If you’re traveling by land between Namibia and Botswana you may be considering the Windhoek to Kasane route. Here I share how to travel from Windhoek to Kasane by land via Katima Mulilo.
Windhoek to Katima Mulilo
The first stage of traveling from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo by land is taking the overnight bus. When I took this route in 2022 there were 3 different companies serving this route. Two bus companies leave from the Windhoek main bus station and the other leaves from the nearby Intercape terminal. I chose the Oasis bus which left Windhoek at 3 pm and arrived in Katima Mulilo the following morning at 5.30 am. The cost was 650 Namibian dollars. It’s a long but smooth bus ride with a few 10 minute stops at service stations along the way.
Katima Mulilo
The Oasis bus is scheduled to arrive at Katima Mulilo bus park at 5 am. However, it’s a tight schedule to arrive at this time so you’ll most likely arrive from 6 am onwards. A negative side to this is that you’ll be arriving in an unlit bus park in the dark. For this reason, I recommend you walk a little down the road to wait in the well lit Shell station. They even have a seating area inside where you sit and enjoy a juice whilst you wait for sunrise. Later on, you can visit the Spar supermarket and perhaps KFC before finding transport to the Ngoma border which connects Namibia and Botswana.
Katima Mulilo to Ngoma Bridge
As I was visiting Namibia / Bostwana shortly after COVID, there were no direct share taxis between Katima Mulilo and Kasane. Maybe there will be by the time you read this and if there are, please write some information in the comments. As a result, I negotiated with a taxi from Katima Mulilo which waited for me to get stamped out of Namibia before taking me over the Ngoma Bridge and leaving me at the Botswana border post on the other side. Lastly, the bridge crosses the Chobe River which marks the Namibia Botswana border.
Ngoma Bridge to Kasane
The Botswana border post is a quiet place with not much traffic passing through and no taxis. Good luck finding transport to Kasane from here. I was lucky because an immigration officer with a car offered to take me to Kasane (for petrol money). The route from the border post to Kasane takes you through Chobe National Park and animal sightings are guaranteed. In fact, my ride had to stop to let a herd of elephants cross the road! Finally, the ride from Ngoma Bridge to Kasane is around 45 minutes.
Kasane
Welcome to Kasane, I recommend you take river cruises (sunset is better for elephants) as well as game drives in the day and night. During my time here, I saw several lions, elephants, buffalos, hippos, giraffes as well as an abundance of other wildlife. Enjoy.
Birdwatching in Kasane
Hello.
Thank you for the information. I’m from Katima and traveling to Lusaka Zambia next week. This will be my second trip to Zambia. First time I went to Livingstone and used another route with a bad road. So I was trying to figure out how to use the Botswana route and now I know.
Thank you so much and happy travels.
Hi Cynthia, the Livingstone route could be the better option for Lusaka as there will be less border crossings? Happy travels.
Thanks for the info. I’ve already read the blood about the leg from kasane to Maun. I’m planning to go from Maun to Namibia via Buitepos border post: do you have any information? Thanks again for your time. Grazie mille
I’d imagine you’d need to do some hitchhiking on this route.
Error on a previous comment, I meant blog instead of blood. Sorry.
Does this bus still exist. Cintacts
Yes, it still exists.
Hi)
How much was the taxi?
about $25.