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CountryOnlineFind.com > Reception >
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Botswana (BW) |
| Continent: |
Africa |
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| Surface: |
582.000 km ² |
| Inhabitants: |
164.015 |
| Capital: |
Gaborone |
International banking code (ISO Codes): |
BW |
| Official language: |
English, kiswahili |
Code: |
+267 |
| Currency: |
Pula |
Number plate: |
RB |
| Routes of Botswana: |
166 |
Routes towards Botswana: |
234 |
| Preferred airports: |
Kasane (BBK), Maun (MUB), Francistown (FRW), Gaborone (GBE) |
| Principal cities: |
Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole, Selebi-Phikwe, Maun, Serowe, Kanye, Mahalapye, Mogoditshane, Lobatse, Palapye, Ramotswa, Thamaga, Mosopa, Letlhakane |
| Airline company based in Botswana: |
Air Botswana |
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Tourist guide Botswana (Africa) |
The Republic of Botswana is a landlocked country of Southern Africa and has borders common with Zambia to north, Zimbabwe in the North-East, South Africa in south-east and Namibia in the west.
Geography: Botswana is located on the plate of the south of Africa and presents two types of very different landscapes. The arid Kalahari Desert extends on approximately 80% from the territory, of the Namibian border to the Delta of Okavango. Only the area of the North-East, on banks of Okavango becomes fertile during the rain season. In this area, water does not miss, it is even in superabundance and generates a single landscape of 15.000 km ² of river, channels, lagoons and islands. It is in this area which the famous national parks of the country to still wild nature are that the violent ones storms still embellish to do of them one of the most beautiful areas of all Africa.
Relief and river: Tsodilo Hills, located in the North-West, is more the high summit of the country and draws up at an average altitude of 1.489 Mr. the longest river of the country, Limpopo posts a 1.600 km length. It takes its source in South Africa and is thrown in the Indian Ocean. Botswana has another large river, Okavango, a 1.300 km length, which takes its source in the heights of Angola around Bie, crosses Namibia and completes its race in the Delta which bears its name.
Climate and period of voyage advised: it reigns in Botswana a climate between semi-desert and desert. The temperatures maximum day laborers turn around 20°C during the eight month that the period lasts dries and fall during the night to border 0°C. During the rain season, from October at May, the climate is heated, become wetter and reaches maximum temperatures of 30°C. The best period to go to Botswana is thus between May and October, because at this period, the wild animals gather around the remaining water points and are thus easier to observe.
Official languages and spoken languages: the official language is English, but in the facts, the population communicates rather in kiswahili, a language bantoue, also taught in the schools.
Health and vaccinations: generally one advises with the travellers to be made vaccinate against hepatitis has, typhus, the polio, the diphteria and tetanus. To prevent the viral diseases transmitted by the insects and the mosquitos, it is in general enough to cover well and apply products anti-insects available on the spot. In Botswana, the risk to contract paludism under one of its forms mortals is important throughout the year, particularly during the rain season and especially north of the country, in the areas of Boteti, Chobé, Ngamiland and Okavango. A consultation near a doctor thus is essential to consider an effective preventive strategy. The health system is satisfactory only in the Gaborone capital. This is why it is highly advised to contract a insurance-voyage including/understanding a insurance-repatriation for the most serious cases. For more safety and to avoid risks of infection, it is recommended to consume only bottled water, to peel the fruits well and to make cook vegetables before consuming them. Lastly, think of providing you with small limps with pharmacy of voyage.
Conditions of entry on the territory: the French nationals must provide themselves with a valid passport for at least six more months at the date of entry on the territory botswanais. At the border posts an authorization of stay not exceeding three months will be delivered to you free. A visa is not necessary. The minor travellers must be provided with an individual passport.
For further information concerning vaccinations, the conditions of entry and the security instructions, you can for example consult the site of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Travel and transport: many airline companies serve the international airport of Gaborone (GBE) of Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), in particular Air France (AF) which proposes direct flights or with stopover, KLM (KL) or Emirates (EK). For the interior flights, one can turn to Air Botswana (BP) the national company which serves the airports of Francistown (FRW), Kasane (BBK) or Maun (MUB). Private airline companies offer also their services. One can also rent small planes or charters.
The capital: Gaborone, the new capital since 1965, is in the south of the country, close to the border with South Africa, and shelters some 200.000 inhabitants. One can visit there the National museum which conceals many objets d'art, in particular a beautiful collection having milked with the culture Bochimane (Bushmen). In the same building the National Gallery is which exposes traditional and modern works of art like some European works. On the many markets, one can acquire for a price defying any competition in Europe of the objects in leather working, ceramics or woven. Just apart from the borders of the city, the animalist park Gaborone Game Reserve deserves also a visit. One will admire antelopes and rhinoceroses there.
Tourist sites: the tourist richness of Botswana lies mainly in its natural heritage. The country abounds literally in national parks and reserves. The animals are here on their premises. One estimates at 80.000 the number of elephants which live on the territory, of which the half elected residence in the area of Chobé. This is explained partly by the discovery 40 years ago of the largest diamond layer of the world. The local population not being now more tributary of the invaluable ivory, practically gave up the hunting of this large mammal. The area of Okavango, immense traversed territory of channels and lagoons, formed by landslides, is particularly rich in natural reserves. The town of Maun is a good starting point to visit this area. During the dry season, from June to September, it is served daily by flights in departure of Gaborone. The safaris on the Okavango river are particularly pleasant. While generally the noise of the engines of the vehicles used for the safaris frighten the animals well before one had the chance to see them, the safaris on the river use quiet dugouts in tree trunk, which makes it possible truly to approach the animals come to water itself on banks of the river. In the immense delta of a surface of 15.000 km ² live more than 200 species of birds and innumerable species of wild animals such as antelopes, lions, leopards, cheetahs, phacochères, giraffes, hyenas, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and elephants. Among the parks which deserve a visit, one can quote those of Moremi, Savuti, Nxai Pan, Ngami, Mabuasehube, Kgalagadi, Sowa or even that of Tshane.
It would be a really shame not to visit the area of Tsodilo Hills, in the north of the Kalahari Desert. On a small surface of 10 km ², classified since 2001 with the world heritage by UNESCO, one can admire the greatest concentration of cave paintings of the world, more than 4.500 drawings and engravings, carried out over one 10.000 years period, pictorial testimony of the populations which followed one another there. For Bochimans, this site revêt a crowned character because it represents the heritage of their ancestors and perpetuates their presence.
Religion: more than 80% of the population practice the worship of the ancestors or other traditional religions. There exists also a small Christian minority which accounts for about 15% of the population. One witnesses a slow emergence of Moslem and Hindu minorities.
Big cities and possibilities of lodging: Gaborone, Francistown, Molepole, Selibe-Phikwe, Maun and Serowe.
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Flights expensive not preferred towards and of Botswana/BW
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