Your Botswana holiday beckons from Maun town, dusty and old-fashioned, run down yet modernised. African yet cosmopolitan, Maun is the crazy centre of varied accommodation choices and packages into the wilderness – the everything safari, wildlife and bushveld hub. Maun is the crazy launching pad for once in a lifetime package to unheard of safari camps deep inside the Okavango Delta. Maun is indeed the gateway to the Delta, Botswana’s jewel for tourists and for conservation biodiversity.
The Okavango Delta beckons from Maun, remote, wild and wonderful. Get there easily in a 4×4 or a plane or a helicopter. Set up and stock up in Maun town, the springboard for the most sought-after Botswana safari holidays. It’s always worth a visit just for the experience, and because it is an essential stopover point for dusty travellers to refuel bodies and minds after international flights. Who then adventure forth on wildlife safaris into the largest inland delta in Africa.
Many adventurers like to travel independently in tough 4×4 vehicles to Africa’s great Moremi Game Reserve and beyond. Others like to live in the lap of luxury and fly into the most lavish delta camps with a charter or helicopter flight as part of their special deals.
There is no shortage of characterful accommodation to suit all of these needs in this eccentric Botswana centre of tourism and small planes – hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, self-catering units, fancy lodges and campsites galore. Cute bars and cafes offer wholesome foods and meals for hungry visitors who love to take pictures of all they see in Maun.
Maun is a town that belongs to all the donkeys and goats – the town has changed so much since its days as a cattle ranching and hunting colonial frontier town to a cosmopolitan tourism depot now where rural people’s livestock roam.
A typical one-horse town, Maun was a place where locals congregated to share stories over a drink. Now it is the headquarters for safari outfits running camps in the delta and air-charter companies flying in and out all day. This is in fact the busiest airport in the country with daily flights to and from many international African cities! Global travellers meet here, the “tourism capital” of Botswana, before embarking on unforgettable wildlife safaris into the splendid Okavango Delta, magical Moremi Game Reserve and the rest of the country.
Maun in the local dialect comes from the word Maung meaning ‘Place of River Reeds’, named after the reeds growing in the nearby Thamalakane River. Once the bastion of the Batawana people in 1915. Now, one of the oldest hotels still in operation is Riley’s Hotel, built in 1910 by Harry Riley as a vital resting and drinking base for big game hunters. Another icon, the Thamalakane River Lodge, offers fresh facilities for business and leisure travellers and is a refreshing 19kms from Maun on the way to the exquisite and renowned Moremi Game Reserve.
Intrepid travellers depart from Maun in small Cessna 206’s and Caravans. These lightweight, nimble aircraft are the workhorses of the skies as they transfer literally tens of thousands of people to the various camps around the country every year. Flying low and carrying between 3 to 12 people, they offer fantastic opportunities to see the stunning countryside below. View the delta, rivers, grassland and even wildlife from the sky. Part of the fun, you’ll also marvel at how they manage to land on seemingly tiny dirt runways in the middle of nowhere. We do wonder however what the fish eagles, owls, cranes and flamingos think of these big metal birds?!
Pack up the entire family for a safari holiday to Botswana that they will never forget. Intrepid journeys into Africa from this dusty frontier Maun town introduce your kids to the biggest classroom in the world, nature! Game viewing on water in the Okavango Delta from a canoe fashioned from a tree trunk, paddling up a lily-clad lagoon, watching gracious birds fly high through binoculars and seeing an elephant swimming! The best part of a wild Moremi Game Reserve safari vacation is the camping under the stars that your family will talk about for years down the line!
We love seeing children have a ball in the true wilderness of Botswana, our top African safari destination of all time. So, check out the budget family guest houses, traditional hotels and rugged campsites in Maun where children can relax and swim before their trip to the swamps – book your special family package today.
Plan a Botswana mobile tour and safari with Voyage2Africa, the African travel experts, and enjoy signature experiences to the premier wildlife destination south of the equator. We bring you thrilling adventures in Chobe, the Okavango Delta and Moremi, the Kalahari, Mgadigadi Pans, Savuti-Linyanti Channel. Many of these journeys start and end in Maun. We offer you the best of the best safari accommodation in Botswana, in lavish lodges, family resorts, modern hotels, eco villas and rustic wild campsites in nature. Get lost in the awesome world of Maun when you book your special deal with us today.
