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They say diamonds are forever, and if that’s true, Botswana is destined to be around for a very long time. One of the largest diamond producing countries in the world, Botswana is home to the Bantu people and is expansively covered by the Kalahari Desert.

The success story of Africa, the country boasts of a stable democratic government and a booming economy. The phenomenal wildlife of the country is a crowd puller and its many game reserves are geared for adventure-seekers and nature lovers.

Idyllic, peaceful, clean, smog-free air, starry nights, scenic beauty, abundant tranquillity and amongst the best hospitality in the world - Botswana is a home away from home!

Historically Speaking

The original settlers in Botswana were the Bush people. About 2000 years ago, the Hottentots came and were followed by the Bantu speaking tribes. The three groups happily coexisted and traded with each other. Shona speakers settled in the north east of Botswana around 10 A.D. The Tswana settled in the south east of the country in 1500 A.D. and were well established in the area by 1800 A.D. Zulu militancy and Boer expansionism between 1820 and 1840 caused the clans to fortify themselves and form a string of nations. The Tswana lobbied for British protection and in 1885 the borders were secured with the declaration of the British Protectorate known as "Bechuanaland". The rivalry between the British and Boers continued.

Though colonized by the British, Botswana was a neglected nation until the early 20th century.Formerly Bechuanaland, Botswana was a country run by one man in the late 19th century, Cecil Rhodes. The British handed over all control of the country to Cecil Rhodes so that he could build a base for his British South Africa Company (BSAC). This did not blend in well with the locals whose pleas were ignored by the local government, which led to a delegation of chiefs from the Tswana tribes sailing to England and appealing for a continuance of government control over the colony. To nobody’s surprise, the pleas went unheard.

In came the London Missionary Society (LMS) who felt that the natives had every right to be rid of the BSAC. As pressure mounted, the British government eventually succumbed to native cries for the BSAC to be thrown out of Botswana. Thus, Botswana remained a British colony till her independence in 1966.

Seretse Khama was the first President of independent Botswana. To this day, the party established by him governs Botswana. Apart from a stable government, this country is economically sound. It recorded the second highest economic growth rate in the world in 1986.

Habitat

Botswana is a landlocked nation with area that stretches over 582,000 and extends 1100km from the north to the south, and 960kms from the east to the west. The Kalahari covers 85% of the country in the central and south-western parts making parts of Botswana sand filled basins. This country also has the world’s largest oasis in the Okavango delta. Eastern Botswana is dotted with low hills, bare rocks and few perennial rivers. Short shrubs and endless grassland characterise the vegetation of the desert land.

Botswana is home to a phenomenal variety of wildlife. Worth mentioning are the elephant, leopard, rhino, hippo, wild dog, cheetah, giraffe and zebra. The dry lands boast of more than 70 species of snakes! There are three species of spitting cobra alone. The others, such as the tree snake (boomslangs) and vine snake, are a common sight in the Okavango delta – they don’t usually bother human beings unless they feel threatened in some way. Botswana is full of feathered friends, some of them of the brown uninteresting type. Among the colourful and exotic ones are the grey lourie with its melancholy "go away" cry, the lilac-breasted roller, the foppish crowned crane and the great snake-basher, the secretary snake, which hops up and down on its prey like a secretary banging on the typewriter!