Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 per cent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the northeast. With a population of slightly over 2.4 million people and a comparable land area to France, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, who constitute nearly 80 per cent of the population.
Botswana is a landlocked country in SouthernAfrica. Since its independence from the United Kingdom as Bechuanaland on September 30, 1966, Botswana has been a parliamentary republic with a dominant party, namely the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), previously called the Bechuanaland Democratic Party. The first president to govern Botswana was Sir Seretse Khama. The country has had 13 formal general elections since 1961, with one happening every five years. The 2024 election is expected to happen in October. Each president is limited to two five-year terms; Quett Masire, the second president, created Botswana’s term limit in 1997. The country first adopted universal franchise during the 1965 Bechuanaland general election.Every election has been won by the BDP. However, recent elections have shown that support for the BDP is declining. Opinion polls in 2022 conducted by Afrobarometer showed that 29.4% of people surveyed would vote for a main opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), if elections were held the next day, compared to the BDP’s 22.3%, showing signs of instability towards Botswana’s dominant party system. (Full article...)
The plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchellii) is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspecies have been recognised, including the extinct quagga which was thought to be a separate species. More recent research supports variations in zebra populations being clines rather than subspecies.
Plains zebras are intermediate in size between the larger Grévy's zebra and the smaller mountain zebra and tend to have broader stripes than both. Great variation in coat patterns exists between clines and individuals. The plains zebra's habitat is generally, but not exclusively, treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands, both tropical and temperate. They generally avoid desert, dense rainforest and permanent wetlands. Zebras are preyed upon by lions and spotted hyenas, Nile crocodiles and, to a lesser extent, leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs. (Full article...)
Image 13GDP per capita (current), compared to neighbouring countries (world average = 100) (from Economy of Botswana)
Image 14A 1960 stamp of the Bechuanaland Protectorate featuring images of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II, the first and last British monarchs of the protectorate (from History of Botswana)
Image 15Ostriches at Mokolodi Nature Reserve, Botswana (from Gaborone)
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