A virtual guide to Botswana, a landlocked country in southern Africa. It is bordered by Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

With an area of 582,000 sq km the country is slightly larger than France, or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas.

Approximately two-thirds of the country lies within the Tropics. Botswana is well known for having some of the best wilderness and wildlife areas on the African continent. 38% of its total land area are devoted to national parks, reserves and wildlife management areas.

The country is sparsely populated because up to 70% of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert, the vast arid to semi-arid landscape in Southern Africa covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. Botswana's population of 2.2 million people (in 2016) is concentrated in the eastern part of the country.

Background