Eighty-five per cent of the country is the Kalahari Desert so the land and air is very dry for most of the year. That was a bit of shock for our skin, having just spent several weeks on the Australian coast. Botswana is the setting for the films The God’s Must Be Crazy I and II. If you have seen one or both of them you have an idea of the type of climate and terrain we experienced.

Many places of business, including shops and hotels, display a picture of the president, Ian Khama. I don’t ever recall seeing a picture of a current US president at any US businesses or offices.

The way to identify large, long trucks on roadways varies from country to country. At home we are used to seeing “long load” signs on such vehicles. In Australia “road train” signs are displayed on the back and in Botswana these vehicles carry a red and white sign that says “abnormal.”

One of the ways Botswanans show respect is how they hand an object to another person. I will explain how this would be done by a right-handed person. The giver holds the object in his or her right hand and places the left hand on the right forearm as the object is given to the recipient. We observed this when waiters or waitresses served us and other customers food in restaurants and when store clerks handed us and other customers receipts and change.

We have read the first four books in the Number One Ladies Detective Series by Alexander McCall Smith. Mma Ramatswe, the main character, frequently likes to have tea at the President’s Hotel in Gabarone, the capital of Botswana. So when we were there we went in search of the hotel, as well as streets and towns named in the books.  We found Zebra Street, which is close in name to Zebra Drive where Mma Ramatswe lives and saw many tiny white vans that are mentioned frequently by the author. We had tea and cake in the corner of the balcony of the President’s Hotel, which has been named in honor of Mma Ramatswe. (See the photo section of our website for a picture of this yummy experience.) We also recognized Botswanan words from the books (Mma, Rra, dumela) while talking with local individuals.

Stop signs do not seem to mean stop, but rather slow down and proceed at your own risk. Jerry frustrated several local drivers by actually stopping at a stop sign.