Off to Botswana

Welcome! In a little more than 8 hours, I'll be flying to Gaborone, capital of Botswana, through the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. The surreal feelings of expectation and waiting are hard to put into words. Botswana is a beautiful and peaceful country in southern Africa, full of biodiversity, expansive desert and multitude of different peoples and cultures. To the north lies the Okavango River Delta, which drains into the sands of the Kalahari Desert. But before doing so, it makes a marshy home for millions of birds, plants, hippos, crocodiles, and other animals, and provides for the inhabitants of Maun and the surrounding country. Botswana also is home to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, modern home of the San people, who speak (along with Khoisian peoples) a unique language interspersed with tongue clicks. The San maintain a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and culture, although this is continually under threat of change by modern times.

Prefixes are all-important to the Tswana people, the main ethnic group in Botswana- the official languages are English and Setswana and a citizen of the country is Motswana, in plural Batswana. Botswana is home to the fastest-growing economy in Africa, evidenced by the success of their diamond mining corporation, Debswana, and the multitude of modern architecture one finds in Gaborone. Yet, the country struggles with an HIV infection rate of approx. 25%, and tuberculosis continues to be a problem. Thus I see Botswana as a land full of culture and dichotomies, and I can't wait to begin my exploration.

More to come after I touch down in Gaborone and get myself oriented, stay tuned!