Botswana Travel Essentials: Money, Driving, Malaria

Most people see Botswana in one of two ways. Either a light aircraft drops you at a camp where everything is paid for in advance, or you collect a 4x4 in Maun or Kasane and look after yourself. The basics below matter far more for the second group, but the money, malaria and tipping sections apply to both. Everything here was last checked on 12 October 2026.

Pula, dollars or rand?

The currency is the pula, written P (code BWP), split into 100 thebe. Notes come in P10, P20, P50, P100 and P200. The Bank of Botswana’s rates on 12 October 2026 put one pula at US$0.0747, €0.0666, £0.0563 and R1.23. Turned around, that is about P13.40 to the dollar, P15 to the euro, P17.75 to the pound and 81 thebe to the rand.

Botswana is not part of the rand area. It left in 1976 and launched its own currency on 23 August that year, so unlike Namibia you cannot count on spending rand in a shop. Since 1980 the pula has been set against a basket made up of the rand and the IMF’s SDR, not tied to the rand one to one.

Camps are a different world. Expert Africa, which books a lot of them, says most take Visa and Mastercard and also US dollars, pounds, euros and rand. Go2Africa says the dollar is widely accepted at lodges and hotels, and that some places refuse Diners and American Express. So for a fly-in safari you can get by on a card plus small dollar notes for tips. On a self-drive trip you need pula for fuel, supermarkets, craft stalls and anything in a village.

If you arrive with a lot of cash, Canada’s travel advice says foreign currency worth P10,000 or more must be declared at the border.

ATMs and banks

Go2Africa says full banking services exist only in the major towns, with banks open 8:30 to 15:30 on weekdays and 8:30 to 11:00 on Saturdays. Plan your cash around the big towns on your route, such as Gaborone, Francistown or Maun, and draw what you need before you turn off for Moremi, the Central Kalahari or the pans. A game reserve is no place to go looking for a bank. The Irish government’s advice is not to use ATMs after dark.

Driving

Traffic keeps to the left. Seat belts are compulsory and you may only use a phone hands free.

Which licence

The rules are friendlier than the internet makes out. The government portal says a foreign licence may be used for up to 90 days, and that people holding an international driving permit, or a licence from another SADC country, do not need to convert at all. The UK government says a UK photocard licence is accepted for those 90 days.

The catch is the hire company, not the police. The UK warns that rental firms often set their own rules, including asking for an International Driving Permit, and both Canada and Ireland tell their citizens to bring one. World Travel Guide says a permit should go with any licence that is not in English. I would get one before flying. It costs little at home and saves an argument at a rental desk in Maun.

Speed limits and fines

Road	Limit
Open road	120 km/h
Semi-urban areas	80 km/h
Urban and built-up areas	60 km/h

These come from the Botswana handbook published by South Africa’s Cross-Border Road Transport Agency. The same handbook gives the speeding fine as a minimum of P120 plus P20 for every km/h over the limit, up to P5,000, and says fines on foreign cars are payable on the spot. The handbook is undated, and World Travel Guide gives lower figures for some roads (60 km/h in towns and villages, 40 km/h near schools and in residential areas), so go by the signs.

Cattle, donkeys and elephants

This is the real hazard. The UK government says driving outside the main towns can be dangerous because of stray wildlife and livestock, especially at night, and that dangerous animals can wander onto open highways in or outside the reserves. Canada says fatal accidents are frequent and tells visitors to avoid travelling after dark. Take that literally: plan each day so you are parked before sunset.

Distances are long and empty. Ireland’s advice is to carry drinking water, food and a second spare tyre on dirt roads, because fuel, food and phone signal can all be missing between one town and the next. Fill up whenever you pass a pump.

Veterinary fences

You will be stopped at cordon fences that separate cattle zones to keep foot and mouth disease out of the beef herds. The zones are real and enforced: in January 2026 the Department of Veterinary Services banned movement of cloven-hoofed animals in several north-eastern zones, including the one around Nata. For travellers the effect is on the cool box. Tracks4Africa, the mapping company, says raw meat and unpasteurised milk may be carried into an infected zone but not out of it, so meat bought in Maun cannot go on to Nxai Pan, the Makgadikgadi, Nata or Ghanzi. That article dates from 2015 and the lines move, so ask a butcher in Maun before you stock up. Keep shoes where you can reach them too, as they may need to go through a disinfectant dip.

Malaria: where and which months

Nearly every safari area is in the malaria zone. The US CDC lists the districts of Okavango, Ngamiland, Chobe (including Chobe National Park), Boteti, Tutume, the North East including Francistown, Bobirwa, Serowe Palapye, Mahalapye and Ghanzi, and recommends preventive tablets there: atovaquone proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine or tafenoquine. It reports only rare cases in Kgalagadi North, Kgatleng, Kweneng and Southern, and none in Gaborone.

The season matters. The UK’s TravelHealthPro rates the northern half of the country, with the Okavango Delta named, as high risk from October to May and low risk for the rest of the year, when it advises bite avoidance only. The dry winter months that most people pick for game viewing are therefore the lower risk ones. The two bodies do not agree on tablets in winter, and the UK government noted in April 2025 that malaria had spread to areas where it is not usually found, so put the question to a travel clinic once you have your dates and route. You will recieve better advice with an itinerary in hand.

Can you drink the tap water?

In towns the supply comes from the Water Utilities Corporation, which the water minister told Parliament tests against the national drinking water standard, BOS 32:2015, at its own accredited laboratory. Maun is the place visitors ask about, because the water there sometimes comes out discoloured. In June 2020 the corporation’s Maun office said the water had been tested and was safe to drink despite the colour, with samples taken daily. Borehole water in the Kalahari can be salty: the same minister told Parliament that one village supply in Kgalagadi South went slightly over the salinity limit in some months. In camps and on the road, ask what the source is, and carry your own on any long drive.

Don’t drink from or swim in rivers and channels. Both the UK and Canada warn of schistosomiasis in fresh water.

Phones and SIM cards

There are three networks: Mascom, Orange and BTC. Registration is compulsory and the regulator, BOCRA, has said it applies to foreigners as well. Orange states that a passport is the only document it accepts from foreign nationals, and that an unregistered line is suspended within 14 days. Buy your SIM in a network shop in town and have your passport on you.

Data is cheap. As of October 2026 Mascom’s standard 30 day MyMix bundles are P69 for 2 GB and P99 for 4.5 GB, with more thrown in while its current promotion runs. Mascom publishes a long list of covered towns and villages, but that list is the point: signal follows settlements. Don’t count on any inside the parks or out in the delta. Orange and BTC both sell eSIMs if your phone takes one.

The country code is +267.

Plugs and power

Mains power is 230 V at 50 Hz. WorldStandards gives Type M, the big three round pin plug used in South Africa, as the one standard socket, and says two pin Type C plugs are common but need an adapter. Wikipedia’s list of plugs by country still shows the British Type G and the smaller Type D for Botswana as well. If you are coming via South Africa, your Type M adapter is the one to bring. If you are buying one specially, get a universal adapter that covers Type G too. Ask your camp when and where you can charge, as it is not always in the room.

Emergency numbers

Service	Number
Police	999
Ambulance	997
Fire	998

The UK government says healthcare is usually good in the major towns and limited in rural areas, that private hospitals will not treat you unless you can pay, and that serious cases may need evacuation to South Africa or the UK. Evacuation cover is the part of your insurance to read twice.

Tipping

Tips at camps are usually given in US dollars or pula at the end of a stay. Expert Africa’s suggested amounts for good service:

Who	Per guest per day
Guide on a shared vehicle	US$10 to US$20
Private guide	US$20 to US$40
Mokoro poler, tracker or butler	US$5 to US$10
General camp staff (tip box)	US$5 to US$10

In town restaurants, Go2Africa puts the norm at 10% where no service charge has been added.

Time and public holidays

Botswana is on Central Africa Time, UTC+2, all year. There is no daylight saving, so it matches South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Government offices close on public holidays, and Botswana has two double ones that catch visitors. President’s Day on Monday 20 July 2026 was followed by a second holiday on the Tuesday, and Botswana Day on 30 September by another on 1 October. Both fall in peak safari season. The rest of the 2026 list from the government portal: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, the Saturday after it and Easter Monday (3, 4 and 6 April), Labour Day on 1 May, Ascension Day on 14 May, Sir Seretse Khama Day on 1 July, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. If you need a bank, a SIM shop or a government counter, don’t leave it for one of those days.

Related pages

Start with our Botswana page for places to visit and stay. For timing a trip, see the best time to visit the Okavango Delta. If you are driving in from the west, my Namibia travel essentials covers the other side of the border.