Botswana Wildlife Guide

Species
Guide

The
Seasons

Wildlife
Behaviour

Wildlife
Tales

Botswana
FAQ

Botswana is considered one of Africa’s premier wildlife countries and is the first choice for many African wildlife safari connoisseurs. With a range of habitats Botswana offers varied safari experiences. From the wetlands of the Okavango Delta to the semi-arid Central Kalahari Game Reserve Botswana is an African Safari must.

Through many years of guiding safaris through Botswana I have observed animals and their behavior in detail, and having studied a number of guide books I have realized how little we know about the variances in animal behavior.

Animal behavior and what we know

There is a general standard to our knowledge of animal facts but when it comes to behavior guide books are too small to record all the variations from the different wilderness areas of Africa. Even in Botswana, with its numerous eco-systems, the behavior within the same species varies from area to area.

A prime example of this variation is in the prey preferences of lions in Botswana; there is pride that specializes in killing Buffalo, another that specializes in killing Hippo and even one specializing in killing Elephants. These three prides are all within 50 km of each other and some members of the prides may even have been part of one of the other prides at one time.

The question is how did this individual feeding behavior develop – especially considering that the prides are so close together? Botswana has numerous behavioral differences between species in the various regions and this Botswana wildlife guide will discuss some of these.

A guide from first-hand-experience

This is by no means a scientific journal – it is merely a record of my own thoughts and observations during my ten years of guiding in Botswana. Having spent a number of years travelling and guiding in other African countries I have added some observations from these countries to enhance the guide. The guide is also a record of the experiences of the Siyabona staff on their travels through Botswana.

The aim of this Botswana Wildlife Guide is not to provide a scientific paper on the wildlife of Botswana but to provide information on the fascinating world of Botswana’s ecology, and to allow the reader to experience a little of what we at Siyabona have experienced over the years.