Botswana possesses 10, 217 km of highway, of which 5, 620 km are paved.

Comparative figures for Zambia ( one of the poorest African countries ) and Botswana ( one of the richest ) are 580 km and 3427 km respectively.

Angola 1 376 km, Botswana 1 360 km, South Africa 855 km, Zambia 233 km

* B6 from Windhoek to Buitepos ( Botswana border ), 335 km

Construction of a new port at Shearwater Bay, 30 km south of Lüderitz, has been proposed for the export of coal from Botswana with a 1600 km railway connecting the two.

South Africa: The core site is located at at an elevation of about 1000 metres in the Karoo area of the arid Northern Cape Province, about 75 km north-west of Carnarvon, with distant stations in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.

Palapye is a large town in Botswana, situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone ( 240 km away from Gabarone and 170 km away from Francistown ).

It has a length of approximately 960 kilometres and a catchment area of 367, 201 sq km with Botswana, Namibia and South Africa sharing roughly about a third of the basin each.

Molepolole is 50 km away from the capital city of Botswana, Gaborone.

About 40 km east of Katima Mulilo lies the settlement of Bukalo, where the road to Ngoma branches off that joins Namibia to Botswana.

* Botswana-There is currently no rail-link with Botswana, though the two countries use the same gauge.

All passenger services have been suspended in Botswana, with the only remaining service being an international link to Zimbabwe from Francistown, the only railway station that is still in service.

The Limpopo railway, which connects Zimbabwe and Botswana to the port of Maputo, runs through the province, entering Zimbabwe at the border town of Chicualacuala.

The national railway, which connects all major towns and cities all over Botswana to each other, also passes through Palapye.

In 2010, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique signed an agreement to develop a railway for the export of coal to Technobanine Point near Maputo.

It is also situated on a railway line which branches from the Kimberley – Johannesburg main line at Fourteen Streams and runs parallel to the N18 to Mahikeng and Botswana.

The main Cape Town – Kimberley – Johannesburg railway line also passes through the town, and the line to Mafikeng and Botswana branches off at Fourteen Streams, on the north bank of the Vaal opposite Warrenton.

Botswana is affected by periodic droughts, and seasonal August winds blow from the west, carrying sand and dust, which can obscure visibility.

* Note: Botswana does not have a westernmost point as the western section is formed by the 22nd meridian of longitude east of Greenwich.

Since independence the party system has been dominated by the Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP ), which has never lost power since independence.

Trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Botswana are stipulated by the Trade Agreement of 1987 and the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation of 1988.

Examples of species listed on Appendix III and the countries that listed them are the two-toed sloth ( Choloepus hoffmanni ) by Costa Rica, African civet ( Civettictis civetta ) by Botswana, and the alligator snapping turtle ( Macrochelys temminckii ) by the USA.

Censuses in Botswana are run by the Central Statistics Office.

Drainage is by dry valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pans of the Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana and Etosha Pan in Namibia.

Peru became the first of several countries to sever diplomatic relations with Tripoli on 22 February 2011, followed closely by African Union member state Botswana the following day.

The economy of South Africa is the largest in Africa, accounts for 24 % of its Gross Domestic Product in terms of PPP, and is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank, which makes the country one of only four countries in Africa represented in this category ( the others being Botswana, Gabon and Mauritius ).

The Cape Colony became by far the largest component of the new union, as it contained regions it had previously annexed, such as British Bechuanaland ( not to be confused with the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana ), Griqualand East ( the area around Kokstad ) and Griqualand West ( area around Kimberley ).

Situated just south of the Botswana border, the town is connected by main roads to South Africa's national capital of Pretoria in the east and to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, in the north.

Historically, in Southern Africa, the protectorates of Bechuanaland ( now Botswana ), Basutoland ( now Lesotho ) and Swaziland were administered as High Commission Territories by the Governor-General of South Africa, who was also the British High Commissioner for Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland, until the 1930s, with various local representatives, and subsequently by the British High Commissioner ( from 1961 Ambassador ) to South Africa, who was represented locally in each territory by a Resident Commissioner.

In 1996, ten Security Council members, led by African members Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and Botswana, sponsored a resolution backing Boutros-Ghali for a second five-year term, until the year 2001.

The secretary-general is assisted by two deputy secretaries-general: one responsible for economic affairs ( currently Ransford Smith of Jamaica ) and one for political affairs ( Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba of Botswana ).

According to a United Nations report, AIDS has significantly increased mortality of between ages 20 to 55 for African males and 20 to 45 for African females, reducing the life expectancy in South Africa by 18 years and in Botswana by 34 years.

Malope continues to record, in addition to performers such as Lusanda Spiritual Group, Barorisi Ba Morena, Amadodana Ase Wesile, Vuyo Mokoena and International Pentacoastal Church Choir, Lundi, Joyous Celebration, and the upcoming Scent From Above who have performed in Botswana occasionally. In 2000's Deborah Fraser has emerged as the best selling Gospel artist. Her albums have been audited to be in Top 5 selling in the country. In her album Isililo, Debrah Fraser sang in all South African languages like Venda, Shangaan, Sotho, Zulu and Xhosa. The industry has also been joined by the likes of Hlengiwe Mhlaba ( whose Aphendule is popular ) and Solly Moholo.

The first were the Kololo, led by Sebitwane, who reached what is now Botswana in 1826.

The following year, it was renamed Northern Province, which remained the name until 11 July 2003, when the name of the province was formally changed to the name of its most important river – on the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana – after deliberation by the provincial government and amendment of the Constitution.

Botswana, like many nations in southern Africa, suffers from a high AIDS infection rates, estimated in a 2002 UN report to be 38. 8 % for adults.

The U. S. Peace Corps returned to Botswana in August 2002 with a focus on HIV / AIDS-related programs after concluding 30 years of more broadly targeted assistance in 1997.

fiber-optic cable to South Africa, microwave radio relay link to Botswana, direct links to other neighbouring countries ; connected to Africa ONE and South African Far East ( SAFE ) submarine cables through South Africa ; satellite earth stations-4 Intelsat ( 2002 )

" He played in the 2 – 0 win over Botswana in October 2002, when he scored inside five minutes but was later sent off for dissent.

In 2002, The Guardian reduced its shareholding to 10 %, selling a majority share in the newspaper of 87, 5 % to Newtrust Company Botswana Limited, owned by Zimbabwean publisher and entrepreneur Trevor Ncube.

The United States International Board of Broadcasters ( IBB ) operates a major Voice of America ( VOA ) relay station in Botswana serving most of the African continent.

After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force, he entered politics and served as Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008.