POLOKWANE – Though the official language of Botswana is English, majority of the people there speak Setswana.
Botswana is a landlocked country that has a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which becomes a lush animal habitat during the seasonal floods.
The massive Central Kalahari Game Reserve, with its fossilised river valleys and undulating grasslands, is home to numerous animals including giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.
Botswana has a unique food, seswaa, which is a traditional meat dish made of beef, goat, chicken, lamb or salted mashed-up meat, and the country’s cuisine shares similar characteristics with South Africa with pap, ditloo (beans), samp, vetkoek, braai meat, morogo (spinach) and mopane worms among the favourites.
Watermelons are believed to have originated in Botswana. T
The national flag of Botswana, which is one of the few African flags that utilises neither the colours of the Pan-Africanist movement nor the colours of the country’s leading political party, consists of a light blue field cut horizontally in the centre by a black stripe with a thin white frame.
5 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT BOTSWANA:
• Botswana’s capital is Gaborone, and it’s known for its game reserves, Kgale Hill and art and cultural displays.
• Botswana has the largest elephant population on the continent, and travellers say the best place to see them is at Chobe National Park. The park is known for their large herds of elephants.
• The best time to visit Botswana is said to be between June and August as many animals migrate.
• Botswana is approximately the size of France, but has only two million people living in the country, compared to France’s 66.9 million.
• If you hoping to see two African countries at once then Botswana is the place to go. The border between Botswana and Zambia spans just 150 meters, making it the shortest border in the world.