Except in case of specific bilateral agreements, all visitors entering Botswana are to have a passport that is valid for at least six months, except those with United Nations Convention travel documents.

All Citizens of Commonwealth countries do not require visa except those from Bangladesh Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Foreign nationals whose countries have signed a Visa Abolition Agreement with Botswana are also not required to apply for a visa. Valid entry visas for the countries which do require them may be obtained from Botswana’s various embassies and High Commissions abroad.

Entry visas obtained at border posts are valid for a maximum 14 days. Visitors are not allowed to stay in Botswana for more than 90 days in every calendar year. Extensions may be obtained from any Department of Immigration office in Botswana.

Botswana is a country in Africa. It is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert.

It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast.

Capital: Gaborone
Currency: Botswanan Pula
Official language: English
Population: 2.588 million (2021) World Bank
Dialing code: +267
Gross Domestic Product: 17.61 billion USD (2021) World Bank

Botswana’s ten districts are:

1. Southern District
2. South-East District
3. Kweneng District
4. Kgatleng District
5. Central District
6. North-East District
7. Ngamiland District
8. Kgalagadi District
9. Chobe District
10. Ghanzi District

Botswana’s councils created from urban or town councils are: Gaborone City, Francistown, Lobatse Town, Selebi-Phikwe Town, Jwaneng Town, Orapa Town and Sowa Township.

The name Botswana refers to ‘Land of the Tswana’. The landlocked, Southern Africa country is officially known as the Republic of Botswana.

Botswana is connected to Zambia through the Kazungula Bridge making it the world’s shortest border between two countries.

A country of slightly over 2 million people (2021), Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation state of the Tswana ethnic group, who make up 79% of the population.

About 11.6 per cent of the population lives in the capital and largest city, Gaborone.

Formerly one of the world’s poorest countries—with a GDP per capita of about US$70 per year in the late 1960s—it has since transformed itself into an upper-middle-income country, with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

The Tswana ethnic group were descended mainly from Bantu-speaking tribes who migrated southward of Africa to modern Botswana, living in tribal enclaves as farmers and herders.

In 1885, the British colonised the area and declared a protectorate under the name of Bechuanaland.

As colonisation stopped, Bechuanaland became an independent republic under its current name on 30 September 1966.

Since then, it has been a representative republic, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections and the lowest perceived corruption ranking in Africa since at least 1998.

The economy is dominated by mining and tourism. Botswana has a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $18,113 as of 2021, one of the highest in subsaharan Africa.

Botswana is the world’s biggest diamond producing country.

Its relatively high gross national income per capita gives the country a high standard of living and the third-highest Human Development Index of continental Sub-Saharan Africa (after Gabon and South Africa).

The country has been adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2002, Botswana began offering anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to help combat the epidemic.

Botswana is a member of the Southern African Customs Union, the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations.