Introduction
Botswana is a vast, flat dry land - as big as France but with a population of only 1.6 million, many of whom live in or near the two main cities of Gaborone and Francistown. Over 80 per cent of the country is semi-desert, but, in spite of this, abundant wildlife thrives, and with so few people, Botswana boasts the largest percentage of land given over to wildlife in the world – a remarkable 17 per cent is national park, and with the many huge private concessions in the Okavango Delta and Tuli Block, it reaches a staggering 38 per cent. All national parks and game reserves have camping areas. For all information and reservations within the National Parks, contact the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, PO Box 20346, next to Police Station, Maun (tel: 686 1265; fax: 686 1264 or 0053); and Gaborone (tel: 318 0774; fax: 318 0775; e-mail: dwnp@gov.bw or dwnp.parrogabs@gov.bw; website: www.botswanatourism.org).
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