These days Maun is, above all for most visitors, a place to restock, refuel and get organised.

Banks and money

Many places in town will accept credit cards; some will take travellers' cheques. The main banks all have ATM machines that will deliver cash with most international cards, including Visa and MasterCard – which is usually the easiest, quickest and cheapest way to get Pula if you have a credit card.

Alternatively, with your passport and a little time spent in queues, you can cash travellers' cheques or obtain a manual cash advance on a credit card. The best place for this is one of the two main banks: Barclays Bank (PO Box 126, Maun; tel: 6860210; fax: 6860274) or Standard Chartered Bank (PO Box 112, Maun; tel: 6860209). Both are within sight of each other, virtually opposite Shoprite, slightly west of Riley's. These should certainly be your first stop if you need to arrange any more complex transactions.

There are a couple of bureaux de change dotted around town – Sunny's Bureau de Change being an obvious one, upstairs from Steers Restaurant. These generally charge more commission than the banks, though can be quicker to use and stay open longer. There won't be any difference in the effective exchange rates.

National Parks and Wildlife Service Office

Set back from Sir Seretse Khama Road, and down a little passageway, this important office is set in a very unassuming complex of prefabricated government buildings. This is the place to book your campsites for all the national parks in northern Botswana, and if possible it's much, much better to come in person than to ring up or fax..

Open: Mon–Sat 07.00–12.30 and 13.45–16.30; Sun 07.30–12.00.