Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa, bordered by South Africa to the south and east, Namibia to the west, and Zimbabwe to the east. The country is smaller than the state of Texas.
Are you thinking about an African safari for your next vacation? One of the best safari destinations on the planet is Botswana, and there are so many reasons why! From boasting the largest elephant population in the world to being home to a fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Site, this southern African country has so much to offer.
Geography and Nature
About 84% of Botswana’s land mass is covered by the Kalahari Desert. The massive Kalahari Desert covers more than 70 percent of Botswana, spans about 360,000 square miles (900,000 square kilometers), and touches nine African countries. While it is called a desert, it is not considered a “true” desert because it occasionally rains there, allowing for the growth of some vegetation.
Even where the Kalahari Desert is dry enough to qualify as a desert due to low precipitation, it is not technically a desert because it has dense ground cover that supports wildlife. Because drought is a problem in Botswana, rain is precious. When rain comes, it's sporadic and often causes flooding.
Most of the country is covered by grassland called savanna. In wetter areas, vegetation can be dense, with forests of Rhodesian teak and acacia dominating the north and east. The most common tree is the baobab tree and some baobabs are 2,000 years old.
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The Okavango Delta is the largest inland delta in the world with an area of over 8,000 square miles (20,000 square kilometers) during the driest periods. The Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in the north are areas of outstanding natural beauty and rich in animal life. The Okavango Delta is a marshy, swamp-like area teeming with life.
Because Botswana experiences little rainfall, sometimes for long periods, wildlife finds it safer to live closer to the delta, where water is available year-round.
Nxai Pan is a seasonal home to large herds of zebra and wildebeest.
Botswana has one of the highest conservation land ratios in Africa, with 37% of the nation’s total land area being set aside as national parks and wildlife reserves.
About 17 percent of Botswana has been set aside for game preserves and national parks.
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The northwestern corner of Chobe meets the Linyanti River-this is a fragment of almost 350 square miles (900 square kilometers) of the secluded Linyanti Reserve. It’s quiet, and wildlife viewing in the Linyati region is excellent.
Located in the northern part of the country, the Okavango Delta is a massive inland river delta known for its immense grassy plains that flood seasonally.
The Okavango Delta in Botswana became the 1,000th site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014. It is one of the largest inland deltas in the world, covering around 15,000 square kilometers (5,800 square miles) during the peak of the flood season. The delta is a major attraction for tourists due to its stunning landscapes and rich biodiversity. Visitors come from around the world to witness the extraordinary concentration of wildlife, including elephants, lions, leopards, and countless bird species.
These vast salt flats, remnants of an ancient lake that once covered much of the region, are among the largest on the planet, spanning an area of around 16,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles). During the dry season, the pans resemble a stark, white desert, creating a surreal and otherworldly landscape.
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
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Wildlife
Botswana is home to the largest elephant population in the world, with an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 elephants. Known as “The Land of The Giants,” Botswana’s Chobe National Park is home to Africa’s largest population of elephants (Loxodonta africana). These elephants primarily roam the northern regions of the country, particularly around the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park. This large population, while a significant conservation success, has also led to challenges.
Human-elephant conflict is an ongoing issue as elephants sometimes encroach on farmland and settlements in search of food and water.
Elephants at Chobe are the largest in body size of all living elephants; they number more than 50,000.
Tourists from all over the globe visit Botswana for safaris and a chance to see amazing wildebeests, giraffes, jackals, hyenas, lions, cheetahs, and other animal species.
Meerkats are also common in the country. Populations of cheetahs and lions continue to decrease due to factors including hunting and farmers protecting their livestock.
Botswana is also a destination for birdwatchers because many bird species stop over as they migrate and many others live in the national parks and reserves year round. The greater and lesser flamingos are colorful residents of Botswana. Botswana’s bird species come from 92 families.
Particularly well represented are diurnal and nocturnal raptors, cuckoos, francolins and spurfowls, larks, cisticolas, and, perhaps surprisingly for a semiarid country, ducks, geese, herons and egrets.
The annual zebra migration across northern Botswana is the longest and one of the most stunning migrations on the continent -and very few people know about it! Botswana hosts one of Africa’s longest zebra migrations-about 500 kilometers between Makgadikgadi Pans and Chobe-Okavango.
Botswana’s Linyanti Game Reserve is a great place to see leopards and African wild dogs. Our new Epic Botswana & Namibia Safari includes witnessing the huge game and predator populations of the Linyanti.
The best time to book your birdwatching safari in Botswana is between November and April.
Botswana chose the zebra as its national animal due to its heritage and conservation values. The Plains Zebra (Equus quagga), known for its black and white stripes, symbolizes community in the nation.
Zebra Migration
People and Culture
Most of the people in Botswana are Tswana and are said to be descended from King Mogale who lived during the 14th century. The Tswana now live primarily in large cities and towns, but many also still live in villages and take care of livestock and grow food.
The next two largest ethnic groups in Botswana are the Bushmen and the Kalanga. Only about one percent of the population is white from Europe or the United States.
Children go to primary school for seven years and then on to secondary school for five years. They learn English in the fifth year of primary school onward, but not many people become fluent. The native language Setswana is also one of South Africa’s official languages.
The San of Botswana are considered the oldest inhabitants on Earth. Archaeological evidence suggests they have lived in Southern Africa for around 25,000 years. The Tsodilo Hills are the spiritual home of the San, and the hills are home to many well-preserved examples of rock art and engravings.
The Tsodilo Mountains in Botswana are renowned for their rich collection of rock paintings, with estimates of around 4,500 individual artworks scattered across various sites in the area. The rock art represents the artistic expressions of the San people, reflecting their beliefs, rituals, and daily life. The paintings often depict animals, human figures, and abstract symbols, providing insights into the culture and spiritual life of the region’s early inhabitants.
This place has been inhabited for the past 100,000 years, making this one of the world’s oldest historical sites. The main drawcard of Tsodilo Hills is its fascinating rock art.
AIDS is an epidemic in Botswana and one of every three people is infected with the virus.
Huts are built using branches and mud.
Huts in Botswana
Government and Economy
For a sense of scale, Botswana is approximately the size of France but has only 2.5 million people. Botswana is one of the countries with the lowest population density in the world, with approximately four people per square kilometer (10 people per square mile). Much of Botswana’s land is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which makes large portions of the country sparsely inhabited.
Botswana has been a stable democracy since it became independent in 1966. Every five years the people elect the members of the National Assembly and the assembly elects the president. The president can remain in office for ten years. In 2004, Botswana was named the least corrupt country in Africa by the World Economic Forum.
Botswana is the world’s largest exporter of diamonds by value, a position it has held for decades due to the country’s rich diamond deposits. Diamond mining plays a crucial role in Botswana’s economy, contributing around 80% of the country’s export earnings and about one-third of its GDP. The country’s largest diamond mine, Jwaneng, is one of the richest in the world, producing high-quality gems. Botswana has also formed a long-standing partnership with De Beers, through the Debswana joint venture, which is responsible for the majority of diamond mining operations.
Botswana’s government is committed to preserving nature and wildlife and offering visitors exclusive safari experiences. “Botswana has long prioritized wildlife conservation. The country’s approach to tourism centers around community involvement and carefully managed visitation. It’s become a model of sustainable wildlife tourism that promotes both conservation and rural economic development.
As safari tourism is such a big part of the country, Botswana is well equipped to offer travellers the best, safest time.
The Botswana pula (BWP) and South African rand (ZAR) relationship reflects long economic ties between South Africa and Botswana. Until 1976, Botswana used the rand before introducing the pula (Botswana dollar) to establish economic independence. The rand is accepted in border towns, tourist areas and major retail chains in Botswana.
History
For centuries foreigners had control of much of Africa. The British and the Dutch (known as Afrikaners) fought to dominate the countries of southern Africa. In 1910, the countries to the south of today’s Botswana formed a Union of South Africa that was home to many white Afrikaners, British settlers, and the black majority. The white settlers controlled the laws and lives of the black South Africans.
Botswana wanted to be free and independent from South Africa. Botswana eventually gained its independence from Britain in 1966. Sereste Khama was the country’s first president.
In 1967, a huge area of diamonds was discovered at Orapa, at the edge of the Kalahari Desert. The Botswana economy grew very quickly with wealth from the diamond mines.
Recent studies of human mitochondrial DNA suggest that modern Homo sapiens first began to evolve in the Makgadikgadi-Okavango around 200,000 years ago. New DNA analyses suggest that a founding maternal line of Homo sapiens emerged in a region of what’s now Botswana that was home to the ancient Makgadikgadi-Okavango wetlands.
Unique Facts
Botswana’s flag stands out from most African flags due to its unique color scheme. While many African flags incorporate red, green, yellow, and black, representing pan-Africanism or colonial influences, Botswana’s flag uses a distinctive combination of light blue, black, and white. The light blue symbolizes water, specifically rain, which is a precious resource in Botswana’s arid environment, dominated by the Kalahari Desert. The black and white stripes represent racial harmony and the coexistence of different ethnic groups in the country.
The border between Botswana and Zambia is the shortest in the world. Botswana shares borders with Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, but the border between Zambia and Botswana is only 492 feet (150 meters) long.
Botswana and Zambia share the shortest border between any two countries in the world, measuring only about 150 meters (492 feet) in length. This brief border exists at a point where the Zambezi and Chobe Rivers meet, near the town of Kazungula. To facilitate transportation and trade between the two countries, the Kazungula Bridge was completed in 2021, connecting Botswana and Zambia across the Zambezi River.
There’s some confusion over the world’s largest salt pan, with both the Makgadikgadi and Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni described that way online.
Taylor Swift’s music video ‘Wildest Dreams’ was shot in the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.
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