Connected in Botswana
eSIM Botswana
Orange and beMOBILE 4G in Gaborone, Maun and Kasane, plus notes on off-grid camps
Choose a Botswana eSIM plan
Choose the perfect plan for your Botswana adventure
1 GB
7 Days- 1 GB Internet
- Wi-Fi Hotspot Allowed
- Instant Activation
- Validity Starting on First Use
3 GB
30 Days- 3 GB Internet
- Wi-Fi Hotspot Allowed
- Instant Activation
- Validity Starting on First Use
5 GB
30 Days- 5 GB Internet
- Wi-Fi Hotspot Allowed
- Instant Activation
- Validity Starting on First Use
10 GB
30 Days- 10 GB Internet
- Wi-Fi Hotspot Allowed
- Instant Activation
- Validity Starting on First Use
All plans include 4G/5G coverage across Botswana • No contracts • Instant Activation
Why travelers choose Esimy
- No contracts
- 24-hour days, counted from your first connection at your destination
- Add data to the same eSIM anytime
- Wi-Fi hotspot: Allowed on all plans
Before you buy your Botswana eSIM
Is my phone compatible?
Quick check: dial *#06# on your phone. If an EID number appears, your phone supports eSIM. It also needs to be carrier-unlocked.
How much data do I need?
A rough estimate based on typical use. Video and hotspot use the most data.
eSIM Botswana: two networks for the towns, lodge Wi-Fi for the Delta
Esimy’s eSIM Botswana plan runs on two networks, Orange and beMOBILE, both on 4G/LTE, and it works well in the towns where safaris start and finish. Out at the camps it’s a different picture.
Be realistic about the bush. Fly-in camps in the Okavango Delta sit far from any mast, and the same is true of most of Moremi, the Central Kalahari and the Makgadikgadi pans. Lodges normally have Wi-Fi in the main area, often slow, and a few have none by choice. So Maun is where you do your downloading: offline maps, flight confirmations, a few podcasts for the quiet afternoons.
Kasane is easier. Chobe’s riverfront begins just outside town, so you’ll often have signal on the river drive and the boat cruise, losing it as you head inland. The Victoria Falls day trip is different. It crosses into Zimbabwe or Zambia, and this plan covers Botswana only. For the Livingstone side, add our Zambia eSIM.
Data is all you get, with no Botswana number, so calls to the lodge go over WhatsApp while your home SIM keeps receiving texts. If you change planes in Johannesburg, a South Africa eSIM saves paying roaming rates on the layover. You can run a hotspot from the Botswana plan, and top-ups stay on the same eSIM.
Botswana eSIM at a glance
- Networks
- Orange, beMOBILE
- Speed
- 4G/LTE, 5G where available
- Plans
- 5 · from 5.49 €
- Validity
- 7–30 days 24-hour days, counted from your first connection at your destination
- Wi-Fi hotspot
- Allowed on all plans
- Calls & SMS
- Data only
- Top-up
- Add data to the same eSIM anytime No new QR code needed
- Delivery
- Instant delivery by email and in the Esimy app
- Refunds
- Within 30 days of purchase if the QR code hasn't been scanned Refund policy
Compare Botswana eSIM plans
Need help with your Botswana eSIM?
Real people, 24/7Message our support team on WhatsApp or by email. We help with installation, activation and connection problems, day and night.
How Esimy Works?
Select a Package
Choose from range of multiple countries/packages.
Scan QR Code with instructions received over your email
Easy activation with email details or our intuitive website dashboard.
Ready for travel!
Have the best trip possible without internet hassles.
Manage your eSIM with the Esimy App
Install, activate, and track your data — all from your phone.
- Add data to the same eSIM anytime
- Free 1 GB on every app order of 3 GB or more
- Send eSIMs as gifts and redeem the ones you receive
- Get notified about your data usage
- 5% back in your Esimy Wallet on every order
- Invite friends: €3 for you and €3 for them
Get it now
Available on the App Store and Google Play
eSIM vs Physical SIM Card in Botswana
Compare the benefits of using an eSIM data plan versus a traditional SIM card for international travel to Botswana.
Botswana Travel and Connectivity Guide
Signal in the towns, Wi-Fi at the camps, and what to do in between
Coverage areas
Gaborone (Main Mall, Game City, Riverwalk, Airport Junction) and Sir Seretse Khama International Airport; the A1 north through Mahalapye and Palapye to Francistown; Nata, Gweta and Maun; Kasane and Kazungula in the far north; Ghanzi in the west. Coverage follows the towns and the tarred highways between them. In the Okavango Delta, Moremi, Savuti, the Central Kalahari and out on the pans, expect no signal for long stretches.
Network
Connects to Orange and beMOBILE on 4G/LTE. Gaborone and Francistown get a strong signal, and Maun and Kasane are usually fine too. Between towns it comes and goes, and the Nata to Kasane road, where elephants wander across the tarmac, has long quiet sections. Because the eSIM can use either network, your phone may move to the other one when the first is weak, and if it doesn’t, manual selection in the network settings is worth a try. In the Delta and the game reserves, lodge Wi-Fi is what you’ll be using. Esimy doesn’t throttle, so speed comes down to signal and your phone.
How much data an eSIM Botswana trip uses
• 1–3 GB: a week with three or four nights at a fly-in camp, where you’re offline most of the day; messages, maps and transfer details in Maun or Kasane
• 5–10 GB: a two-week self-drive through Gaborone, the pans, Maun and Chobe, posting photos whenever you’re back in signal
• 20 GB: work in Gaborone, a long overland trip, or a laptop running on hotspot in a rented 4×4
Tourist highlights
Mokoro trips through the channels of the Okavango Delta, and scenic flights out of Maun over the floodplains. Game drives in Moremi Game Reserve. Elephant herds on the Chobe riverfront and sunset boat cruises from Kasane. The Makgadikgadi salt pans near Gweta and Nata, with meerkats and quad-bike trips in the dry months. Baines’ Baobabs in Nxai Pan National Park, Deception Valley in the Central Kalahari, the rock paintings at Tsodilo Hills, and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary near Serowe, a short detour from Palapye.
Apps that help
In Gaborone, Francistown, Maun and Kasane, Google Maps is all you need. Before a self-drive to the pans, Moremi or the Central Kalahari, download offline maps; many self-drivers also carry Tracks4Africa, because good GPS tracks matter more than signal out there. In Gaborone your hotel or guesthouse can call a taxi it trusts, and in Maun and Kasane the lodge usually arranges transfers. Safari operators send flight times and pickup changes on WhatsApp. You can’t use Orange Money without a local SIM registered in your name, so carry some pula for roadside stalls and small shops; lodges and malls take cards.
Roaming tips
Ask your home operator what a megabyte costs in Botswana and the answer is usually off-putting. Plenty of trips also change planes in Johannesburg on the way. Install the Esimy eSIM over Wi-Fi before leaving home. When you land in Gaborone, Maun or Kasane, switch the eSIM on, enable Data Roaming for it and make it your mobile-data line. Keep your home SIM on for calls and texts, with its own data roaming off. Cross at Kazungula into Zambia, or into Namibia at Ngoma or Mohembo, and you’ll need another plan, since this one connects in Botswana only.
Why travelers choose Esimy Botswana
- Connects to Orange and beMOBILE, two Botswana networks on one eSIM
- Ready at Sir Seretse Khama, Maun or Kasane airport without a visit to a SIM shop
- Days count from your first connection in Botswana, not from the purchase date
- Hotspot allowed for a laptop or the second phone in the 4×4
- Extra data goes onto the same eSIM, handy in Maun before the Delta
Best time to visit
- Dry season, May to October: the classic safari months; floodwater from the Angolan highlands usually spreads furthest across the Delta around June to August
- September and October: very hot, with big elephant herds gathering along the Chobe River
- Green season, November to April: rain, lower rates and the zebra migration across the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan; sandy tracks get harder going and a few camps close
Support
24/7 support via live chat, email and WhatsApp.
eSIM FAQs
Common questions about using eSIM in Botswana
Should tourists bother with a Botswana SIM card?
On a holiday, rarely. To get a Botswana SIM card you register it with your passport in an operator’s shop, and a fly-in itinerary often takes you from the airport to a light aircraft without passing one. The eSIM is done before you fly. Staying for months, or keen to use Orange Money? Then a local line is worth the paperwork.
Will my phone take the eSIM?
It needs to be unlocked and eSIM-capable. That covers recent iPhones, along with Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel models; for anything else, our list of supported devices is the quickest check.
Can I use the eSIM as a hotspot?
Yes, and on a self-drive one plan can keep the navigator’s tablet and a second phone online. Expect a laptop to chew through data much faster, though.
Which plan size fits a Botswana safari?
Not much, if most nights are at camps. 1 GB (7 days) covers a short trip with the bulk of it at a fly-in lodge. For ten days to two weeks mixing Maun, Chobe and the pans, 3 or 5 GB is plenty. Self-drivers, anyone working in Gaborone and people running a laptop on hotspot should look at 10 or 20 GB. Botswana has no unlimited option from us, so if 20 GB runs out, top up.
Do I need a new eSIM Botswana plan if my data runs out?
A top-up does the job. Buy it from the Esimy dashboard or the app and the data goes onto the eSIM you already have. Do it in Maun or Kasane before you fly out to a camp, since you may not see a signal again for several days.
What do I need to do before and after the flight to Botswana?
Buy online with a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay; there’s no ID step, and the QR code is emailed to you straight away. At home, on Wi-Fi, open Add eSIM in your phone settings and scan it. In Botswana, switch the line on, allow Data Roaming for it and make it your mobile-data line. You won’t need to touch the APN, and the days start counting from that first connection.
Does the plan work on a Victoria Falls day trip from Kasane?
Not past the border. Victoria Falls lies between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and this plan stops connecting once you cross at Kazungula. For the Zambian side, add our Zambia eSIM and switch your data line at the border. Zimbabwe needs a separate plan, or a day without mobile data.
How far does the signal reach into the Okavango Delta and the parks?
In the camps, usually not. Fly-in lodges in the Delta, and most of Moremi, the Central Kalahari and the pans, sit outside mobile coverage, so lodge Wi-Fi (where there is any) is what you’ll use. Chobe near Kasane is the exception: the riverfront is close enough to town that signal often reaches it. Download offline maps and top up before you leave Maun or Kasane.
Will I be online when I land in Gaborone, Maun or Kasane?
As long as you installed it before the flight. After landing at Sir Seretse Khama International, Maun or Kasane, turn the eSIM line on with Data Roaming and it should find a network while you’re still in the terminal. Safari transfers are often confirmed on WhatsApp, so being online right away is useful.
Which network will my eSIM Botswana plan use?
Orange Botswana and beMOBILE. The eSIM can connect to either, which helps on long drives, because one sometimes has signal where the other doesn’t. It isn’t a Mascom eSIM and won’t use that network.
Can I get a Botswana eSIM with a phone number?
You get data only: no Botswana number, no regular calls or SMS. WhatsApp calls work fine over it, and your home SIM can stay on for texts.
What is the best eSIM for Botswana?
For a trip built around Gaborone, Francistown, Maun and Kasane, Esimy’s plan does the job: it connects to Orange and beMOBILE on 4G/LTE, which covers those towns well and the roads between them in parts. No eSIM will give you signal at a fly-in camp deep in the Delta. A 1 GB plan lasts 7 days; the 3 GB to 20 GB plans last 30, and there’s no ID check.
