Botswana Travel Advice

General information for Botswana

Continent: Africa

Geographical location: Southern Africa, located in the southern hemisphere

Highest elevation: Monalanong Hill (1494 m above sea level)

Longest river: Limpopo (1600 km) Form of

Government: parliamentary monarchy System of

Government: Parliament- bound executive power

Languages: Official languages: Setswana and English

Neighboring countries: in the south and south-east of south Africa, the west and Nordwsten Namibia, in northeastern Zimbabwe

Capital: Gaborone

Area: approximately 581,730 square kilometers

Population: approximately about 2,024,904 people

population density: approximately 3.4 residents per km²

Religions: Local traditional beliefs 49.2%, Protestants 29.0%, African Christians 11.8%, Catholic 9.4%, other 0.6%

Currency: Pula (BWP), 1 EUR approx. 11.7 (BWP), the current exchange rate, see oanda.com

Climate: semi-arid savannah and semi-desert climate

Time zone: UTC + 2

Area code: +267

Country code: BW

Current: In Botswana outlets of type D, G and M are used. The mains voltage is 3 x 220V with a 50Hz change interval. A travel plug adapter is an advantage.

Check a2zdirectory for old history of Botswana and agooddir for modern history of Botswana.

Travel climate in Botswana

The central location of Botswana in southern Africa far away from the coasts brings with it a continental, dry semi-desert climate, which is just as typical for the steppe and savannah landscape, as is the relatively strong temperature contrasts between day and night, which are up to 20 ° C and in the Winter can also be accompanied by frosty nights. In summer, the thermometer climbs up to the 35 C ° mark during the day, while temperatures at night can drop to single-digit values to a few degrees above freezing point.

During the relatively short rainy season between December and March, there is only around 500 mm of precipitation, the rest of the year it is mostly dry.

Culture and sights in Botswana

Due to protection treaties that the former Tswana rulers concluded with the British government to protect against the immigrating Boers, Botswana was the largest British protectorate in southern Africa from 1885 to 1966 under the name Bechuanaland. Not much has been preserved of the former colonial architecture in Botswana. The major national parks, the Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Salt Pan National Parks, the Savuti Region, the Moremi Game Reserve and the Khutse Game Reserve are primarily worth seeing in Botswana. The Victoria Falls of the Zambezi, located in the northern border area with Botswana in Zambia, are also a very worthwhile excursion destination.

Botswana has produced some important soccer players, including the former German soccer player Nia Künzer. She was born on January 18, 1980 in Mochudi, Botswana and played in the German women’s national team from 1997-2003.

Fixed-date holidays in Botswana

Jan 1st New Year Jan

2nd New Year

1st May

1st May 1st July Day of Sir Seretse Khama

16th July President’s Day

17th July President’s Day

30th Sept. Botswana Day (can also be done on 1st Oct..)

December 25th, Christmas

December 26th, Christmas Day

Medical advice for Botswana

For legal reasons, we as a tour operator are not allowed to communicate any binding medical information for Botswana and therefore refer to the information provided by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Robert Koch Institute and the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health

Travel advice for Botswana

You can obtain current travel and safety advice, information on entering and leaving the country, as well as special criminal law advice and recommendations for your stay in France from the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.