Maun is best known as the gateway to the Okavango Delta, one of Africa’s incredible natural wonders. It is arguably the most important tourism hub in Botswana, serving as the starting point for travelers seeking to explore the Okavango Delta, as well as nearby safari regions like Moremi Game Reserve. It is an excellent home base to kick off your bucket list adventures, or relax in between stints in the bush. Here’s everything you need to know before visiting Maun, Botswana.
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Table of Contents
- How To Get To Maun
- Where To Stay in Maun
- Getting Around Maun
- The Best Things To Do in Maun
- Is Maun Worth The Visit?
- Buy Me A Beer!
- More on Southern Africa
How To Get To Maun
Maun is located in northern Botswana. It is nestled on the southern edge of the Okavango Delta, serving as the ideal starting point for trips to this bucket list destination. It is also right along Botswana’s main circular highway, about halfway in between Nata and Ghanzi. Of Botswana’s tourist destinations, Maun might be the most straightforward to reach. Since Maun lies on Botswana’s big circular highway, just catch a bus or van headed in that direction.
Getting to Maun From Windhoek
If you’re coming from Namibia, it’s also possible to get to Maun in a day. There unfortunately isn’t too much to do in between these two cities, so many travelers try to complete the journey in a day or two. I did this journey in reverse, leaving Maun early in the morning and arriving in Windhoek.
From Windhoek, you’ll want to take a shared taxi to Gobabis, then try to find a taxi or hitch a ride to the border. From the border, you can take a taxi to the village of Charles Hill and catch a bus to Ghanzi. You can wrap up the journey if you are early enough to catch the last bus leaving for Maun, otherwise you might have to spend the night in Ghanzi and catch a bus to Maun the following day.
Flying Into Maun
Maun is one of the few airports in Botswana. It has frequent flights from Gaborone, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Kasane, and depending on the season, to Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia as well. It’s also a big hub for chartered flights into the Okavango Delta or Moremi Game Reserve, becoming one of Africa’s busiest airports during peak season. Maun Airport is small but efficient and serves as the main gateway to Botswana’s grand adventures.
Oh, and before you go, be sure to look into travel insurance for Botswana. While Botswana is generally safe, it’s always a good idea to have travel insurance while adventuring across the world, especially in a developing country like Botswana. I use SafetyWing to keep me covered throughout my travels for as low as $2 a day, and their coverage includes Botswana among the 190+ countries that they cover.
Where To Stay in Maun
There are accommodation options in Maun that cater to any budget, from campsites to backpacker hostels to luxury lodges. Here are a few of the places I’d recommend for backpackers traveling on a budget.
- Golentle Homestay – I ended up here at the recommendation of a traveler in Nata. The rooms were budget-friendly, so I booked a couple of nights in a private room. I ended up extending my stay several times, mainly due to the hospitality of Kay and her family. My first night, the family threw a big barbecue for us, and the next, Kay took us out and refused to let us pay for drinks. The homestay’s location is a short walk from the main road, and you’ll have to take a taxi if you want to hit the town. However, those are minor inconveniences compared to the incredible value and hospitality.
- Old Bridge Backpackers – Most resources I found online recommended Old Bridge Backpackers as the hostel to stay in Maun. However, it wasn’t open and I ended up staying at the Golentle Homestay instead. If it opens back up again, I’d say it’s worth seeing what all the fuss is about.
- Motsebe Backpackers – A friend recommended this hostel to me, but it didn’t seem to be open when I was in Maun. I’ll put them in here, as my friend over-landed the entire length of Africa and said that Motsebe was among the most memorable places he stayed, largely due to its welcoming staff.
- Audi Camp – This campsite is further outside of Maun, so I’d only recommend staying here if you have your own car and camping equipment. They’ve got a restaurant and almost everything else you’ll need, so its distance from town isn’t an issue.
- Delta Rain – Delta Rain caters to a higher-end crowd but they also have budget-friendly camping options if you have your own vehicle or camping equipment. A South African photographer friend raved about Delta Rain, recommending them as the company to go with if I was solo traveling to the Okavango Delta.
How To Get Around Maun
There are two main ways to get around Maun, aside from walking, of course.
- Normal Taxis
Normal taxis operate on a set route, and basically serve as the public transportation for Maun. They’ll go in a loop around the city, or up and down a main road of Maun. The fare is 8 pula for a ride. This is a great way to get to and from the main business districts of Maun.
- Special Taxis
On the outside, special taxis look no different than normal taxis. They are the exact same on the outside, but if you request a destination that is outside the normal taxi’s set route, then it becomes a special taxi. If there are other people in the taxi with you, you’ll have to wait for them to get off or wait for the next taxi. The fares vary depending on where you want to go, but typically within Maun’s city limits, it cost about 30-40 pula for a ride.
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The Best Things To Do in Maun
The town of Maun itself doesn’t have too much to do, but it is the gateway to many of Botswana’s most bucket-list worthy adventures. Here is how to spend your time in Maun.
Visiting the Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and ranks as one of the best experiences I had in all of Africa. It is truly so different than anything I’d done before. Even taking the hippo attack into account, this is a place I’ll remember fondly, and a place that every traveler should make an effort to experience.
Tours can be arranged in a variety of ways. At Golentle Homestay, it costs 3,000 pula per person for an overnight trip, with a minimum of two people. This was the cheapest per-person rate I found. If you’d like to go alone, you’ll have to cover the additional 3,000 pula. Delta Rain offered the best rate I found for a solo traveler looking to join an overnight safari.
If you’re looking to do it as cheaply as possible, you’ll want to sort everything out yourself. It will also help if you have a group to split the costs with. You’ll need to head to the Mokoro Community Trust and arrange directly with the guides there. Next, you’ll have to arrange for a taxi to pick you up and drive you to the village of Daunara in the morning and back to Maun in the afternoon. The taxi is surprisingly the biggest cost, as it takes two hours of driving each way into the middle of the bush. Find some people to split the cost with, though, and it’s by far the cheapest way to experience the Delta. All in all, I paid $57 USD for the day trip, which I felt was a complete enough experience despite my initial desires to spend the night in the bush.
Helicopter Flight Over the Okavango Delta
A popular way to experience the Okavango Delta is from the skies with a helicopter flight. While expensive, it might be worth the splurge for those looking for a truly bucket list experience.
Moremi Game Drive
For one of Botswana’s top safari experiences, consider a trip to Moremi Game Reserve. On top of the chance to see every member of the Big Five, Moremi boasts varied landscapes, offering an abundance of habitats for a vast array of wildlife.
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans cover large swathes of northern Botswana, and some of the most famous salt pans are within a few hours of driving from Maun. Tours can be arranged from Maun, although they aren’t as popular as safaris to the Okavango and Moremi. You might have to ask around to find one. Since most people traveling Botswana have their own car, it’s fairly easy to visit the Makgadikgadi on your own, as you don’t need much more than your vehicle.
Go on a Night Out in Maun
I was surprised to find that Maun had a very lively nightlife scene. For a small city, they really knew how to party. Southern Africans are very proud of their drinking culture, and Botswana is no different. I couldn’t go 15 minutes without someone offering to buy me a drink. The people here are incredibly welcoming and want to make sure you have a great time. Trekkers, Il Pomodoro, and Mama Africa were a few of my favorite spots to grab a drink or hit the dance floor.
Is Maun Worth The Visit?
I didn’t spend too much time in Botswana, but it sticks out as one of my favorite countries I visited in Africa. The sheer variety of things to do in Maun and its surrounding area is mind-blowing. The landscapes are vastly different in each direction, from the salt flats of Makgadikgadi to the lush Okavango Delta and Moremi. The people of Maun are friendly and helpful, and it’s a great place to relax and recover for longer-term travelers and overlanders. Overall, I’d say Maun is one of the top destinations to visit in all of Africa.
Buy Me A Beer!
If this post helped you out, please show some love and support for the blog and help keep my adventures going by buying me a beer! My adventures are entirely self-funded, so any show of support is greatly appreciated. It allows me to keep writing travel guides to help you all travel the world on a budget.