A Wild Neighbourhood

Most airports are surrounded by industrial area, but not so in northern Botswana

- Bruce Dennill

It’s not often that you can get to or from a major African game reserve from an international airport in just six minutes (driving at exactly the speed limit). It makes a huge difference when travelling – you can either arrive and dive straight into a new adventure or leave your planning until the last moment and still have an incredible experience – literally on your way from your hotel to getting on a plane to fly home.

The Sedudu Ngoma Gate of Botswana’s Chobe National Park is less than 5km from the parking lot at Kasane International Airport, where you can climb onto (or off of) a game-viewing vehicle. That’s a good idea, too, as the roads in the park are difficult to drive on, with stretches of deep, soft sand that require skill to drive through – as testified to by the enormous 4x4 truck (brand withheld to avoid embarrassment) abandoned axle-deep in the middle of the road that our driver carefully negotiates his way around.