Botswana

Botswana is a land-locked country dominated by the Kalahari Desert - a sand-filled basin averaging 1,100 metres above sea level. 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 country is situated in the southern African region and about two-thirds of Botswana lies within the Tropics. It is bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn. The distance between the extreme north and the extreme south of Botswana is about 1,110 kilometres. It is 960 kilometres across at its widest. The area of Botswana is approximately 581,730 square kilometres and is about the size of France or Kenya. It is approximately 500 km from the nearest coastline, to the southwest.

The eastern hardveld is a wide strip of land running from the north at Ramokgwebane to the south at Ramatlabama with outcrops of rock dotting the landscape. It is here where 80% of the country's population lives and where its three largest urban centres are situated. The south eastern hardveld also has a slightly higher and more reliable rainfall than the rest of the country with the exception of Bobirwa, which is about dry as Kgalagadi.

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. The Kalahari Desert is mostly 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, a 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. 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 Isreal 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.

More than 17% of Botswana is set aside for national parks and a further 15% devoted to private reserves. Game is prolific both inside and outside the boundaries of the reserves and parks.

Botswana's Climate

Botswana 's climate is semi-arid. Though it is hot and dry for much of the year, there is a rainy season, which runs through the summer months of November to March. Rainfall tends to be erratic, unpredictable and highly regional. Summer days are hot, especially in the weeks that precede the coming of the cooling rains, and shade temperatures rise to the 38°C mark and higher, reaching a blistering 44°C on rare occasions. During the morning period humidity ranges from 60 to 80% and drops to between 30 and 40% in the afternoon.

Winters are clear-skied and bone-dry, the air seductively warm during the daylight hours but, because there is no cloud cover, cold at night and in the early mornings. Sometimes bitterly so - frost is common and small quantities of water can freeze.

The winter season begins in May and ends in August. This is also the dry season when virtually no rainfall occurs. Winter days are invariably sunny and cool to warm; however, evening and night temperatures can drop below freezing point in some areas, especially in the southwest. The humidity is considerably less and can vary between 40 and 70% during the morning and fall to between 20 and 30% in the afternoon.

The in-between periods - April/early May and September/October - still tend to be dry, but the days are cooler than in summer and the nights are warmer than in winter.

For tourists, the best visiting months are from April through to October - in terms of both weather and game viewing. It is during this period that the wildlife of the great spaces gather around the available water and are at their most visible.