Botswana Travel Guide

Botswana is one of the few remaining destinations in Africa that still provides a good sense of the adventure of safari. Its expansive game parks and preserves, while offering wildlife as diverse and abundant as that found anywhere else, are still largely undeveloped and untamed.

Almost the entire remaining portion of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert--a varied environment of sand, savanna, and grassland. Although this area of Botswana is only sparsely inhabited by humans, it is one of the richest wildlife regions in all of Africa. Botswana's two largest parks, the Central Kalahari Game reserve and Gemsbok National Park, are found in this region.

Botswana's climate can get rather cool, particularly during the dry winter months of June-August when night occasionally brings frost. The rainy summer months (December through March) are best avoided for those interested in enjoying the best game viewing conditions.

The aboriginal inhabitants of Botswana, who have made the Kalahari their home for at least 30,000 years, are the San, or bushmen. The San number about 60,000 today, constituting a small but fascinating cultural minority in the country. Almost two millennia ago, a Bantu people known as the Tswana arrived, supplanting the San and now constituting the great majority of the population.

The discovery of gold in Botswana in the late 19th century attracted the interest of the Boers, leading the fiercely independent but desperate Tswana nations to petition the British for protection.

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