The original post: /r/television by /u/Finbarr-Galedeep on 2026-04-02 15:53:28+00:00.
Despite the US and North Pole specials technically coming first (there are arguments for neither of those being “true” Top Gear specials), Botswana really set the tone for the Top Gear Special format going forward. Three cheap old bangers blasting across the extraordinary African landscape. Some later specials suffered from poorer writing, pacing, or the scripted jokes being too obvious, but Botswana got it bang on with amazing locations, situations, and at times, a genuine sense of danger.
Producer Andy Wilman, who was really the mastermind through all the Top Gear and Grand Tour years always maintained that the cars in these films should be seen as characters and heroes in their own right, and in all the specials, you do find yourself cheering them on to make it to the end, as much as the presenters themselves.
The Top Gear Specials almost created their own genre of television; part-car show, part-comedy, part-travelogue, and part-adventure film. And anyone who has seen both this special, and their last ever one, will know how poignant the decision was to end The Grand Tour at Kubu Island.
EDIT: And even if it was totally scripted, James and Jeremy being reunited with their original Botswana special cars in the last ever Grand Tour was a nice moment.