Travel writer Kate McCullock of Adventurous Kate just ticked off a milestone most of us can only dream about: country number 100, and she chose Botswana to do it. The trip stretched across 34 days in Africa, taking in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and it doubles as a pretty solid template for anyone plotting a big southern Africa adventure.
The route is the star. She started with a week in Cape Town — her fourth visit — finally getting to Robben Island, riding the Franschhoek wine tram, eating at La Colombe, watching penguins at Boulders Beach, and even sleeping in an Airstream on the roof of the Grand Daddy Hotel. From there, a small-group tour with Rock My Adventure moved through Botswana's Okavango Delta, where upscale tents came with ensuite bathrooms and lion sightings included a pride with five cubs, plus a cheetah and a rare aardwolf.
The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans delivered a night under what she calls more stars than she'd ever seen, with quad biking, meerkats and a pink sunrise. Chobe National Park closed out Botswana with elephant herds, a leopard and a boat cruise. Then came Victoria Falls from both sides: Devil's Pool on the Zambian edge — she notes it's run tightly and nobody has gone over the falls — rhino walks at Mosi-oa-Tunya, afternoon tea at the Royal Livingstone, a jetboat ride up the Zambezi gorge, and a standout township dinner at Dusty Road in Zimbabwe.
The trip continued with her mother in tow for the final stretch, including Hwange National Park, where sparse game came with a payoff: four consecutive days of sightings of a cheetah mother and her three cubs, including a failed hunting lesson on a young Cape buffalo. Back in Livingstone, the Elephant Cafe — feed rescue elephants, then eat an excellent riverside meal — was her best meal of the whole region.
Not everything went smoothly, and the mishaps are genuinely useful reading. Three flights were nearly missed, starting with a Johannesburg driver who ignored both Uber and Google Maps on the way to OR Tambo — her advice is to arrive a full three hours early. A medical stop in Dubai after a beverage-cart knee injury nearly caused a second miss, thanks to a long wait for wheelchair assistance. And camping in Chobe came with a blunt safety rule: no leaving the tent after dark because of hyenas, which meant holding it until sunrise. Her tip: pack a portable urinal if you're camping anywhere with predators.
She's also honest about burnout, having spent more than half the summer away across five trips, and suggests pacing big trips so they don't pile up. For anyone planning their own southern Africa loop, the takeaway is clear: combine a city break in Cape Town with a Botswana safari and Victoria Falls from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides, and build in buffer time for transfers. Slow down between the highlights — the best moments, like meerkats at dawn or a leopard on the Chobe riverbank, can't be rushed.
First published by Adventurous Kate.
