Think Botswana, think Okavango Delta, wilderness, elephant, lion and buffalo. Well…yes, but only up to a point. The most undervalued country in Africa, Botswana resembles a treasure house holding a casket full of gems that far outshine the sparkling stones that first catch the casual eye. Little is told of the rock art at Tsodilo, the immensity of the Kalahari, the serenity of Makgadikgadi, the intriguing nature of the San people, the landscapes of Tuli, the cultural life of the Batswana or the history of Botswana and the role it played in 19th century politics. There is so very much more to Botswana than the cover of a travel pack. It is worth a closer look.

The earliest known visitors were renegades and runaways from the Cape, seeking ivory for trade. In the early 19th century, missionaries followed them. The first was Robert Moffat who famously set up at Kuruman. Later it was Moffat’s famed son-in-law David Livingstone who, in 1847, established a mission station at Kolobeng near Gaborone. It was from here that he set onto explore Africa.

Then, Botswana was a vast and empty land dominated by the Kalahari. Not really a desert, the Kalahari is an immense semi-arid area of low and erratic rainfall sufficient to maintain a mosaic of vegetation ranging from grassland through scrub to extensive acacia woodlands. Recognised by its ubiquitous red sand, grains of which have a tendency to roundness due to their ‘aeolian’ or wind-blown origin, the Kalahari is the remnant of a desert that once stretched from the Orange River in the south to north of the equator. The Kalahari’s particular characteristic is the almost complete absence of permanent surface water: a fact that has done much to shape modern Botswana.

Even today, 80% of Batswana live in the watersheds of the Limpopo, Okavango and Chobe rivers. Exceptions are the isolated Kalahari villages that all owe their existence to curious features called ‘pans’. Oval, opalescent depressions with hard, bare, clay surfaces they vary in size from a few hundred metres to several kilometres across. Marking the end point of tiny inland drainage systems, pans collect rainwater and may hold it for months on end. Thanks to the run-off sweeping nutrients into the pan, they become resource-rich and host a diverse vegetation and its associated wildlife. These pans were actually the stepping-stones by which Bantu-speaking people first explored this fascinating wilderness centuries ago. With them, they brought subsistence agriculture and pastoralism.

This was the Botswana, a vast, thinly populated and unnamed wilderness in the hinterland of southern Africa, which was thrust into the international spotlight during the 19th century. It was the discovery of mineral riches that focused people’s attention on southern Africa and soon hordes of would-be miners, hunters and traders appeared everywhere, many passing through the lands of Tswana Chiefs to investigate the rumours of wealth in the fabled El Dorado, the region that would one day become Zimbabwe.

Cecil John Rhodes, with his diamond fortune, was dreaming of the same El Dorado. He saw it as a small part of a still greater dream that one day might see a line of British possessions stretching from the Cape to Egypt. Foreigners, the rapid pace of events and the machinations of Rhodes in the pursuit of his schemes, so raised the suspicions of Batswana chiefs (and their missionary advisors) that they feared he planned to annex their lands. To counter this, the three most senior chiefs journeyed to see Queen Victoria in London to formally request British protection.

Thus the twin states of British Bechuanaland (a colony in the south) and Bechunaland Protectorate came into existence in 1885. Within a few years the former was absorbed into the Cape Colony, while the latter soldiered on until the 30th of September 1966, when it emerged as the sovereign nation of Botswana.

At independence, although of the size of France and Switzerland combined, Botswana had a population of only 350,000 and was ranked as one of world’s ten poorest nations. With only seven total miles of tarmac, most towns and villages were separated by rough roads of sand or gravel that challenged both people and vehicles. The missionary schools taught the only secondary pupils and a mere handful of graduates had won their degrees elsewhere.

In the forty years since, this has changed dramatically. With a per capita income of US$7000 and an economy that has grown more than 8% per annum for decades, Botswana is now one of the most successful countries in Africa. The economy has been fuelled by diamonds, which were first discovered here in 1969. Botswana is currently the largest producer of gem quality stones in the world. So wealthy is Botswana that, compared to other countries that hold three months cover of foreign imports, Botswana has more than two years worth in property and investments around the world. Amazingly, the second largest contributor to GDP is interest earned on foreign holdings.

Many will argue that, with serious unemployment and a growing gap between rich and poor, Botswana has not spent its wealth perfectly. This may be true, but the failures have to be balanced against the successes: state-of-the-art roads, a modern telephone system, broadband internet, health clinics and piped drinking water in every village, free primary schooling for more than 300,000 pupils, low-cost secondary schooling and free tertiary education. Nearly 100,000 citizens also receive free anti-retroviral drugs in treatment for HIV Aids.

The dependence on diamonds has rightly prompted the government to try and diversify the economy, which explains the nation’s drive to promote its extraordinary tourism potential. The Okavango and northern national parks remain draw cards of note, but it is the variety of tourism products that should now be drawing the most attention. Innovations include elephant and horseback safaris through the delta and mobile, vehicle-based safaris to the more remote areas. Modern operators are also realising that what is routine and mundane for Botswana citizens (local cultures and customs) is actually of great interest to visitors.

No informed person will deny that the San are the original inhabitants of what is now Botswana. Autochthonous descendants of the original Homo sapiens, San were fated to confront more complex cultures across Africa. In the east and north of Botswana, which were better watered, the San were either absorbed or replaced – they remain in the more inaccessible or inhospitable reaches of the nation only. Superbly adept, these remarkable people preserve an incredible range of survival skills. A young boy of 12 will know the names of some two hundred plants; by the time he is 16, he will know double that number. Despite official reticence, it’s now possible for visitors to spend time with the San. To share time with a Bushman and witness hunting, tracking, the lighting of fires, the making of ropes and the laying of traps is to peer through a window into our own past and to be humbled both by what we have gained and what we have lost.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve debacle has been unfortunate but it has served to lift the profile of the ‘Bushmen issue’ and to underline the extraordinary work that is being done to help them in places like D’Kar and in the Okavango. It also recognises the government’s work in addressing the matter.

Other tourism innovations include the chance to walk among wild animals. Many operators now routinely offer this experience, which makes the traditional game drive blush with envy. In the presence of trained, armed and highly experience guides it is the only way to really connect with Africa’s wilds. To feel the sweep and dampness of grass against your legs, to touch the hanging branches, to smell the air and to hear the calls of birds and game about you is to feel Africa as she has always been: alive, exciting, electric and incredibly rewarding.

The tourist industry used to close down between October and March, but this is happily changing. Although there were reasons – heat, rain and high grass making game difficult to see – it is an extraordinary time of year. This is when Africa is in its most fecund and exuberant mood. The young are being born, the fruits are forming, the trees are heavily mantled in green and the scent of flowers fill the air. It is also the time of great thunderstorms with mountain-high billowing clouds laced with streaks of lightning. To see such a storm in the late afternoon, when the sun is low and the colours stand out in bright blazing contrast to the blue-black menace of the advancing storm, is to share a sight of Africa that will remain with you for ever.

So, Botswana for the Big Five? Yes, of course. But there is more to Botswana and Africa than this, so push your agent for ideas and opportunities, reach out beyond the ordinary and let Botswana really touch you.