Border:
We had used Pandamatenga to enter Botswana, which is a very small border post and was quick and easy. We left south of Gaborone at Tlokweng, which was also a fast border crossing.
Visa
The lady at immigration gave us 3 month without fees. Couldn’t all countries be like that?
Toll, Insurance
nothing to pay in Botswana – we loved the country from the start
Money
No dollars any more, cards accepted everywhere and ATM’s give you Pulas.
Fuel
Diesel prices were much, much lower than in Zimbabwe (about half the price), it was a pleasure to fill up and pay with card.
Water
Botswana is a dry country, and in some areas the water from the boreholes is salty, so better plan in advance and fill where you can.
Roads
The main roads are good, the gravel roads not so much. At least we had some tough ones, with a lot of corrugation, sand and difficult dry river bed crossings. Some fun to be expected!
Navigation
We still use our Alpine navigation, which is not 100% reliable when it gets to smaller tracks. Therefore, we always checked on Tracks for Africa, which we have downloaded to one of our mobile phones.
Prices
coming from Zimbabwe, everything seemed reasonable. Compared to South Africa it is more expensive, but nothing to worry about.
Food
we enjoyed, that there was much more on offer in the supermarkets, especially in Gaborone, where we spent days waiting for our DHL delivery. We didn’t find special restaurants, but already a Magnum Almond from the filling station made us happy.
Internet
We first got a BTC card, which was a mistake, they have not good data coverage outside the bigger towns. Mascom was much better, and it worked well. We could buy Airtime everywhere and get a new bundle as needed, just that our airtime vanished if we didn’t use it immediately, no idea why.
Police
we had no checkpoint, beside of a Veterinary Control Gates, where we had to dip our shoes in disinfectant.
Camping
our best experience was at Kukonje Island in the Sua Salt Pan, where we wild camped all alone for 3 days. For the Kalahari, we had booked campsites via Big Foot (gale@bigfoottours.co.bw).
Even we hadn’t visited the most famous places in Botswana, we had discovered a part of the country we hadn’t known before and enjoyed it.