En Route Travelling around Botswana

There are not many who travel to Botswana who don’t ultimately visit the Okavango Delta. There are five major road routes criss-crossing the country, some with by-roads and side-roads, and others that demand  diversions. Whichever you choose, each has its own distinctive appeal and will deliver you to Maun, the ‘Gateway to the Okavango’.

Gabs City

Gaborone, or Gabs City as the locals call it, is one of the world’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas. While it only attained city status in 1986, phenomenal growth has seen it turn from a dusty backwater town into one of the continent’s most impressive capitals.

It has, in the process, become the epitome of a modern African city – embracing the technology, design and fads of the West, but keeping the vibe and pulse of Africa.

The rush of development is pushing the suburban limits ever further into the scrubby countryside and, in an attempt to cope with the burgeoning congestion, a network of highways and traffic circles now sweeps Gaborone’s outskirts, taking the traffic away from the crowded inner city.

Gabs residents have embraced the material world wholeheartedly, and a bout of healthy consumerism is most definitely helping to fuel the city’s growth. The ballooning middle class spends with gusto and the hip set has acquired a swagger that tells of their success and newfound status. Because everyone loves a winner, the city is attracting outside attention.

Continental corporations and international agencies are increasingly focusing their expansion plans Gaborone’s way, as they look to establish regional offices or representation of some sort in the city.

Gaborone offers visitors almost everything that is expected of a modern, developing city in Africa. It’s a comfortable and convenient place to do business, with up-to-date banking and technology services. There’s a wide range of accommodation and it’s a relatively safe place to be. If you’re on holiday time, hang around for at least a few days and let Gabs surprise you.

The Gabs Guide:

Eating Out:

• The Bull and Bush – Hearty pub fare, with an expat crowd, and everyone knows where it is.
• The Maharaja – The best Indian food in town. Situated right next door to The Bull and Bush.
• Primi Piatti– Pizza, pasta and snack-type lunches and dinners, with the hip crowd. Situated in the River Walk.
• Mugg & Bean – It’s in Game City, and the perfect place to take a breakfast or lunch break while shopping.
• Sanitas – Breakfasts and lunches in a tranquil garden setting alongside the Gaborone Dam.
• The Blue Tree – Lunch and dinner are served. Situated in the Marupula district.
• Mokolodi Restaurant – Elegant dining in the tranquillity of a nature reserve. A short distance outside the city. Shopping:
• The River Walk– Pick ’n Pay is the anchor tenant amongst a variety of designer stores and restaurants, and an Exclusive Books. Situated on the road out to the Tlokweng border post.
• Game City – Gabs’ mega-centre offers everything from major chain outlets and supermarkets to designer stores and restaurants, as well as a Batsalo Books outlet. You can’t miss it, just off the Lobatse Road traffic circle.
• The Craft Centre– A precinct set in Broadhurst, with a variety of boutiques and arts and craft shops. And the Deli has a great lunch menu.
• Kagiso Centre – A complex of non-designer stores and street vendors in Kagiso. Internet Cafe’s: Every branch of Postnet has internet facilities, and all the major shopping complexes have at least one internet café.

Arts and crafts

Botswanacraft – Situated on the airport side of town, just off the Western Bypass, this large warehouse-type outlet sells all manner of crafts and curios.

Thapong Visual Art Centre – A venue with resident painters and sculptors, which hosts ongoing exhibitions and workshops.

Thamaga Pottery – Traditional and contemporary pottery and crafts made at Botswelelo Centre, a community-based project on the Kanye road, approximately 40 kilometres outside Gaborone.

Frame Gallery – This gallery, which is situated in the Fairground Centre, usually has a good selection of local art on display.

Gallery Ann – Art and antiques in the Craft Centre complex, Broadhurst.

Botswana National Museum – Houses various permanent exhibitions of historical, cultural and natural history, as well as rotating exhibitions of art and traditional crafts.

The Mall – A pedestrian walkway, filled with street vendors selling curios and crafts. Beware the pickpockets.

Nightlife

• Chedza Ntemba – Dance the night away with the locals.
• Sports Café – Pub meals and bar, with big-screen tele-visions for the sporty crowd.
• The Bull and Bush – Bar and live music venue that is an old favourite with the ex-pat crowd.
• The Lizard Lounge – Live and dance music, with a mixed crowd.

Golf

The Phakalane Golf Estate and Hotel Resort – This new estate, situated 10 minutes outside Gaborone on the Francistown road, offers luxury chalets alongside an exceptional golf course.  The estate also has superb restaurant and bar facilities, and by December 2004 will have a five-star hotel and health spa, with full conference and convention facilities.

The Gaborone Golf Club – A municipal golf course within the city limits.

Where to stay

• The Grand Palm Hotel – Five-star hotel, with casino and grand conference facilities.
• Cresta Lodge – Middle-of-the-range option.
• Cresta President Hotel – Cheaper option, in the centre of town.
• Gaborone Sun – Five stars, with casino.
• Hidden Valley – For campers and self-drives this is the only option. Situated in Mokolodi Nature Reserve.
• Mokolodi Nature Reserve – Comfortable lodge and a good alternative to the big-city hotel scene.

Gabs–Francistown Route

Back when the Okavango was still a pioneer-type destination, the only way to get to it was the Gabs–Francistown route – that’s if you didn’t want your vehicle to be completely ruined from attempting to cross the Kalahari. Over the last decade, as the country’s roads have been tarred, alternative routes have opened up, making this traditional option a lot less appealing.

The road is busy, often congested with commercial trucks and large buses, and, because wayward livestock and pedestrians are always wandering along its verges, it has never been particularly safe to travel.

You’ll pass the towns of Mahalapye and Palapaye in a blink, unless you need fuel, in which case Palapaye is the better option. You can make it to Maun in one day, but, if you don’t, the best overnight stops are Camp Itumela in Palapye and Nata Lodge in Nata. Both offer clean and comfortable chalets and camping with self-catering and bar facilities.

To avoid Gaborone, an alternative route is to enter Botswana at the Martins Drift border post and head for Francistown via Selebi Phikwe. For the late starters leaving Johannesburg, Kwa Nokeng, a small lodge and campsite immediately across the border, is a comfortable place for you to spend the night.

Primi Piatti in the River Walk Centre. Independence Avenue, in the capital Gaborone. The Attorney General’s Chambers in the city centre: one of the newest and most impressive high-rise buildings that have recently gone up in Gabs.

Visit any taxi rank or mall parking lot and there is likely to be a game of morabaraba on the go. With a population of approximately 110 000, Francistown is the country’s second largest urban settlement. It is also reputedly the oldest, having been established as a mining community during the 1880s when gold prospecting took place along the banks of the Shashe River.

It was Daniel Francis, one of the early mining concessionaires, who gave his name to the town, and ever since then the commercial traditions of Francistown have continued. Today it remains a hub of light industry, textile milling and leather manufacturing.

Palapye, an hour’s drive south of Francistown, and Nata, 90 minutes closer to the Okavango, are ideal as overnight stops.

Trans- Kalihari

The Selebi–Phikwe road joins the main Gaborone Francistiown road at Serule. Billboards are a common feature along the Gabs–Francistown route. The main market in Francistown.

Slicing across the vast hinterland of the Central Kalahari, the Trans-Kalahari Highway offers the most leisurely road route to the Okavango. When entering from the South African side, use the Pioneer’s Gate border post, avoid the small, nondescript towns of Lobatse and Kanye, and hit the open road. With long, lonely stretches of tar, this highway takes you on a remote countryside crossing, as it heads west and then north. 

Jwaneng, a modern town built solely around a large diamond mine (tours are allowed only with a permit obtained by prior arrangement), and Kang, a typical agricultural village, offer the two fuel stops this side of midday. Otherwise it’s Ghanzi, another 250 kilometres on.