Botswana Geography

Botswana is a land-locked country with an area of approximately 581,730 square kilometres, which is roughly the size of France. About two-thirds of Botswana lies within the Tropics and it is bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn. The distance between the most northern and southern points of Botswana is around 1,110 kilometres. It is 960 kilometres across at its widest.

Botswana’s neighbours are Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. In the north, four countries, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia meet at a single point in the Zambezi River.

Botswana is dominated by the Kalahari Desert which covers 84% of the country. The Kalahari extends beyond Botswana's western borders, covering large parts of South Africa, Namibia and Angola as well. Most of the Kalahari is covered with vegetation including thorn and scrub bush, trees and grasslands. The mainly flat terrain of the Kalahari is occasionally interrupted by gentle valleys, sand dunes, large numbers of pans and, in the northwest, isolated hills. The pans fill with water during the rainy season and their hard surface layer ensures that the water remains in the pans and is not immediately absorbed. This water is of great importance to wildlife, which obtain valuable nutrients from the salts and the grasses of the pans.

Although Botswana has no significant mountain ranges, the almost entirely flat landscape is punctuated occasionally by low hills. Botswana's highest point is 1,491m Otse Mountain.

The vast majority of the population of Botswana lives in the eastern hardveld area. This is a wide strip of land running from the north at Ramokgwebane to the south at Ramatlabama

In the north-west, the Okavango River flows in from highlands in Angola and forms a 15,000 sq. km network of water channels, lagoons, swamps and islands known as the Okavango Delta. The Okavango is the largest inland delta system in the world.