Mokolodi Nature Reserve

For nature and wildlife lovers, Mokolodi is the closest excursion from Gaborone that offers a wide variety of activities for the entire family. Situated approximately 10 kilometres south of Game City, on the main Lobatse Road, the five-square kilometre reserve is comprised of riverine terrain interspersed with rocky hills, with the very picturesque Lake Gwithian and adjoining picnic site.

Mokolodi offers game drives, guided walks, horse-back safari, rhino tracking, giraffe tracking, walks with trained elephants, and cheetah visits. It holds regularly scheduled lectures, as well as annual events, such as Easter and Christmas day excursions for children, and the Mokolodi Photography Competition.

Wildlife resident in the reserve include kudu, warthog, duiker, giraffe, steenbok, zebra, blue wildebeest, gemsbok, ostrich, impala, springbok, waterbuck, baboons, vervet monkeys, mountain reedbuck, eland, bushbuck and leopard. A highly successful white rhino reintroduction and breeding programme now puts the white rhino population in the reserve at eight.

Mokolodi also houses a reptile park, and a wildlife sanctuary for disabled or orphaned animals that for one reason or another cannot be returned to the wild, and an animal clinic that treats sick or injured animals.

Facilities include camping sites, chalets, picnic sites, an education centre, museum and library, the World’s View Conference and Function Centre, The Alexander McCall Smith Traditional Rest Camp, as well as a lovely stone and thatch restaurant that gives a beautiful view of the surrounding bush.

Environmental education for Botswana children is a major mandate of the nature reserve; and each year thousands of schoolchildren come for courses, sleeping in the dormitories, or on camp outs. For more information or bookings,