Population - 1.82 million (mostly in the south)

Ethnic groups - Tswana 79%, Kalanga 11%, Basarwa 3%, Kgalagadi 3%, white 3%, other 1%

Languages - Setswana (spoken by 80 % of people), English (official)

Geography - Predominantly desert – the Kalahari sprawls over central and western Botswana, covering 70% of the country. Only in the north, where the Okavango river opens into its inland delta, is there any relief for the baked land. The vast Makgadikgadi salt pan is in the north east.

Climate - Erratic and highly regional rainy season in January/February (when temperatures are up to 44°); otherwise arid. In May, we can expect high temperatures with little chance of rain.

Roads - 25,233 km (8,867 km paved)

THE CYCLE OF LIFE IN BOTSWANA

Just like we will have seen in Namibia, we will find that Botswana is a country dominated by desert. The Kalahari is one of the most inhospitable environments in the world, and it is no surprise that few people live inside it. We will have to cross the entire desert, from its northwest to southeast corners, and to do so we will have to take notes from the indigenous people who have sustained such a lifestyle for millennia. Life in the Kalahari is so primeval that the Bushmen who inhabit it are genetically the oldest people on the planet – they have truly become a part of their environment. Conservation could learn a lot from the example set by the sustainable nature of the Bushmen’s hunter-gatherer techniques. Similarly, the persecution they have suffered should serve as a lesson for those looking to bring development to primitive and isolated peoples.

In contrast to early discrimination against Bushmen, the ruling in December 2006 that they should be allowed to return to the land from which they were displaced is better representative of modern Botswana. It also contrasts with the methods of resolving land issues in neighbouring Zimbabwe and South Africa. Diamonds may have endowed the country with a growth economy following its independence in 1966, but the political stability that sees the country lead the way in African civil rights must be credited to the Botswanan people and the shared identity they have forged.

ROUTE

  • We will cross into Botswana from Namibia to the west. On entering our immediate task will be to take on the Kalahari cyclist’s nightmare: the Trans-Kalahari Highway. This road is a 900 km strip of hot tarmac laid out across the desert and will take us ten days to complete.
  • Beyond the Kalahari is Mokolodi Nature Reserve, an extraordinary educational facility that is visited by 80% of Botswana’s children.
  • From Mokolodi we will head north to the lunar Makgadikgadi salt pans.
  • A bit of re-routing will see us then head back on ourselves in order to visit the Moremi Rhino Project in the Okavango delta before we head into Zimbabwe.