Photos of Gaborone and the south east, Botswana

Gaborone is the capital and largest city of Botswana, situated in the south-eastern corner of the country, only 15 kilometres from the border with South Africa. Before independence, the capital was situated outside the country, in Mafeking (or Mafikeng, now Mahikeng, South Africa). In the mid-1960s it was decided to build a city in the area called Gaborones (short for “Gaborone’s Village”, named after the chief of the Tlokwa tribe who lived nearby) on land without tribal claims and nearby fresh water. It was built quickly and labourers built settlements just to the south, called Naledi; in 1973 “New Naledi” was built by the government to house more people, but in 1975 this became an industrial area and “Old Naledi” is now a low-income housing area. The city has grown spectacularly since: it is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and around 10% of Botswana’s population lives in the capital.

Lobatse, 70 kilometres south of Gaborone, is a town of around 30,000 people and upon independence was another possible candidate for a capital of the country; it had an abattoir, a mosque (serving Indian workers) and 5 kilometres of bitumen road, the only stretch in the country. While Gaborone became the seat of the government, Lobatse was selected as the seat of the judicial system. About 50 kilometres north west of Lobatse is Kanye, home to the Bangwaketse people, one of the largest growing villages in Botswana and the administrative centre of the Southern District, with a population of over 45,000. It was established in the 1790 by Makaba, the paramount chief of the Ngwaketse after a battle he lost with the Bakwena (another Tswana-speaking group, living further north). About 32 kilometres north of Kanye is the village of Moshupa (Mosopa) with a population of around 20,000. The people of Moshupa are called the Bakgatla-ba-ga Mmanaana. A unique sight in the village is gigantic mountain outcrops, rocks balanced on top of each other.

Almost 60 kilometres further north is Molepolole, the capital of the Kweneng district and one of the largest traditional villages in Africa with a population of about 70,000 people: these are the Bakwena people, who moved into the area in 1864. Molepolole is on the road leading from Gaborone to the Central Kalahari and about 60 kilometres to the north west of Gaborone. And about 37 kilometres north east of Gaborone is Mochudi, one of the larger villages in Botswana, in Kgatleng District, the Bakgatla tribal region. The village has a population of around 45,000 people and was settled by the Tswana people in 1871. It lies several kilometres from the main Gaborone–Francistown road.