Travel guide Botswana

Very popular, this creamy liqueur can be enjoyed as a digestive as well as a dessert. It is made from the fruit of the marula tree, a member of the anacardiaceae family that grows in the north of the country. Elephants love this fleshy fruit, which is said to ferment directly in their stomachs. One too many marula and they're tipsy!

Once a week, villagers gather to share a local dinner, sing, dance and feast in good spirits. The boma designates both this meeting place, an open-air space built around a campfire, and the name of the evening. An old custom that is still perpetuated today throughout the country!

Before the advent of the car and modern means of transport, the donkey was used as a draught animal for agriculture as well as a means of locomotion. The donkey cart is a plough pulled by one or more donkeys. Common in Kalahari towns, these picturesque carriages are still used to transport children to school.

The kgotla system, which is deeply rooted in Batswana customs, is none other than participatory democracy. Although it has lost some of its vigour nowadays, the tradition nevertheless remains. It is indeed in the kgotla that politicians come to speak during their campaigns and that minor offences are judged.

This beautiful white-tailed and white-bellied bovid looks like a mixture of gazelle and antelope. It can be seen in almost every park and reserve in Botswana. It is not uncommon to hear a guide refer to it as "the fast food of Botswana", probably because its predators only eat one bite and are hungry again two hours later!

The mokoro is a canoe used by the Okavango people on the shallow waters of the delta. Traditionally made from wooden trunks, they are now constructed from fibreglass, with the environment in mind. Handling a mokoro is an art that relies on the precise management of balance and weight!

These are huge depressions, the remains of ancient dry lakes from the period when the country enjoyed a temperate climate. They can be found all over the Kalahari and the most famous, by their size and especially their whiteness, are those of Sowa and Ntwetwe.

A sacred term in the eyes of the Botswana people, this word has many meanings, but above all it refers to the beneficial rain. It is therefore natural that the national currency took this name in 1976 when it replaced the South African rand. It is also the word used to toast friends or to announce the arrival of a big event!

The common greeting is a handshake. It is similar to ours, but differs in one important detail: here, it is appropriate to greet with both hands as a sign of respect. The second hand is placed under or on the forearm. There are some local variations with sets of handles that are very easy to pick up.

The sausage tree or Kigelia africana is one of the most curious trees in Botswana. As its name suggests, it can be recognized by its fruits: giant sausages that can measure more than 50 cm long and weigh up to 5 kg! These strange specimens fall in an impromptu way. Siesta lovers should refrain, it could cost you your head!

This is the little aperitif that we have at sunset, after having tracked mammals and birds for several hours. A speciality of the top lodges, this convivial cocktail is held, as it should be, in the heart of the bush, at the intoxicating hour when the predators start to move in the red colours of the setting sun.

Present in large numbers in Botswana, the zebra, although intelligent and harmless, has never been domesticated. It is undoubtedly this mixture of wild and gregarious character that seduced the people of Botswana to choose it as their national animal. The players of the national football team, who call themselves the Zebras, are also honouring it.