All eyes on Botswana as number one safari destination in Africa

KASANE, Botswana, December 3, 2019/ – – Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa with a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, and often described as one of Africa’s most popular and exclusive safari destinations is making headlines once again after SafariBookings.com crowned it the best African country for safari travel, thanks to its tapestry containing a diverse wildlife.

The recent announcement by SafariBookings.com
has once again put Botswana in the spotlight, with reviewers describing it as a
magical country that combines awe-inspiring deserts with impossibly wet delta
system.

The crowning of Botswana as the ‘Best
Safari Destination in Africa’ follows an investigation conducted by the online
marketplace for African safari tours to find out the winner of the best African
safari country title. SafariBookings.com had examined more than 3 000 reviews
compiled by both safari-goers and African travel experts, after which Botswana
was declared the overall winner.

With its unique, wandering wetlands of the Okavango Delta, to the iconic sights and sounds of the desert in the Kalahari, including attractions such as some of the largest salt pans on the planet,

Botswana was an obvious favourite.   

The latest award has been well received
especially at the ongoing Botswana Travel and Tourism Expo (BTTE) in Kasane, which has brought a total of 280 tour agents and operators from 31 countries

from around the world.

First to wax lyrically about the award
was the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) Chief Executive Officer, Myra Sekgororoane who noted that the positive news are testament to the continuous

sustainable tourism efforts as espoused by Botswana.

“There’s sufficient people around the
world who find Botswana credible. We are genuine and we also have a big enough
following around the world that believes in us.

“At the heart of BTO is
our relationship with the people of Botswana and their communities. We strive
to continuously improve the country’s tourism landscape through quality
collaborations,” said Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), Myra Sekgororoane. 

Sekgororoane said the
manner in which Botswana manages the environment, its conservations policies, the manner in which we do our game drives, or any other activities around natural resources is very unique hence why many tourists keep coming back in

large numbers.

“Ours is a unique product. One thing that makes us distinctive is our rich cultural diversity, even in the wildlife renowned areas, the scenery and so forth, is amazing. From the vastness and utterly alluring Chobe River right behind me, to the Okavango Delta with its meandering water ways, the openness of the Kalahari, the biggest dried lake that is Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and the rugged Thuli Block terrains; the cosmopolitan mix in the urban centres, Goo Moremi Gorge with its mystical

beliefs; the culture and the heritage, makes Botswana one of the unique countries

one can ever visit or live in.”

Lastly, Sekgororoane urged Batswana to
become brand ambassadors in promoting the country and its tourism product.

The BTO) Board Chairman, Boitumelo Sekwababe said all these accolades from around the world truly make him and his colleagues at the BTO extremely proud and as such, “we need to let people know that we have a good product. We haven’t done enough as the BTO to make sure that people know what we do as well as what we have achieved.

We continue to add value to our tourism product and as such we need to start making noise about all these awards we garner globally.” 

Sekwababe noted that Botswana continues to champion conservation and sustainability efforts thanks to government legislations, adding that, “One of the things we preach at the BTO is to manage our activities in a sustainable way, and until we do that very

soon we may not have a product to sell. Our message is very clear, we need to

conserve all that we have in order for us to have a sustainable business going

forward.”            

For his part, journalist at the Patriot on Sunday
and President of the Botswana Media Allied Workers Union (BOMAWU), Philemon
Mmeso said the Botswana tourism product is not only organic but attractive also
to the international market hence why it is no surprise that Botswana keeps
ranking number one in Africa.

“Botswana’s tourism packages are very attractive. The country is also peaceful and safari tourism here is quite big and phenomenal. I’m very happy that we won as I think we truly deserved it. We have just toured some of the safari camps in the Okavango Delta and the Makgadikgadi area, I must say we truly deserve the award,” concluded Mmeso.     Another excited stakeholder is Gakenathata Masasa, Managing Director of Bush Travellers Safaris, who was buoyant that the recent announcement will bring in more tourists into the country, which will fill Botswana’s tourism coffers.

Zebra are just some of the may species you can see at Moremi Game Reserve.