The Travel Info Blogger's 2-Week Northern Botswana & Namibia

This route adapts The Travel Info Blogger’s two-week self-drive through northern Botswana and north-eastern Namibia. The Okavango leads into the woodlands and floodplains of the Zambezi Region before the road loops back through Chobe and Nata.

Highlights include:

• Taking a community-guided overnight mokoro trip from the Boro River near Maun
• Following the Rhino Trail through the rock art at Tsodilo Hills
• Crossing the Okavango Panhandle on the road to Mohembo
• Stopping at Popa Falls and exploring the Mahango Core Area
• Driving through Bwabwata National Park toward Kongola
• Watching the Kwando River from Horseshoe Bend
• Walking across the pedestrian deck on Kazungula Bridge
• Seeing the Chobe Riverfront from the water on a sunset cruise
• Visiting Nata Bird Sanctuary after good rains

multi-country road trip from Johannesburg to Johannesburg (3319 km, about 49 hours driving). Plan this trip with Sideroads Africa.

Stops along the way

Day 1

• Johannesburg
• Martin's Drift / Groblersbrug Border Post: Limpopo River crossing from Groblersbrug (SA) into Martin's Drift (Botswana) — the sedan-friendly Joburg-to-Nata border.
• Palapye

Day 2

• Mopipi
• Lake Xau: Southernmost arm of the Makgadikgadi — a roadside pull-off near Mopipi when the pan holds water.
• Maun

Day 3

• Okavango Kopano Mokoro Boro boat station: Community mokoro launch on the Boro River — overnight poling into the Okavango Delta with local guides.

Day 4

• Sepopa

Day 5

• Tsodilo Hills: UNESCO rock-art hills west of the A35 — the Rhino Trail on Female Hill and one of the world’s densest painted-rock concentrations.

Day 6

• Okavango River Bridge: Cable-stayed Mohembo Bridge with elephant-tusk pylons — walk the floodplain pull-off before the Namibia border.
• Mohembo Border Post: Botswana–Namibia crossing at the top of the Okavango Panhandle — the A35 becomes the C48 into Bwabwata.
• Divundu
• Popa Falls: Wide Kavango rapids at Divundu — hippos, riverine woodland, and the gateway camp for Mahango and Bwabwata.

Day 7

• Mahango Core Area: Riverine core of Bwabwata on the Kavango — the most reliable self-drive game viewing in the Zambezi Region.

Day 8

• Bwabwata National Park: Caprivi/Zambezi woodland and floodplain park on the Trans-Caprivi — Mahango, buffalo, and the Kavango river.
• Kongola
• Horseshoe Bend: Perennial Kwando oxbow in Bwabwata’s Kwando Core — elephants at the water and a classic sundowner viewpoint.

Day 9

• Katima Mulilo

Day 10

• Ngoma

Day 11

• Ngoma Border Post: Chobe River crossing from Namibia’s Zambezi Region into Botswana — the B8 becomes the A33 toward Kasane.
• Kasane
• Kazungula Bridge: 2021 Botswana–Zambia bridge over the Zambezi — walk the pedestrian deck for the almost-quadripoint of four countries.

Day 12

• Chobe Riverfront: Riverine game drives along the Chobe opposite Sedudu Island — elephants, buffalo, and the Kasane stretch of Chobe National Park.

Day 13

• Chobe River sunset cruise: Sunset boat from Kasane into Chobe National Park — elephants drinking, hippos, and the riverfront from the water.

Day 14

• Nata
• Nata Bird Sanctuary: Community flamingo sanctuary on Sua Pan — sunset game drives from Nata Lodge after good rains.

Day 15

• Lephalale

Northern Botswana and north-eastern Namibia self-drive itinerary 2 weeks

multi-country road trips · Guides · Sideroads Africa planner