Central southern Africa.

GMT + 2.

581,730 sq km (224,607 sq miles).

1.8 million (estimate 2008).

3.2 per sq km.

Gaborone. Population: 208,411 (estimate 2005).

Botswana is landlocked, bordered to the south and east by South Africa, to the northeast by Zimbabwe and to the north and west by Namibia. It also touches Zambia just west of the Victoria Falls. The tableland of the Kalahari Desert covers the centre and south. The principal wildlife areas are the Okavango Delta to the northwest, the largest inland delta in the world, which includes the Moremi Game Reserve; Chobe National Park in the north, including Savute and the Linyanti Marshes; and Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park in the far southwest, co-managed with South Africa. 

The majority of the population lives in the southeast around Gaborone, Serowe and Kanye along the South African border. The vast arid sandveld of the Kalahari occupies much of central and western Botswana. The seasonal rains bring a considerable difference to the vegetation, especially in the Makgadikgadi Pans and the Okavango Delta.

Republic since 1966.

President Festus Gontebanye Mogae since 1998.

The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has dominated the country's politics since it gained independence. At the most recent general election, in 2004, Festus Mogae won a new five-year term by a landslide majority. He retired in 2008, handing over to his vice-president, Ian Khama. The main opposition party is the Botswana National Front (BNF).

Botswana has benefited both politically and economically from the advent of democratic government in South Africa. The government's main domestic priority is to tackle the HIV/AIDS pandemic; it also has to deal with thousands of refugees from neighbouring Zimbabwe, and the controversial issue of land rights for indigenous Bushmen.

English is the official language. Setswana is the national language, with minorities speaking Kalanga and Sekgalagadi.

Christianity, Roman Catholic and indigenous beliefs. There are numerous small Zionist and Apostolic churches in rural villages, as well as United Reformed (Congregational and Methodist), Dutch Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist and Anglican churches, and predominantly expatriate Muslim, Quaker, Hindu and Bahai congregations in major towns.

220-240 volts AC, 50Hz. 15- and 13-amp plug sockets are in use. Plugs used are British-style with two flat blades and one flat grounding blade, or South African/Indian-style with two circular metal pins above a large circular grounding pin.

As most people in Botswana follow their traditional pattern of life, visitors should be sensitive to customs which will inevitably be unfamiliar to them. Outside urban areas and safari destinations, people may well not be used to visitors. Casual clothing is acceptable and, in urban centres, normal courtesies should be observed.

Photography: Airports, official residences and defence establishments should not be photographed. Permission should be obtained to photograph local people.