Lonely Planet Botswana & Namibia

The ancestors of the San, an ancient people who have direct links back to the Stone Age, left behind extraordinary records in the form of rock paintings throughout the region. The Tsodilo Hills, Botswanas only Unesco World Heritage Site, showcase the pictorial record of this prehistoric culture, as do extensive galleries of rock art in Namibia. Also in Namibia, opportunities to interact with local cultures in the north include meeting the Himba of the Kaokoveld (a Herero subgroup who were a part of the early Bantu migrations). Himba women are famous for smearing themselves with a fragrant mixture of ochre, butter and bush herbs, which dyes their skin a burnt-orange hue.

Adventure Activities

Namibia is Southern Africas headquarters for adrenaline-pumping fun. Fling yourself out of a plane and float back to earth, hurl yourself down a sand dune, surf the breakers on the Atlantic coast or head off into a desert sunset atop a camel. There are many ways to ensure that a visit to this region lives with you long after the desert sands recede into the distance. Swakopmund is where most of adventure activities happen, and it's worth spending a few days here if they have even the remotest appeal.

Nambia Desert, Namibia | Lonely Planet/Getty Images

By Anthony Ham, Writer

I long ago lost my heart in the waterways of the Okavango Delta, in the sands of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, upon the hot stones of Damaraland, atop a sand dune at Deadvlei and by a waterhole in Etosha Fabulous wildlife, soul-stirring landscapes, a true feeling of immersion in wild lands and wilderness Botswana and Namibia have all these in abundance, and the sense of beautiful, wild places animated by just about every species of charismatic African megafauna calls me back time and again.

Botswana's is an astonishing, beautiful, wild place. Home to wildlife spectacles of rare power and drama, the delta changes with the seasons as flood waters ebb and flow, creating islands, river channels and pathways for animals that move this way and that at the waters behest. Exclusive and remote lodges are an Okavango speciality but self-drivers can find outstanding campsites in the heart of Okavangos Moremi Game Reserve. No visit to the delta is complete without drifting through the waters in a traditional