Vacationing in Botswana prior to hunt in Namibia

[MMAL]

I am heading to the Caprivi next August for a elephant,hippo, buffalo hunt but wanted to travel Botswana prior to the hunt. I am wondering if Botswana is going to give me any problems giving me a temp license when my letter/outfitter is Namibian?

Thinking of flying into Kasane and road transferring to caprivi.

As always I appreciate your help in advance.

 

[WAB]

It could be tricky. I’ve been in and out of Bots a few times with guns. I suspect that you are going to have a problem unless you get an invite letter from a Bots outfitter. You will almost certainly not be allowed to transit any of the parks with a firearm. My guess is that you will be in parks if you are in the Kasane area vacationing.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@MMAL , I did a photo safari in Chobe in 2015. This is a link to my report: https://www.africahunting.com/threads/botswana-chobe-photo-safari-august-2015.23742/

We stayed at the Chobe Game Lodge, which is the only lodge located inside the park. So if firearms are prohibited in the park, perhaps you can stay at a lodge outside the park. The only drawback to this is tour vehicles can't get into the park and must leave the park by certain times. You miss out on a little........but not much.

We always used a Cape Town based travel agent, Go2Africa.com, for organizing all our adventures during the six years we lived in Lagos. I will PM some contact info and if you want to, contact them and see what they can organize for you (ground transportation, permits, etc). Tell them what you want to do and see if they can make it happen.

When we left Chobe, we headed to Livingstone, Zambia. Go2Africa had a local tour company, "Wild Horizons," transport our group by tour truck to the banks of the Zambezi River. The queue of 18 wheeler trucks and cars was a couple miles long to get on the ferry. Instead, we bypassed the line and very long wait and transferred to a boat that zipped us across the river where another truck was waiting for us. The driver of the truck collected all our passports and went into the Immigration office and handled everything. We never got out of the truck and before long, cruised down the Zam highway to the Royal Livingstone Hotel and Victoria Falls.

BTW, the Kasane airport was building a new terminal in 2015 and it should be up and running.

 

[MMAL]

Thanks Wab. Gonna have to do a bunch more research.

 

[MMAL]

Thanks 375. Must have posted at the same time. That is really helpful.

 

[Tra3]

I’m looking at this same question. I’ll be going In June and want to possibly start our trip by going to Victoria falls.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I’m looking at this same question. I’ll be going In June and want to possibly start our trip by going to Victoria falls.

June is a good month to visit Vic Falls, as the "high season" for hotels starts July 1. The water level going over the falls is usually good in June too. Earlier in the year you have too much water and get soaked from the mist. Later part of the year and you can have little to no water going over the falls.

 

[WAB]

When I’ve done side trips I’ve left my guns in JoBurg or in the country I’m hunting in depending on logistics.

 

[Ridgewalker]

MMAL, I can’t wait to read your report! That would be a dream trip hunting the Caprivi! I’m buying lottery tickets so I can do the same sort of hunt!