Botswana

Discover Botswana

Fun Foods

Seswaa, Pap, Morogo, Magwinya

Botswana went from one of Africa's poorest countries to one of its richest in just 30 years. The secret? Diamonds. Lots and lots of diamonds.

But before the bling, there were the San people. These hunter-gatherers have lived in the Kalahari Desert for at least 20,000 years.

They track animals using skills passed down for thousands of generations. They know every plant, every water source, and every animal behavior in the desert.

Fast forward to 1885. Britain made Botswana a protectorate called Bechuanaland. The Tswana chiefs asked for British protection because German and Dutch settlers kept trying to steal their land.

Then came a love story that almost derailed independence. In 1947, a chief named Seretse Khama fell in love with a White British woman named Ruth Williams while studying in London. They got married, and South Africa lost it.

South Africa had just made it illegal for Black and White people to marry. Here was their neighbor's future leader doing exactly that.

Britain actually banned Seretse from his own country to keep South Africa happy. For six years, he couldn't go home. When he finally came back in 1956, people treated him like a hero.

In 1966, Botswana became independent on September 30th. Seretse Khama became the first president and stayed in power until he died in 1980.

Then they found diamonds. Massive deposits that transformed everything. Botswana became stable, wealthy, and one of Africa's success stories.

All that wealth helped protect Botswana's incredible wildlife.

Go on safari in the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where water from Angola floods the Kalahari Desert every year. Ride in a mokoro, a traditional dugout canoe, through channels filled with hippos and crocodiles.

Chobe National Park has the world's largest elephant population. You'll see herds of hundreds crossing rivers and eating everything in sight.

Visit the Kalahari Desert to meet San guides who teach you how to track animals and find water in the sand. You might even spot meerkats standing guard.

After all those safari adventures, you'll work up an appetite.

Seswaa is the national dish. It's shredded beef or goat cooked until it falls apart, served with pap, a thick cornmeal porridge. Morogo are wild greens that taste earthy and fresh.

Feeling brave? Try mopane worms. They're actually caterpillars, dried and crunchy like chips.

They taste nutty and are loaded with protein. Kids either love them or refuse to look at them.