Botswana

figgy

Registered User
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Hey - Anyone ever been to Botswana for either a holiday or for work?

What was it like? Standard of living, safety, quality of inferstructure, food, crime etc...

Thinking of going over for awhile for work and looking for some basic info which is hard to find apart from the usual sites like foreign affairs etc....

Would like some forst hand info!!!
 
Haven't been but would love to go. A couple from Botswana bought our futon when we moved house!

Families worldwide do trips - you could get some pointers from there??? Keep us posted on any progress ... it's somewhere I hope to get to in 2012 or so ... when my children are older.
 
As my parents have lived in Botswana for the past 10 years I have had the opportunity to visit the country on many occasions. Gaborone which is the capital is in the south of the country, the city has seen a lot of domestic and foreign investment over the last number of years, this is really evident in the development of the road infrastructure along with new buildings etc. The standard of living in BW can be considered quite high (I am looking at it from an ex-pat perspective). Whilst Gaborone is a reasonably developed city there are some things that cannot be taken for granted, i.e nipping into town to shop for new clothes or discovering a new restaurant. Shopping visits to neighbouring Jo'burg in SA are easily done.

As an African country it is politically stable, economically sound and reasonably safe. I use the word reasonably as given the troubles in neighbouring Zimbabwe a number of people cross the border in search of a better life in BW, not always but a lot of the time this leads to petty crime. As BW is home of the big five there is plenty to do at the weekends, there are safari and game drives to suit all tastes and budgets (owning a 4x4 is very advantageous). The Okavango delta is considered a wonder of the world but again the price of visiting a lodge there is reflected in this.

The people are extremely genuine, friendly and well educated (not trying to cast aspersions over other African countries), overall Botswana is a beautiful place. The only down side is that it is obviously a long trek to get there (Dublin to London to Jo-Burg to Gabs = 3 separate flights) and not everybody that lives and works there settles into the African way of life.
(Obviously this is my opinion based on frequent visits)
 
My impression of Botswanian people is they are absolutely lovely, open and welcoming.
I am planning to visit this country at some time in the future myself as I have Botswanian friends there, met on my many travels.

Someone I met randomly who has been to Africa a lot advised me to fly into Johannesburg then either take a cheap flight to Botswana from there or to rent a car/RangeRover and drive which is also relatively cheap to do there.
 
Thanks for the responses....

Potentially living in Gaborone as that is where the company I would be working for is based.

From all I have read here and elsewhere it seems that the people are very friendly and nice, the country resonably developed, crime is not rampent and the standard of living is ok despite they have problem with Aids.

I would be going over for at least 14 months with girlfriend. For those that have lived there, if I rented a reasonable house in a reasonable area would it be somewhere you could be comfortable living in with a family.

Also as an aside - what is the food like? Loacal and availability of international cuisine?

Thanks

F

 
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