| Botswana
Travel Information
Botswana is a land-locked country dominated in geographical
terms by the Kalahari Desert - a sand-filled basin averaging 1,100 metres
above sea level. The country lies between longitudes 20 and 30 degrees
east of Greenwich and between the latitudes 18 and 27 degrees approximately
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 countries - Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia
- meet at a single point mid-stream in the Zambezi River.
The Chobe River runs along part of its northern boundary; the Nossob
River at its southwestern boundary; the Molopo River at its southern
boundary; and the Marico, Limpopo and Shashe Rivers at its eastern boundaries.
With the exceptions of the Okavango and Chobe areas in the north, the
country has little permanent surface water.
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); indeed 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. The Kalahari extends 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 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 northeastern 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 southeastern 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 northwestern corner, are more
dramatic.
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