Maun

As the main gateway to the Okavango Delta, Maun is Botswana’s primary tourism hub. With fairly good accommodation and a reliably mad mix of bush pilots, tourists, campers, volunteers and luxury-safari-addicts, it’s a decent-enough base for a day or two. That said, if your only business in Botswana involves staying in the lodges and tented camps of the delta, you may do little more than hang around the airport.

Luckily, on the corner just across the street from the airport gate there is an Indian restaurant with cold beers to drench the thirst (and get rid of the dust!) before you head out on safari. Free Wi-Fi pretty handy too before disappearing of the grid. Around 50m down the street there is a Standard Bank and an ATM to get Pula to tip the guides….

The town itself has little going for it as it’s strung out over kilometres with not much of a discernible centre, but some of the hotels and camps have riverside vantage points. Should you have time for a lunch Marc’s eatery is highly recommended and only a short taxi drive away.

Maun is also the last re-supply point for self-drivers into the Delta and offers all the necessities from a number of supermarkets such as Spar and Woolworths, all close to the airport. Great supply of purified water to fill those water tanks is Aqua-rite also in town.

Look out for the frankMOBIL and The Beast as Maun is their home town!