Mokolodi Nature Reserve

Mokolodi Nature Reserve is a 12,355-acre acacia bushveld reserve about 15 km south of Gaborone off the Lobatse road, holding white rhino, giraffe and zebra. It is a conservation and education trust that also lets you stay: five self-catering chalets and five campsites, which makes it the only place in this catalogue where you can sleep in a game reserve half an hour from a capital city.

Chalets and camping

Five thatched bush chalets with mains electricity, hot and cold running water, an equipped kitchen with cooker and fridge, a toilet and an outdoor braai area. Five campsites take up to eight guests each, with flush toilets, heated outdoor showers, washbasins and braai facilities. A separate five-hut group unit, McCall Smith Camp, is bookable only in its entirety.

Facilities at Mokolodi Nature Reserve

An on-site restaurant, conference facilities, day and night game drives, rhino and giraffe tracking on foot, and bush braai picnic sites. Gates open from 06:00 to 22:00.

Location and access

The turn-off is from the tar A1 between Gaborone and Lobatse, roughly 15 km south of the city. We have not been able to verify the surface of the internal track from the gate to the chalets and campsites, so we cannot tell you whether a low-clearance car is comfortable on it — ask when you book.

A game reserve on a capital city’s doorstep

Very few African capitals have white rhino within half an hour of the CBD. Mokolodi does, and it is a working conservation trust with an education centre rather than a commercial game farm, which shows in how the place is run and in what the guides will tell you.

For a traveller passing through Gaborone — and most travellers only pass through — this is the thing that makes a stopover worth extending by a day. Our Gaborone guide sets out what else the city offers.

Two things to check before you book

First, one specialist source states the reserve may close between December and March. We could not corroborate that on the reserve’s own material and we are not repeating it as fact — but telephone before you drive out, particularly in the wet season.

Second, the accommodation is self-catering and the campsites are unserviced beyond the ablutions. There is a restaurant on the reserve, but bring what you intend to cook. If you would rather have a serviced room, Cresta Lodge Gaborone is about 10 km away and is covered separately in this catalogue.

Who it suits

• Families, for chalets with kitchens, campsites and animals in the same place.
• Travellers with a spare Gaborone day, which is the best use of one.
• Self-caterers and campers who want bush rather than a city hotel.

It suits you less if you want catering, air conditioning as standard, or certainty about the access track.

Plan the rest of your trip

• All accommodation in Gaborone
• Gaborone destination guide
• Accommodation in Botswana