Botswana

Lions, hyenas, elephants, and yes, even metalheads pale in comparison to the brilliant leadership that developed Botswana into Africa’s oldest continuous democracy. That and a great series of books about an innovative woman detective make Botswana a fascinating country to visit while staying at home.

If you only have time for a short virtual trip to Botswana, I highly recommend the movie A United Kingdom, the story of the last king and first president of Botswana, Seretse Khama, his exile to England because he married a white woman, and how he ensured Botswana’s success when other African countries have struggled. That sounds like a documentary – it’s not. It’s a well acted, highly engaging political movie that includes a love story. As in every movie, this is the short version of the story. More detail is available in the well rated book Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation by Susan Williams.

I’ll be honest, I watched and thoroughly enjoyed the movie about Seretse Khama and saved my book reading for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. In this book, we are introduced to Mma Precious Ramotswe, the private investigator protagonist of the series of twenty books, thirty-five episodes on BBC Radio, six television episodes, and even a cookbook. The first book sets up the history and character of Mma Ramotswe and how she came to open her own detective agency. I loved reading about her cases and how she solved them. I understand that you don’t need to read the books in the order they were written to enjoy them. That’s good, because the one that is available free online through Overdrive at my library is Morality for Beautiful Girls, the third in the series. Most, if not all, of the series are available on Kindle, Audible, and paperback as well as other formats.

Speaking of Overdrive, other works on Botswana available free online through the library include:

· Okavango: Africa’s Wild Oasis, a National Geographic documentary

· Whites, a collection of short stories set in Botswana by Norman Rush

· Mating, a novel by Norman Rush

· Larger Than Life, a novel by Jodi Picoult available both as an ebook and an eaudiobook

Additional readily available books by authors who live or have lived in Botswana include those by Bessie Head, Unity Dow, Caitlin Davies, and Lauri Kubuitsile.

We can’t ignore that Botswana is one of the top countries in Africa for safaris, so between Amazon and Netflix, I watched several documentaries including:

· Kalahari

· Lions and Giants Living on the Edge (expect hunting scenes as these lions hunt elephants)

· Ghosts of the Great Salt Lakes (a study of brown hyenas – I think this one was my favorite since the researcher was so passionate about hyenas)

· Mythical Roads, Episode 1: Eden (exploration of the Okovango Delta)

And here is the thing I didn’t expect to find in Botswana, two more documentaries on Amazon showing a rocker culture:

· March of the Gods: Botswana Metalheads (you can also find Wrust’s music on YouTube).

· Queens of Botswana (women who challenge gender stereotypes and religious control to dress as rockers and attend a rock concert)

More beauty from Botswana and options for a great trip can be seen at https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-to-visit-in-botswana/

Finally, when this pandemic is over, you might want to plan travel to Botswana using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Botswana and throughout the world.

Photo Credit Felix M. Dorn though Unsplash