Botswana

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Re go amogetse mo Botswana

Botswana may be a land-locked nation overwhelmed in topographical terms by the Kalahari Desert – a sand-filled basin averaging 1,100 meters above ocean level. The nation lies between longitudes 20 and 30 degrees east of Greenwich and between the latitudes 18 and 27 degrees around south of the Equator.

Botswana is bordered by Zambia and Zimbabwe to the northeast, Namibia to the north and west, and South Africa to the south and southeast. At Kazungula, four nations – Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia – meet at a single point mid-stream within the Zambezi Waterway – also known as the quadripoint.

The Chobe River runs along portion of its northern boundary; the Nossob River at its southwestern boundary; the Molopo Stream at its southern boundary; and the Marico, Limpopo and Shashe Rivers at its eastern boundaries. Be that as it may, in spite of these numerous waterways, the nation has small lasting surface water with the special cases of the Okavango and Chobe zones within the north.

Where is Botswana

An African safari to Botswana goes to a nation situated within the southern African locale and about two-thirds of Botswana lies inside the Tropics; it is divided by the Tropic of Capricorn (the nonexistent line of latitude which is 23° 30′ south of Equator) just south of the town of Mahalapye.

Typically the foremost southern scope where the sun is straightforwardly overhead at twelve. This happens on December 21st, the longest day of the year in this hemisphere.

The distance between the extreme north and the extreme south of Botswana is approximately 1,110 kilometers. It is 960 kilometers at its most extensive. The area of Botswana is around 581,730 square kilometres and is almost the measure of France or Kenya. It is roughly 500 km from the closest coastline, to the southwest.

Dialect in Botswana

Setswana is the national dialect with minor contrasts in lingo eminent around the nation. English is the official commerce dialect, and it is broadly spoken in urban regions with most composed communication being in this dialect. Be that as it may, knowing and employing a bit of Setswana continuously makes a difference and Batswana will be pleased that you have made the effort.

Craftsmanship in Botswana

There are bunches of individuals and organizations advancing indigenous crafts, recently introduced crafts or western craftsmanship shapes. Their items can be obtained in curio, craft, gift shops and shopping centers in Gaborone, Francistown, Maun and Kasane and at safari camps within the Okavango and Chobe districts.

Basketry

Botswana bushel are broadly regarded as a few of the finest in Africa, and certainly the leading in southern Africa. Their high quality, extraordinary artisanship and creativity have gained them universal recognition, with exports to numerous nations around the world.

This is often a honed piece of thick wire set in a wooden handle, which is utilized to pierce the tight coil and insert and after that wrap the palm.

Numerous conventional basket designs are representative of creatures and nature. Numerous basket-makers say they don’t know the roots of these designs, but a few claim they were taken from the plans of Mbukushu beaded skirts and overskirts.

Customarily, baskets had numerous viable uses, with the shape directing its work. With the introduction and adoption of mass-produced western buckets, bottles and pots, basket making declined.

In 1973, BotswanaCraft Promoting Company, hoping to produce income for country Batswana, started buying Ngamiland baskets and other crafts. BotswanaCraft and other wholesalers have proceeded to showcase Ngamiland baskets and crafted works, are presently traded to North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

A National Museum yearly basket exhibition brings the year’s best baskets to Gaborone. Guests to rural ranges have the opportunity to buy crafts directly from the makers.

Earthenware

Few households in Botswana still utilize conventional pots as receptacles to hold water, and there are only a small number of country women who still make conventional ceramics, generally to sell.

In any case, the tradition is showing signs of recovery as the traveler market develops. Cutting edge ceramics are delivered at a few small-scale earthenwares makes in Gabane and Thamaga, both found close Gaborone.

Weaving

Oodi Weavers, found within the town of Oodi just north of Gaborone, has picked up an universal reputation for its fine work utilizing karakul wool. These artisans deliver high-quality, hand-woven embroidered works of art, carpets, bed covers, coats and coats, counting locally inspired designs and designs.

Basketry

Botswana baskets are broadly regarded as a few of the finest in Africa, and certainly the finest in southern Africa. Their high quality, extraordinary artisanship and creativity have gained them universal recognition, with exports to numerous nations around the world.

The baskets are made of the mokolwane palm (Hyphaene petersiana), which are cut and boiled in characteristic earth-tone colouring. The lemao (in Setswana) is the main instrument utilized to create the baskets. This is often a honed piece of thick wire set in a wooden handle, which is utilized to pierce the tight coil and insert and after that wrap the palm.

Customarily, baskets had numerous viable uses, with the shape directing its work. With the introduction and adoption of mass-produced western buckets, bottles and pots, basket making declined.

In 1973, BotswanaCraft Marketing Company, hoping to produce income for country Batswana, started buying Ngamiland baskets and other crafts. BotswanaCraft and other wholesalers have proceeded to showcase Ngamiland baskets and crafted works, are presently traded to North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

A National Museum yearly basket exhibition brings the year’s best baskets to Gaborone. Guests to rural ranges have the opportunity to buy crafts directly from the makers.

Earthenware

Few households in Botswana still utilize conventional pots as receptacles to hold water, and there are only a small number of country women who still make conventional ceramics, generally to sell.

Weaving

Woodcarving

Woodcarving has played an active role in production of traditional items such as tools, cups and bowls, and spoons; all fashioned from the wood of the Mophane tree.

Elsewhere, animal figures may be carved by individuals living in rural areas, and then brought to the towns to be sold. Artists are now using Mophane wood to produce jewellery as well as animal and human figurines.

Jewellery

Jewellery made of beads, ceramics, stones and malachite are produced in cottage industries across the country and sold in urban areas of the country. These traditionally oriented products are now augmented by more contemporary designs increasing in popularity in urban areas.

Bushmen Crafts

Tourism and those on Botswana tours get fascinated with the Bushmen have brought a revival of sorts to traditional Bushmen crafts. San artisans now produce and sell hunting sets, fire-making sticks, beaded jewellery and belts, leather items and musical instruments for sale in craft markets across the country.

Authentic ostrich eggshell beadwork is still produced, and the contrast of the creamy white beads on brown and black leather thread makes for attractive jewellery and decoration.

The Mokoro

The Mokoro is the traditional dug-out canoe used by the fishermen of the Okavango Delta. This, typical African craft was brought to the delta by the Bayei people in the 18th century. Hewn from a single tree, it is a narrow vessel with a rounded bottom and no keel.

To the inexperienced these canoes appear extremely precarious, but they are actually surprisingly stable when properly loaded and they are especially suited to shallow delta waters.

The vessel is propelled either by paddles or a pole. To protect trees in the delta, mokoro are now primarily moulded from original craft with fibre glass.

Art

There are many local artists – citizen and expatriate – working in Botswana. Paintings are sold in local galleries, curio shops or even displayed in Gaborone or Francistown malls. However, most artists prefer to stage exhibitions in the National Museum, or Thapong Art Centre, or at their private homes.

The National Museum in Gaborone has an annual art competition for all schools in the country, the results of which are usually quite interesting.

The National Museum hosts an annual National Art Exhibition in which all artists living and working in Botswana are invited to participate. The Kuru Development Trust in Ghanzi District is encouraging the growth of Bushmen painting.

Natural Features in Botswana

The eastern hardveld, where 80% of the country’s population lives and where its three largest urban centres are situated, is a wide strip of land running from the north at Ramokgwebane to the south at Ramatlabama.

It has a more varied relief and geology with inselbergs (outcrops of resistant rock) and koppies (rocks that have been weathered into blocks) dotting the landscape.

The south eastern hardveld also has a slightly higher and more reliable rainfall than the rest of the country (except Bobirwa, which is about dry as Kgalagadi). The natural fertility and agricultural potential of the soils, while still low, are greater than in the Kalahari sandveld.

The Kalahari Desert stretches west of the eastern hardveld, covering 84% of the country, extending far beyond Botswana’s western borders, covering substantial parts of South Africa, Namibia and Angola.

‘Desert’, however, is a misnomer: its earliest travellers defined it as a ‘thirstland’. Most of the Kalahari (or Kgalagadi, which is its Setswana name) is covered with hardy vegetation including stunted thorn and scrub bush, trees and grasslands.

The largely unchanging flat terrain is occasionally interrupted by gently descending valleys, sand dunes, large numbers of pans and, in the extreme northwest, isolated hills, such as Aha, Tsodilo, Koanaka and Gcwihaba.

Many of the pans have dune systems on the southwest side, which vary in size and complexity. The pans fill with water during the rainy season and their hard surface layer ensures that the water remains in the pans and is not immediately absorbed.

These pans are of great importance to wildlife, which obtain valuable nutrients from the salts and the grasses of the pans.

In the north-west, the Okavango River flows in from the highlands of Angola and soaks into the sands, forming the 15,000 sq. km network of water channels, lagoons, swamps and islands.

The Okavango is the largest inland delta system in the world a bit smaller than Israel or half of Switzerland. The north-eastern region of the Kalahari Basin contains the Makgadikgadi Pans – an extensive network of salt pans and ephemeral lakes.

Although Botswana has no mountain ranges to speak of, the almost uniformly flat landscape is punctuated occasionally by low hills, especially along the south-eastern boundary and in the far northwest.

Botswana’s highest point is 1,491m Otse Mountain near Lobatse, but the three major peaks of the Tsodilo Hills, in the country’s north-western corner, are more dramatic.

Climate in Botswana

Botswana’s climate is semi-arid. Though it is hot and dry for much of the year, there is a rainy season, which runs through the summer months. When it does rain, it tends to be episodic, unpredictable, and highly regional.

Often a heavy downpour may occur in one area while 10 or 15 km away there is no rain at all. Showers are often followed by strong sunshine so that a good deal of the rainfall does not penetrate the ground but is lost to evaporation and transpiration.

‘Pula’, one of the most frequently heard words in Botswana, is not only the name of Botswana’s currency, but also the Setswana word for rain. Similarly, the word is used as a toast, where in other countries you might wish good health. So much of what takes place in Botswana relies on this essential, frequently scarce commodity.

Seasons in Botswana

With the exceptions of the early summer that bring searing heat, Botswana’s climate is one of its biggest drawcards. The summer season begins in November and ends in March. It usually brings very high temperatures.

However, these high temperatures bring unstable conditions and rain. Rain and cloud cover can cool things down considerably, although only usually for short periods of time.

The winter season begins in May and ends in August. This is also the dry season when virtually no rainfall occurs. Winter days are invariably sunny and cool to warm.

However, with no cloud cover, evening and night temperatures can rapidly fall reaching below zero in some areas, especially in the southwest.

The in-between periods – April/early May and September/October – still tend to be dry, but the days are cooler than in summer and the nights are warmer than in winter.

Rainfall

The rainy season is in the summer, with October and April being transitional months. January and February are generally regarded as the peak months.

The mean annual rainfall varies from a maximum of over 650 mm in the extreme northeast area of the Chobe District to a minimum of less than 250mm in the extreme southwest part of Kgalagadi District.

Almost all rainfall occurs during the summer months while the winter period accounts for less than 10 percent of the annual rainfall. Generally, rainfall decreases in amount and increases in variability further west and south.

Temperatures

Summer days are hot, especially in the weeks that precede the cooling rains, and shade temperatures rise to the 38°C mark and higher, reaching a blistering 44°C on rare occasions.

Winters are clear-skied and bone-dry, the air seductively warm during the daylight hours but, because there is no cloud cover, cold at night and in the early mornings. Sometimes bitterly so – frost is common and small quantities of water can freeze.

Humidity

In summer during the morning period humidity ranges from 60 to 80 % and drops to between 30 and 40 % in the afternoon. In winter, humidity is considerably less and can vary between 40 and 70% during the morning and fall to between 20 and 30 % in the afternoon.

For those on Africa safaris to Botswana, the best months to visit Botswana are from April through to October – in terms of weather and game viewing.

During this period, the wildlife of the great spaces gathers around what water there is – the natural waterholes and the borehole-fed dams – and are at their most visible. Visibility is also increased when the weather is drier and the grasses are lower.

Land of the Tswana

There are so many places that you can visit in Botswana but there are some other attractions that stand out more than others and are worth visiting during Botswana Safari. These make the list of the top Tourist Attractions In Botswana.

There are many tours that you can do in Botswana and the most common is the overland tour, where you can drive around to most parts of the country in an overland truck. Most common tours include a Botswana Wildlife Safari, Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park package, Desert tracking, Premium safaris and 5 to 10 day safaris.