Richard--Eric actually was the one who choose Botswana, but I totally agreed with his choice. We had started out with the proposition that we were going in the middle of June. This was because the trip was to be in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary, which actually was in 2004. We started planning in 2003. We had everything booked, deposits made, etc., to travel in the middle of June 2004. Various circumstances conspired so that we had to re-schedule for this year instead. So, first, we wanted to see where would provide us the best wildlife experience in June. I don't think that May is much different, in terms of wildlife experience, and for this year, we decided to go a tad earlier, to hopefully get a little warmer weather. Anyway, first criteria was where would we have the best wildlife experience in June. Second criteria was where we would have the best wildlife experience, PERIOD. We were not interested in having to fight crowds to see the animals and were not afraid to spend the money to get a premium comfortable experience which wouldn't have any resemblance to camping. We weren't that interested in seeing desert, per se, or big cities. We wanted to see ANIMALS. We wanted to go somewhere that we felt the government was stable, and that we would hopefully be fairly safe, in terms of personal safety. Reading about Botswana in general seemed to suit our style--high end, low volume tourism, and a commitment to wildlife preservation. (Please note that for Vic Falls, we are staying on the Zambian side, not in Zimbawbwe.) So, that's how we decided on Botswana.
