. More arid, and open savanna, with large unspoilt regions, its a haven for large elephant herds and territorial predators like lion and leopard. Then in the far north of Chobe National Park is the Kasane, Chobe river region, which teems with thousands of elephants, using the Chobe river as their source of water. A lot busier than the south, one needs the right lodge to enjoy a private, less mass form of tourism. For those on a tight schedule, could even consider a visit here, as a short day trip away from Victoria Falls.
The most practical form of travel in this region is by small aircraft charters,, where you can fly between lodges and camps airstrips, otherwise unreachable by land and or boat at certain times of the year. The best airport hub in the Delta is the town of Maun, where you can arrive on a larger scheduled airline. Take smaller planes into the Okavango Delta, and beyond into Chobe, as well as into sections of the Makgadigadi Pans, a salt pan system set away from the Delta.
The Makgadigadi Pans is home to large grazing herds of Zebra at certain times of the year, as well as the second largest migration of wildlife outside of the annual Serengeti/ Masai Mara sightings.
Kosher in general in Botswana is a relatively simple system of Parev and Milchik. Kosher meat imports into the country are banned, due to a strong protection policy in place, to encourage consumption of local Botswana protein. In simple terms, with a few exceptions, you will most likely only be able to bring in a few beef items in your hand luggage, vacuum packed, and have it made on site at a lodge on an open fire.
Generally due to a non-existent Jewish population and great limitations on imports, its costly to bring Mashgichim or Kosher chefs into the Okavango Delta from South Africa, and so unless you are a group, treat Botswana as a fantastic safari destination for 3 -5 nights, but then prepare yourselves, if you are travelling as a couple, or small family, to eat Fish and Vegetarian, for these handful of days.
Is it worth the visit? If you are a wealthier 4 or 5 star client, and happy to see remote safari regions only accessible by plane, yes! Its a highly desirable experience with those who truly appreciate wilderness, peaceful locations and incredible expanses of protected reserves and national parks, with small, non mass tourism, high end safari lodges, designed to blend into the environment.
