Botswana
Beautiful Botswana
Botswana is a jewel in Southern Africa. It's a country of wide open spaces where the wind blows gently for miles without tousling the hair on a single human head, A wild country where game animals abound - where huge herds of elephant and buffalo fill the air with dust and thunder. A friendly country where the people are kind and polite and possess an enormous wealth of traditions and knowledge. It is a country of peace and happiness.
There is serenity in the pureness of unspoiled wilderness and intense spirituality to be found by those who seek it in places such as Tsodilo Hills or under the stars of the heavens that burn bright in the deep night in the Central Kalahari.
But there is also raw adventure, adrenaline triggering encounters with wildlife in the bush and the vast Okavango River teeming with hippos and crocodiles.
There are the quiet villages where people continue to live primarily off of a bountiful land, Cultivating crops of mabele, maize, squash, peanuts and pumpkins and tending to herds of cattle and goats, and fishing in the Okavango.
The largest population of Botswana, and the dominant ethnic group are the Tswana.
Botswana means the land of the Tswana. Motswana are the Tswana people of Botswana. Setswana is the language of the Tswana. English is the official language of Botswana, however Setswana is spoken by most of the people in the country.
Although the Tswana are the primary ethnic group in the country, Botswana is also home to San, or Bushman people, locally known as Basarwa, to Bayei and Hmambukushu who were originally refugees from Namibia, to Kalanga who are related to the Shona of Zimbabwe and to the Herrero who migrated to Botswana from Namibia.
In poetic Setswana, the names for the local currency is the same as the names for rain, which is precious in this desert country. Pula is the name for rain and for the currency, and Thebe is the name for raindrops and also for small copper coins.
I came to this country because I simply fell in love with it and the longer I remain her, the deeper my feelings become. I have read that in the Hmambukushu language, okavango translates "a place that you have been looking for, that you have found, and now you can be happy". I have a home on the Okavango River, and I am happy.
I invite you to enjoy the following photos of my Botswana.
June, 2010 - Nxamasere, Botswana