Neil, VA7DX and Roger, ZS6RJ will be active from Botswana in CQ WW DX CW Contest 29-30 November 2014 as A25DX not A25RJ as announced earlier.
They will operate in M/S category on 80-10m.
QSL via ZS6RJ, LOTW.
Botswana: The land of meerkats
Officially the Republic of Botswana, Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Big chuck of Botswana, 70%, is flat with most of it being the Kalahari Desert. The country is bordered by Namibia to the west and north, Zimbabwe to the northeast and South Africa to the south and southeast. It is also bordered by Zambia to the north near Kazungula, although this is a poorly defined border.
Botswana is home to just over two million people, making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Gaborone is the capital city of Botswana and home to nearly ten percent of the country’s population.
Geographical Aspects
Botswana is the world's 48th-largest country covering an area of 581,730 km2 (224,607 sq mi). In total, the country stretches for around 600.370 square kilometers geographically. Botswana’s coordinates are 22° South latitude to 24° East longitude.
The country which tends towards a gently rolling tableland is predominantly flat. The Kalahari Desert occupies a 70% part of the country. To the northwest is, one of the world's largest inland deltas, the Okavango Delta.
The northern part of the country is home to a large salt pan, the Makgadikgadi pan which is another geographical feature of Botswana. In addition another important landform of all of southern Africa, the Limpopo River Basin, lies partly in Botswana, with the basins of its tributaries, the Notwane, Mahalapswe, Bonwapitse, Motloutse, Lotsane and the Shashe, situated in the eastern part of the country.
Climate
Due to the short rain season, Botswana is semi-arid. The climate to the region comprises of virtually no rainfall and overall low humidity and is characterized by great differences in day and night temperatures.
The months of April to October are the country’s dry season in the south and while the north experiences the dry season in November, although, the north also experiences higher rainfall. During the winter period (early May to late August) , the south of the country is the most exposed to cold winds when average temperatures are approximately 14 °C (57.2 °F). With average temperatures around 26 °C (78.8 °F), the whole country has hot summers.
In addition, during the dry season, the whole country is dusty and windy.
Languages
English is Botswana’s official language although Setswana is widely spoken across the country. In comparison to many other languages, prefixes are more important in Setswana. These prefixes include Bo, which refers to the country, Mo, which is one person, Ba, which refers to the people, and Se which is the language. For example, the Tswana people make for the country’s main tribe therefore, the name Botswana for its country. One person is a Motswana, the people as a whole are Batswana, and Setswana is the language they speak. Other languages spoken in Botswana include Sarwa (sesarwa), Kalanga (sekalanga), !Xóõ, Ndebele, and Afrikaans in some parts.
Religion
Christians take on approximately 70% of the country's population. Methodists, Anglicans, and the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa comprise of a big chuck of the Christian population. Other religions include the Baptists, Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists, Roman Catholics, Mennonites, the Dutch Reformed Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.
As per the 2001 census, Botswana has about 5,000 Muslims, largely from South Asia, 3,000 Hindus and 700 Baha'is. Roughly 20% of the country’s citizens lay no claim to any religion.
Cuisine
Much as there are some characteristics of cuisines from Southern Africa to be found in the country’s cuisine, Botswana does have a unique cuisine. Heavily salted mashed-up meat, known as seswaa is one of the unique foods to be found in Botswana. Other foods that are eaten in the region include samp, pap, vetkoek, boerewors, and Mopani worms.
Sports
The most popular sport in Botswana is Football. Other sports to the country include; tennis, cricket, softball, rugby, handball, badminton, track and field as well as golf.
Facts
- The capital of Botswana is Gaborone
- The official currency of Botswana is the Botswana pula, which comes from the Setswana word that means rain.
- The zebra is the country’s national animal
- Botswana, which is the oldest democratic state in Africa became independent in 1966.
- By African standards, Botswana is a wealthy country. Extensive mineral resources such as the Jwaneng Diamand mine can be found in the region.
- Approximately 40% of the country’s land is reserved for national parks and wildlife hence ensuring that the animalsroam free on a large piece of area.
- Botswana was originally known as Bechuanaland
- Diamons make up a huge chunk of the country’s exports
- The country is home to the Tsodilo Hills, a UNESCO World heritage that is also dubbed as the Louvre of the Desert
- The country is dominated by the Kalahari desert, which is a large arid and semi arid area.
- Botswana is one of the ‘four corners of Africa’ , the rest being Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
- Botswana is home to a huge number of meerkats as compared to other countries in the world.
- The basis of the Botswana coat of arms is a shield that is being supported by two zebras. In addition to supporting the shield, one of the zebras also holds a stalk of millet while the other holds an elephant's tusk.
- In accordance to a report in 2007, Botswana is home to more African elephants than anywhere else. Botswana is said to house at least 133,829 elephants in total, with Tanzania coming in second place with approximately 108,816 elephants.
- English as a language has approximately 40 distinct sounds. The !Xoo language of Botswana and Namibia on the other hand, which is spoken by approximately 4,000 people, carries 112 distinct sounds.
- The natives of Botswana call themselves ‘Batswana’, with ‘Motswana’ being its singular.
- The ! at the start of !Xoo symbolizes one of the five fundamental click sounds in the language.
- Behind Russia and Canada , Botswana is the world’s third-biggest diamond producer
- Behind Swaziland, Botswana has the second-highest AIDS/HIV rate.
