Peter Williams
Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on www.reality check.radio three days a week.
And so our great African odyssey is at an end. Twenty-nine days across four countries, from the billionaire paradise of Stellenbosch to the subsistence farmers and souvenir hawkers of western Uganda, this continent is and will likely to be for evermore, a landmass of contrast and the utmost inequality.
The most surprising of the four nations we visited has been Botswana. Sure, we spent only three days here and observations were only from the air or through talking with staff at the lodge we stayed in at the Okavango Delta, but it’s not hard to believe that this sparsely populated nation of just 2.3 million people has the fourth highest GDP per capita in all of Africa.
Botswana has a fascinating history. If you saw the movie A United Kingdom a decade ago, you’ll be familiar with the story of how a Bamangwato chief named Seretse Khama married a white Englishwoman, Ruth Williams, and became the first elected president of Botswana in 1966.
(The country’s 60th Independence Day is at the end of this month.)
The marriage created diplomatic tensions between Britain and apartheid-era South Africa. At one time in the 1950s Khama was tricked into travelling to Britain and wasn’t allowed back for some years. His wife joined him in exile.
But it all ended happily ever after. They returned to what was still Bechuanaland, formed what became the country’s dominant political party and Seretse Khama remained president until 1980. Their son Ian, born during the years of exile in England, became president for a decade in 2008.
Compared to other African states, notably neighbouring Zimbabwe, Botswana’s politics since independence are regarded as being relatively corruption free.
A year after independence, diamonds were discovered and the country is now the world’s largest producer of the precious stones. Minerals produce around 40 per cent of all government revenues with the largest mining company, Debswana, a joint venture between the government and South Africa’s De Beers.
For a country that’s located 70 per cent in the Kalahari Desert it’s somewhat ironic that our time here was in the wetlands of the Okavango Delta.
Quite probably the only inland delta on the planet, our gregarious guide who went under the moniker of “Prof Ice” (Professor of the Bush, he said), told us why a river delta exists in the middle of a desert.
“Five million years ago there was a shift in the tectonic plates and a large piece of land sank below the rest of the country. Then the big rivers coming from the mountains of Angola flooded into this large depression in the land and created the delta.”
The Okavango Delta, named for one of the largest rivers flowing into it, is now a major tourist pull because of the abundance of animals and birds. Game drives, as the twice daily rides in specially adapted and very robust Toyota Land Cruisers are known, give you close-up looks at elephants, giraffes, zebra, baboons, buffalo and countless impala and its relation, the elegant lechwe. We saw a leopard feasting on a warthog up a tree, passing some to her cub with a hyena waiting on the ground for the leftovers!
Then a slow boat ride among the wetlands takes you close to the mysterious hippopotamus who like to wallow in the crystal clear waters and occasionally come up for a blow and a huge yawn which is inordinately difficult to capture on an iPhone camera!
Tourism appears to be the slow burner in Botswana’s economic development but the market in middle- and high-end lodges is steady, anchored by American baby boomers looking for the wow factor – and finding it!
Like every other nation on this vast continent there is high unemployment but the desire for work in the service sector is obvious. At our lodge there was a staff of 36 for a maximum of 12 guests in the the six rooms while at Maun Airport, our international departure point, we had three young men helping us with baggage from the Cessna Caravan to the Johannesburg check-in – a walk of about a hundred metres.
On reflection after a month here, the most lasting impression will be of exceedingly efficient service with a smile. Whether it be hotels, restaurants, airports or tourist activities, the desire to please a visitor who might have a few dollars, rand, shillings or pula to offer as a tip is obvious and appreciated.
I’m usually a reluctant tipper, especially in the US, but somehow on this continent it seems appropriate and worthwhile.
It was a pity about the rugby but that all seems so long ago now.
And one final thought on that issue: South Africa is economically poor with a currency exchange rate that makes even a Kiwi happy. The rand is worth about 10 of our cents, six cents US and four British pence. Despite that considerable headwind they have the best rugby team in the world and some of the highest paid players in the game.
That’s because they allow their stars to play for clubs in other countries. Malcolm Marx, Grant Williams, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende all play in Japan yet are all first choice for the Springboks.
As their assistant coach, former All Black Tony Brown, told me in January this year, that’s quite a few million rand South African rugby doesn’t have to find each year and it’s money that can spent on paying more lower level players and giving them exposure to top-level club and provincial rugby.
With New Zealand Rugby losing $7.5 million last year and $19 million in 2024, the idea of taking the salaries of Ardie Savea, Cam Roigard, Jordie Barrett, Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan off the expenditure line is surely worth considering.
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
