Botswana's doing ok

Botswana’s doing ok, or so it would seem based on my very new understanding of the African continent.

The countries are huddled closely together in this big continent, separated physically by lines drawn on a map. Lines that were decided in 1884 by European powers at the Berlin Conference. These lines were formed with no consideration of the boundaries that already existed, or of the people their history and ethnicity who actually lived there.

Because of this, at least to some degree, each African country within its designated boundaries has other complexities to add to the basic foundations of its natural resources, economic policies, and politic agendas. Each generally, because of the Berlin Conference, has a multitude of different tribes, languages, belief systems and cultural traditions that have also to be thrown into the mix.

Besides all the complexities, and maybe thanks to some natural resources, Botswana seems to be struggling less than some. The differences were fairly noticeable to me as I crossed over inside its borders.

What Are The People Like?

From this ethnic mix-up has turned out a Motswana who is humble, respectful, re-conciliatory and peaceful, courteous, friendly, jovial and above all….hospitable.

Quote from the website knowbotswana.com

These are generalisations based on my first impressions of Botswana using Mozambique and South Africa, the only other African countries I’ve spent any time in, as my comparisons.

There are lots of donkeys
They have huge cabbages, some of the biggest I’ve ever seen
The landscape is fairly flat but very well vegetated
The people are genuinely friendly, they are happy to have a chat and even the truck drivers wave at you as they drive past
They are happy to help you out when they can
There isn’t many of them, only 1.5 million
There doesn’t appear to be many homeless people or beggars
They are not shy about asking you to buy something for them when clearly they are not destitute
They love and appreciate their country in a physical sense, from the government down. I was told they will sentence anyone caught burning the land to 15 years in prison
All animals seem to be respected (eg there was a not entirely domestic cat sitting on top of a fridge in the bar of the lodge and when I pointed him out one of the barmen went off and got him some food)
It’s expensive, comparatively
There are huge numbers of very healthy cattle and horses that graze the road side
It gets cold! In July is can get down to 9c at night
Did I mention there are a lot of donkeys? I even saw some strolling past the bowsers at a petrol station in the middle of town. Also, all the rubbish bins are up high, I presume so the donkeys don’t pull them over.