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Walking in Botswana: Where It Is Allowed

In Botswana, where you can walk depends less on the park than on who controls the land: the national parks say no, and the private concessions and the Tuli say yes.

By the WalkingSafaris.com editors · October 2026 · 5 min read · Editorial standards

A guide and three walkers look up into a large tree in open woodland in BotswanaPhoto: Wild Expeditions

Walking parks in Botswana

Select a park on the map.

Walking-led camps (larger dot, more camps)Walks offered onlyDrag to move · + and − to zoomRelief: NASA Earth Observatory · Rivers: Natural Earth

The rule: concessions yes, parks no

Most first-time visitors to Botswana head for the Okavango Delta, Moremi and Chobe. If walking matters to you, that is the first thing to understand: in Moremi Game Reserve, "night drives and walking safaris are not permitted within the reserve" [1][2]. Specialist sources describe the same restriction across Botswana's national parks in general [2][3]. We could not find a published Department of Wildlife and National Parks regulation that addresses Chobe specifically, so treat it as no-walking unless a camp tells you otherwise.

Outside the protected areas, much of northern Botswana is divided into large private concessions, leased to safari operators. These are large wilderness areas, often next to Moremi or Chobe, with the same wildlife. Activities here are not bound by the national-park rules, and many concessions offer guided walks and night drives [2]. Expert Africa names the Khwai River Reserve, Khwai Private Reserve and Mababe concessions, all bordering Moremi, as areas where guided walks take place [2]. One Moremi camp arranges its walks in an adjacent concession "where armed guides are permitted" [2].

The practical takeaway: if you want to walk in Botswana, book a camp in a private concession or in the Tuli, not a lodge inside Moremi or Chobe.

Aerial view of Okavango grassland and tree islands, with a game-drive vehicle on a trackPhoto: Wild Expeditions
The Okavango Delta from the air. Walking here is allowed only in the private concessions.

Who leads your walk

Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks issues professional guide licenses each year, after a theory and a practical exam [11]. Dedicated walking camps go further, with specialist walking guides who carry a rifle [5]. At camps where walking is a secondary activity, ask who leads the walks and whether the guide is armed and specifically trained for walking.

Okavango and Linyanti: walking in the concessions

Footsteps (Ker & Downey), Shinde concession, northern Okavango. The clearest Walking Camp in Botswana. Walks are led by armed, specially trained walking guides, with a maximum of six guests [5][12]. Walks run three to four hours when the grass is low and shorter when it is high, and the group shapes the length [5][12]. Standard walks take guests from 12; more demanding routes are for 16 and up [12]. Drives, night drives and mokoro trips are also offered. Open March to November [5].

Selinda Explorers Camp (Great Plains), Selinda Reserve. A candidate Walking Camp: the operator describes "daily walks" in a private reserve of about 1,350 km² (some 330,000 acres), with day and night drives and seasonal canoeing [6]. The best walking months are late May to October [13]. We have not yet confirmed its walking schedule in detail.

The Selinda Adventure Trail, a multi-day canoe-and-walk trail in the same area, has been discontinued [14].

Walks Offered elsewhere. Many other Delta and Linyanti camps offer walks as an alternative to a drive. Walks there are typically described as leisurely, one to two hours, and camps "reserve the right to stop walking activities" when conditions are not suitable [9]. At some, a walk can replace a drive "depending on the season and if conditions allow" [10]. These are a good way to try walking within a drive-based trip, but they are a different experience from a full morning on foot.

Northern Tuli: Botswana's walking trails

The Northern Tuli Game Reserve, in Botswana's far east, is about 71,000 hectares of privately owned land between the Shashe, Motloutse and Limpopo rivers, which form its borders with Zimbabwe and South Africa [4]. It is unfenced, and it is where Botswana's multi-day walking trails are found [15]. Both are Walking Expeditions: walking is the whole trip, and you sleep in simple camps along the way.

  • WalkMashatu, Mashatu Game Reserve. A three-night, four-day walking trail with fly-camp overnights, for up to six guests, with a lead guide and a back-up guide. It runs March to October and can be booked from any Mashatu lodge [7]. Shorter options, a full day or a single night, are also offered. Walkers must be 12 or over, and under-18s walk with a parent [7].
  • Northern Tuli walking trail (Safari Frank). Usually four nights, for two to eight walkers aged 16 and up, led by two professional rangers. Days cover 8 to 20 km, and nights are spent in rustic permanent camps or a trail camp. Recommended March to October [8]. A backpacking variant, where walkers carry their own gear, is not covered here.

Lodges elsewhere in the Tuli also offer guided morning or afternoon walks as part of a drive-based stay [16].

A separate kind of walk: the Kalahari

In the Makgadikgadi and Kalahari, some camps offer walks with San guides that focus on bushcraft, plants and traditional knowledge [17]. They are worthwhile, but they take place largely on open pans rather than among dangerous game, so we treat them as a separate, cultural category.

When to go

The walking season in the concessions runs through the dry months, when the grass is low and visibility good; Footsteps notes that walks shorten when the grass is high [5]. In the Tuli, trails run March to October, and walking is discouraged from November to February [7][18].

How Botswana compares

Botswana has relatively few dedicated walking products, and most are in places where most visitors do not go. If you want to walk every day, choose Footsteps or a Tuli trail and build the rest of the trip around it. If you want a mainly drive-based Delta safari with a walk or two, pick concession camps rather than lodges inside Moremi or Chobe. For a trip where walking is the main event, Zambia and Zimbabwe offer far more choice.

Related reading: Where Walking Really Matters: Walking Share by Park · Mobile, Camp-Based or Trail: The Three Kinds of Walking Safari · Are Walking Safaris Safe?

Sources

  1. Natural World Safaris, Botswana parks — https://naturalworldsafaris.com/Africa/botswana/safaris-and-planning/parks
  2. Expert Africa, Moremi Game Reserve — https://www.expertafrica.com/area/Moremi_Game_Reserve.htm
  3. Travel Weekly, Africa parks v conservancies: select your safari — https://travelweekly.co.uk/destinations/africa-parks-v-conservancies-select-your-safari
  4. Botswana Tourism, Northern Tuli Game Reserve — https://botswanatourism.co.bw/explore/northern-tuli-game-reserve
  5. Expert Africa, Shinde Footsteps — https://www.expertafrica.com/botswana/okavango-delta-safari-reserves/shinde-footsteps
  6. Great Plains Conservation, Walking safaris in Africa — https://greatplainsconservation.com/walking-safaris-in-africa/
  7. Safari.com, Mashatu Lodge — https://www.safari.com/mashatu-lodge
  8. Safari Frank, Walking Northern Tuli — https://safarifrank.com/adventures/walking-northen-tuli/
  9. Scott Dunn, Walking safaris in Botswana — https://www.scottdunn.com/us/botswana/things-to-do/walking-safaris
  10. Audley Travel, Lebala Camp — https://www.audleytravel.com/us/botswana/accommodation/lebala-camp
  11. Government of Botswana, License for professional guides — https://gov.bw/natural-resources-and-environment/license-professional-guides
  12. Yellow Zebra Safaris, Footsteps Camp — https://yellowzebrasafaris.com/us/botswana/accommodation/footsteps-camp/
  13. Expert Africa, Selinda Explorers Camp — https://www.expertafrica.com/botswana/kwando-linyanti-area/selinda-explorers-camp/in-detail
  14. Timbuktu, Selinda Adventure Trail — https://timbuktutravel.com/lodge/selinda-adventure-trail
  15. Wild Wings Safaris, Northern Tuli Game Reserve — https://wild-wings-safaris.com/africa-travel-guide/northern-tuli-game-reserve
  16. Sun Safaris, Tuli Wilderness Camp — https://sunsafaris.com/safari/botswana/tuli-block/tuli-wilderness-camp.html
  17. Scott Dunn, San Camp — https://www.scottdunn.com/us/luxury-holidays/africa/southern-africa/botswana/makgadikgadi-and-the-kalahari/san-camp
  18. African Pride, Mashatu walking safari — https://www.african-pride.co.uk/botswana/info/botswana-experiences-mashatu-walking-safari

Spotted an error? Tell us. How we classify camps: our methodology.