Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 per cent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the northeast. With a population of slightly over 2.4 million people and a comparable land area to France, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, who constitute nearly 80 per cent of the population.
White Africans account for around 3% of the population of Botswana.
Botswana became a British protectorate in 1885 and gained independence as a Commonwealth nation in 1966. White settlers in Botswana, mainly Afrikaners and a small number of English-speakers, began arriving in the 1860s and primarily settled on farms near the South African border. The White population in Botswana never exceeded 3,000 individuals. The English spoken by the local population is influenced by South African dialects. (Full article...)
Bats are flying mammals of the orderChiroptera (/kaɪˈrɒptərə/). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in length, 150 mm (5.9 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g (0.071–0.092 oz) in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) reaching a weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).
The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats, and the echolocatingmicrobats. But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire batsfeed on blood. Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges; it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators. Bats are present throughout the world, with the exception of extremely cold regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinatingflowers and dispersing seeds; many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services. (Full article...)
Image 25Batswana Men dressed in traditional attire in 1946 (from Tswana people)
Image 26Mokgweetsi Masisi speaking at a conference on the illegal wildlife trade in London in 2018 (from History of Botswana)
Image 27I-Tower at Central Business District (from Gaborone)
Image 28Homestead in the ancient City of Kaditshwene
Image 29A 1960 stamp of the Bechuanaland Protectorate featuring images of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II, the first and last British monarchs of the protectorate (from History of Botswana)
Image 30A postage stamp circa 1943, the postmark reading "Gaborone's Village" (from Gaborone)
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