Botswana offers some brilliant birding opportunities with nearly 600 bird species including over 500 regularly occurring species, The country is essentially a semi-desert, covered largely by dry tree, shrub and grass savanna a fine example being the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Only in the wetter north Okavango Delta and, within it, the Moremi Game Reserve and northeast sectors Chobe National Park and the Kasane Forest Reserve do tropical woodlands occur. In the extreme southwest the dunes of windblown sand form a transition between the Kalahari and Namib-Karoo zones Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

The country's only near-endemic is the Short-clawed Lark with the major global stronghold in the grasslands of the south-east Gaborone - Ramatlabama area. However, populations of globally threatened Wattled Crane and Slaty Egret in the north are of international importance. When flooded, Sowa Pan, to the east of the Makgadikgadi Pans, attracts globally significant numbers of Lesser and Greater Flamingos. Breeding occurs sporadically, every five or six years, depending on the water levels, such as after the rainy season of 1999-2000, when more than 200,000 flamingos concentrated to breed in the shallow saline lake formed in the pan.

Kalahari Almost 80% of the country falls within the Kalahari sandveld ecosystem - low shrubs and bushes interspersed with patches of woodland, inhabited by species such as Arrow-marked Babbler, Bradfield's Hornbill, Barred Owl, Bateleur, Ant-eating Chat, Three-streaked and Black-crowned Tchagras, Plum-coloured and Cape Glossy Starlings. The more arid central and south-west areas including the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park support Ostrich, Gabar and Pale Chanting Goshawks, Black-breasted Snake Eagle, Greater Kestrel, Kori Bustard, Northern Black Korhaan, Caspian Plover, Double-banded Courser, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Pied Barbet, Lesser Grey Shrike, Red-capped, Sabota, Fawn-coloured and Rufous-naped Larks, Grey-backed Finchlark, & Capped Wheatear.

Botswana lies under the Tropic of Capricorn with temperatures reaching their highest levels from October to March with an average of 35-40C at midday and 26C overnight. In the winter, April to August, temperatures often fall to 27C at midday and 6C overnight. November to February are not just the hottest, but also the wettest months and the best time for a birder to visit the area since most of the intra-African and Palaearctic migrants are present and resident species are in breeding plumage. With a knowledgeable local guide you may expect over 100 species per day in winter, and over 200 species in summer.