How we created the maps for Botswana Self-Drive

Maps are an integral part of our self-drive books. Yet, to create them isn't easy. The main aim of the self-drive maps is to make it ease for the reader to orientate and see the location of the features we write about in the book. 

We strive to create simple, easy to understand maps with no unnecessary information or features. But the problem is, where do you stop? If we only show relevant places, the reader might not know where they are in relation to other places featured in other maps.

Fortunately, with the Botswana Self-Drive book, we had the support of one the most respected map development companies in South Africa, Tracks4Africa. With their help, we could create accurate base maps on which we could superimpose the places James talked about in the text. 

Botswana isn't an easy place to create maps for, because of the constant change in the environment. When the floods come, or the country had a particularly good rainy season, then the environment changes, sometimes permanently, and maps become outdated quickly. 

With the Botswana Self-Drive maps, we settled on maps that are good enough to navigate by, but which doesn't indicate every single feature we don't discuss in the text. We suggest you download Tracks4Africa maps to navigate with, but use our maps in the books to orientate yourself and plan your route.

A critical part of Botswana travel is the river crossings. We attempted to indicate their location on the maps, which could help save quite a few 4x4 vehicles. No map is 100% accurate, but we are confident that we, together with Tracks4Africa, have created maps  good enough for any avid Botswana adventurer.