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© Lonely Planet Publications 76 lonelyplanet.com 77 BOTSWANA BOTSWANA B o t s w a n a BOTSWANA Botswana is an African success story. After achieving democratic rule in 1966, three of the world’s richest diamond-bearing formations were discovered within its borders. Today, the country enjoys a high standard of economic stability, education and health care, which, with the exception of South Africa, is unequalled elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. Its modern veneer, however, belies the fact that much of Botswana remains a country for the intrepid (not to mention relatively wealthy) traveller. This largely roadless wilderness of vast spaces requires time, effort and, above all else, lots of cash to enjoy it to its fullest. Landlocked Botswana extends 1100km from north to south and 960km from east to west, making it roughly the same size as Kenya, France or Texas. Most of the country is covered with scrub brush and savanna grassland, although small areas of deciduous forest thrive near the Zimbabwean border. With vast open savannas teeming with free-ranging wildlife, Botswana is truly the Africa of your dreams. Because the Okavango Delta and the Chobe River provide a year-round water supply, nearly all Southern African mammal species are present in the Moremi Game Reserve and in Chobe National Park. In the Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pan National Park, however, herds of wildebeest, zebra and other hoofed mammals migrate annually in search of permanent water and stable food supplies. FAST FACTS Area: 582,000 sq km Capital: Gaborone Country code: %267 Famous for: Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, the Kalahari Languages: English, Setswana Money: Pula (P) Phrases: Dumela? (How are you?); dankie (thank you) Population: 1.61 million 78 BOTSWANA •• Highlights lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com BOTSWANA •• History 79 BOTSWANA BOTSWANA wetlands, followed by a wildlife-viewing 0 200 km HOW MUCH? BOTSWANA 0 120 miles trip through Moremi Game Reserve ( p114 ). Katima Mulilo One-day mokoro trip US$66 One Week Combine your visit to the delta Z A M B I A A N G O L A Lake with a safari through Chobe National Park Kasane Kariba BOTSWANA BOTSWANA Victoria Falls Ostrich egg-shell bracelet $5 Okavango Kongola Rv ( p101 ), one of the world’s top safari ex- River ὅὅKazungula Zambezi Rundu Ngoma River Mohembo Okavango Bridge Stalk of sugar cane $0.25 periences. Either go overland through the Panhandle Chobe Hwange Shakawe Kachikau ὄὅὅὅὅὅὅὅὈὅὅChobe Foreign newspaper US$1.65 rugged interior of the park, or cruise (or Nxamaseri Savuti Pandamatenga Sepupa NP boat) along the wildlife-rich waterfront. Tsodilo Moremi Night in a budget hotel US$24.75 Hills ὅὅὅὅὅ ὅGR Kwe Kwe The Etshas Mababe One Month With a month (and lots of Chiefs Depression Gumare Island Gweru LONELY PLANET INDEX money), you can hire a 4WD or use a NgamilandὅὅὅὅOkavango ὅ Makgadikgadi & Z I M B A B W E Delta Nxai Pans Aha Hills Shorobe reputable safari company and see the best Nokaneng NP 1L of petrol US$0.75 Nxainxai Maun Gweta Nata of the country: do a mokoro trip in the ὅὅὅὅTsau Bulawayo Nata Delta (see the boxed text, p112 ); safari GcwihabaὄὈὈὈToteng ὄὄὈὄSanctuaryὄ Plumtree 1L of bottled water US$0.50-1 Caverns N A M I B I A Sehithwa Ntwetwe Thabatshukudu in Moremi and Chobe; camp and hike Ramokgwebana Bottle of beer US$1 Pan Sowa (Sua) Pan Gwanda in the Tsodilo Hills ( p117 ); cruise on the Rakops Kubu Souvenir T-shirt US$5-10 Okavango Panhandle; and explore the Orapa Island Francistown Shashe Shashe River Snack US$1-2 furthest reaches of the Kalahari ( p118 ). D'kar Lethlakane Selebi- To Windhoek Ghanzi Phikwe Bobonong (298km) Serule CLIMATE & WHEN TO GO Khama Rhino North-East Tuli Pont Drift ὄὄὄὈὈὄὄὄὈCentral Kalahari ὄ Mamuno Sanctuary Game Reserve Charles Hill GR Beitbridge HIGHLIGHTS Although it straddles the Tropic of Capricorn, Trans-Kalahari Hwy Serowe Tuli Buitepos Palapye Baines Drift Okavango Delta ( p106 ) Glide through the Botswana experiences extremes in both tem- Block Zanzibar watery expanses in a mokoro, a trad- perature and weather. In the winter (late May Shoshong Sherwood Martin's Drift itional dugout canoe. to August), days are normally clear, warm and Mahalapye Groblersbrug Tropic of Capricorn Chobe National Park ( p101 ) Spot the Big sunny, and nights are cool to cold. Wildlife never River Kang Khutse Polokwane GR (Pietersburg) Five at Botswana’s premier safari park. wanders far from water sources so sightings Kgalakgadi Kopong Letlhakeng Wilderness HukuntsiὈὈTshane Ὀ Central Kalahari Game Reserve ( p119 ) Test are more predictable than in the wetter sum- Trail Limpopo Molepolole Mochudi Kaa Jwaneng the limits of your survival instincts on a mer season. This is also the time of European, GABORONE Odi Mabuasehube- Khakea Thamaga 4WD camping expedition. North American and – most importantly – Nossob Wilderness Tlokweng Trail Mabuasehube Gabane Ramotswa Makgadikgadi Pans & Nxai Pan National Park South African school holidays, so some areas Nossob Rv Section Kanye ( p100 ) Follow the herds of migrating can be busy, especially between mid-July and Werda Mokolodi Lobatse Track NR Access Zeerust Rustenburg zebras and wildebeests in this baobab- mid-September. In summer (October to April), Public Ramatlabama PRETORIA Kgalagadi ὈὈTP Ὀ Mafikeng dotted salt-pan complex. wildlife is harder to spot and rains can render Tshabong Off the beaten track( p117 ) Wander through sandy roads impassable. This is also the time (Two Rivers S O U T H LEGEND Johannesburg Section) A F R I C A GR Game Reserve the ‘Wilderness Louvre’ of ancient San of the highest humidity and the most stifling River NP National Park Ermelo paintings at Tsodilo Hills. heat; daytime temperatures of over 40°C are Molopo Vryburg NR Nature Reserve TP Transfrontier Park common. See p742 for more information on Bokspits To Kimberley WR Wildlife Reserve ITINERARIES the climate in Southern Africa. (136km) Three Days Botswana’s tourist highlight ὈὈ is the Okavango Delta ( p106 ), and if you HISTORY The Boers & the British Britain, though, already had its hands full have only a few days, this is where you’ll For a detailed account of the pre-colonial In 1836, feeling pressured by the British in the in Southern Africa and was in no hurry to take want to focus. Choose Maun ( p106 ) or the history of the whole Southern African region, Cape, about 20,000 Boers set out on the Great on and support a country of dubious profit- Okavango Panhandle ( p116 ) as your base including Botswana’s precolonial history, Trek across the Vaal River into Batswana and ability. Instead, it offered to act as arbitrator and organise a mokoro trip through the see p37 . Zulu territory, staking out new farms for in the dispute. By 1877, however, animosity themselves and displacing local villagers. against the Boers had escalated to such a dan- Bent on establishing trade links with the gerous level that the British conceded and an- TRAVEL TIPS Dutch and Portuguese, the Boers set up their nexed the Transvaal – thereby starting the first Travelling cheaply in Botswana isn’t impossible, but if you can’t afford a flight into the Okavango, own free state ruling the Transvaal – a move Anglo-Boer War. The war continued until the a day or two at Moremi Game Reserve or Chobe National Park, or a 4WD trip through the Kalahari, ratified by the British in the Sand River Con- Pretoria Convention of 1881, when the British you may want to think twice before visiting. Safari lodges – especially those in the Okavango vention of 1852. This effectively placed the withdrew from the Transvaal in exchange for Delta and Chobe National Park – are for the most part exclusive haunts of the wealthy, and you’ll Batswana under the rule of the so-called new Boer allegiance to the British Crown. rarely find anything for less than US$300 for a double. Hotels, camping, car hire, domestic air South African Republic and a period of rebel- With the British out of their way, the flights, meals, alcohol and self-catering prices are comparable to those in Europe, North America lion and heavy-handed oppression ensued. Boers once again looked northwards into and Australasia, and although buses and trains are quite economical (US$1 per hour of journey Following heavy human and territorial losses, Batswana territory and pushed westwards time), they won’t take you to the most interesting parts of the country. the Batswana chiefs petitioned the British gov- into the Molopo Basin. In 1882, the Boers ernment for protection from the Boers. managed to subdue the towns of Taung and 80 BOTSWANA •• History lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com BOTSWANA •• The San 81 BOTSWANA BOTSWANA Mafikeng and proclaimed them the republics to the British public. Fearing that the BSAC of Stellaland and Goshen. They may have gone would allow alcohol in Bechuanaland, the THE SAN much further if it wasn’t for a significant event LMS and other Christian groups backed the The Past that was to change regional politics radically. devoutly Christian Khama and his entourage. BOTSWANA BOTSWANA Traditionally, the San were nomadic hunter-gatherers who travelled in small family bands (usually This was the annexation of South West Africa The British public in general felt that the between 25 and 35 people) within well-defined territories. During the driest parts of the year (modern-day Namibia) by the Germans in Crown should be administering the empire, these groups camped together at seasonal water holes; then in the wet season they’d scatter the 1890s. rather than the controversial Cecil Rhodes. over the country. They had no chiefs or hierarchy of leadership, and decisions were reached by With the potential threat of a German- When Chamberlain returned from holiday, group consensus.