Botswana: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa, between South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its capital is Gaborone, and about 2.5 million people live there, which makes it one of the most thinly populated countries in the world. Botswana is famous for the Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert, huge herds of elephants and its diamonds.

On My Earth Toy you can visit the Okavango Delta, a vast maze of channels, lagoons and islands where a river spreads out into the desert instead of reaching the sea. Every year its floodwaters draw in elephants, hippos, lions, antelopes and countless birds.

Geography and nature

Botswana is mostly flat, and about 70 percent of it is covered by the Kalahari, a sandy semi-desert with grasses and thorny trees. In the northwest the Okavango River fans out into an inland delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Makgadikgadi Pans, among the largest salt flats in the world, fill with shallow water after rain and attract flamingos. Chobe National Park in the north is known for its enormous elephant herds.

People, languages and culture

Most people are Batswana, and the national language is Setswana, while English is the official language of government. The San, one of the oldest peoples of southern Africa, have long lived in the Kalahari as skilled trackers and hunters. Many Batswana value cattle highly, and beef is an important food. Seswaa, slow-cooked pounded meat, is served at celebrations. The currency is called the pula, which means 'rain', a precious thing in a dry land.

History in a nutshell

The Tsodilo Hills hold thousands of ancient rock paintings, showing that people have lived here for a very long time. Bantu-speaking peoples settled the region many centuries ago. In 1885 Britain made the area a protectorate called Bechuanaland. It became independent as Botswana on 30 September 1966 and has held regular democratic elections ever since. Soon after independence, large diamond deposits were discovered, helping the country grow.