Maun

The country around Maun has been home to hunter-gatherer and herding peoples for a very long time. The San, often called Basarwa in Botswana, lived by hunting and gathering across the Kalahari and the Delta margins. Bayei and Hambukushu communities settled along the river channels, fishing, farming the floodplains and poling dugout canoes. In the late 18th century a Tswana group under Tawana moved into the region and founded the Batawana chiefdom, which came to control the area. Maun itself became the Batawana capital in the early 20th century; sources give dates around 1915, and it is worth checking the exact year before you quote it.

Botswana was then the Bechuanaland Protectorate, a British arrangement that began in 1885 and was meant to keep the territory out of German and Boer hands. Ngamiland was remote from the rail line to the south and depended on cattle, hunting and trade. In 1904 many Herero people fled from German colonial violence in what is now Namibia and settled in Ngamiland. Their descendants still live around Maun, and Herero women in long, layered dresses and horned headwear are one of the most striking sights in town.

Botswana became independent on 30 September 1966 under Seretse Khama, then one of the poorest countries in Africa. The discovery of diamonds at Orapa in 1967 changed its prospects, and steady politics and careful spending turned it into one of the region's stable democracies. For Maun, the change came through tourism. From the 1970s and 1980s safari camps and light-aircraft charters opened the Delta to visitors, and the town became the place where supplies, pilots and guides come together. Botswana's later policy of high-value, low-volume tourism shaped who comes here and what a camp costs.

Growth has not been painless. Fences built to control cattle disease have cut some wildlife routes. Water use upstream, farming and climate change are all watched closely by people who depend on the flood. Even so, the town remains small and low-rise, and much of its life still runs on the calendar of the river and the rains.

The Okavango is one of the few large rivers that does not reach the sea. It starts as rain in the highlands of Angola, gathers in the Cubango and Cuito rivers, crosses the Caprivi strip in Namibia and enters Botswana at Mohembo. There it spreads into a fan of channels, lagoons and islands across sand that was once a lake bed. Most of the water evaporates or is taken up by plants, and the rest drains slowly south towards Maun and the Thamalakane River.

The timing is the surprise. The rain that feeds the Delta falls in Angola between roughly December and March. The flood then takes months to travel down the river and across the Delta, so it reaches the lower reaches around Maun in June to August, during the local dry, cold winter. That is why the best time to see water and game is often the driest time of year. It also means that the water level you see depends on rain in another country and on how much the previous years have filled the system.

The Delta is a shifting mosaic. Papyrus and reed beds, palm islands, floodplains that dry to grassland, and channels that change course over decades all sit side by side. Islands are often built up by termite mounds, which lift the ground above the flood and let trees take root. Sitatunga, a shy antelope with long splayed hooves, and red lechwe, which run through shallow water, are two Delta specialists. Birders come for Pel's fishing owl, slaty egret, African skimmer and many kingfishers.

UNESCO inscribed the Okavango Delta on the World Heritage List in 2014 as the 1,000th site. Around Maun the practical consequences are simple. Some years the Thamalakane runs full and you can watch hippos in it, and in dry years it can be low. Ask your camp or operator what the water is doing before you choose between a mokoro trip, a boat or a game drive. A scenic flight from Maun shows the pattern of channels and islands better than any description.

Botswana is often described as a country of Batswana, but Ngamiland is more mixed than that. Setswana is the national language and English the official one, and both are used daily in Maun. Alongside them you hear Otjiherero, Thimbukushu, Ikalanga and San languages. Many people speak three or four languages without thinking of it as unusual.

Three ideas help make sense of daily manners. Botho is a Setswana word for the quality of being a good person, with generosity, respect and courtesy at its core, and it is a stated national principle. The kgotla is the traditional village meeting place where a chief and community discuss matters in the open, and the idea of consulting before deciding runs through local politics. And Pula means rain, which is the national motto and the currency's name, because rain is the thing that decides a harvest, a herd and a season.

Greetings matter. A visitor who says dumela rra or dumela mma and asks how someone is before making a request is received differently from one who does not. Take your time, offer a right hand or two, and expect to be asked where you are from and where you are going. Do not photograph people without asking, and do not take pictures of police, soldiers or official buildings.

Communities near the Delta have their own cultures. Bayei and Hambukushu people are known for river skills and for baskets. San communities have long knowledge of plants and animals and have faced pressure over land and rights, so choose any San cultural visit with care and check that it is run by the community and shares income. Herero communities keep cattle and a distinctive dress. The lesson is to treat each group as a living culture with its own voice rather than as a set of sights.

Botswana's food is built on cattle and grain. Beef is a matter of national pride, and much of the country's meat has long been exported. The staple is pap, called phaleche, a stiff maize porridge that is eaten with almost everything. Its softer cousin, bogobe, is made from sorghum or maize and is often eaten at breakfast, sometimes fermented and sour.

Seswaa is the dish for celebrations. Beef, goat or another meat is boiled for hours with salt until it falls apart, then pounded and served with pap. It is simple and salty, and it is what you would be served at a wedding or a funeral gathering. Morogo, wild or cultivated greens cooked with onion and tomato, is the usual side. Magwinya, deep-fried dough balls sold from stalls, are the everyday snack, and tea with milk and sugar is offered everywhere.

Some foods surprise visitors. Phane, the caterpillars of the mopane moth, are collected in the mopane woodlands in the wet season, dried or fried and eaten as a protein-rich snack. Wild fruit and melons also matter in the dry season, and fish from the river is part of the Delta's traditional diet. In restaurants and lodges you will find the South African influence of the braai, with grilled meat, sausage called boerewors and salads.

Drinks range from tea and rooibos to commercial lager. Traditional sorghum beer, sold in cartons as Chibuku and brewed at home in the older way, is a working drink for many people. St Louis and Castle lager are the common bottled beers. If you are offered a homemade brew, accept politely, take a small sip and do not feel obliged to finish it. Avoid drinking and driving: the roads have animals, and police checks are common. Non-drinkers are never pressed for long; a soft drink or a cup of tea is an entirely ordinary choice, and hosts will simply offer it to you with the same warmth.

The best-known craft of the Okavango is basketry. Hambukushu and Bayei women in villages such as Gumare and Etsha weave coiled baskets from the fibre of the makalani palm, coloured with dyes made from roots, bark and leaves. Traditional patterns have names, such as the tears of the giraffe and the forehead of the zebra, and each carries a link to the surrounding landscape and animals.

A good basket has a tight, even coil, clear colours and a flat base that sits well. The price reflects the time taken, because a large piece can take weeks. Ask who made it and where, and if the seller cannot tell you, look elsewhere. Buy at shops or stalls that pay makers fairly. Baskets are bulky, so ask the seller to flat-pack if you are flying, and check airline size limits.

Other crafts include beadwork, carved wooden bowls, ostrich-shell jewellery and leatherwork. Do not buy ivory, horn, skin or any wildlife product: export of these can be a criminal offence and it feeds the trade that harms animals. If in doubt, leave it. Bargain politely at stalls, not at shops with price tags, and never treat haggling as a game with someone who depends on the sale.

Craft is one of the ways that money from visitors reaches households around the Delta. It is also a good way to slow down and ask questions. A basket that you can trace to a maker is worth more than one that could have come from anywhere.

Plan for how the piece will travel. A rigid basket can be crushed in a soft duffel, and a camp flight has a strict weight limit, so buy on your way out rather than on your way in. Many shops will wrap and flat-pack, and some will post items home for a fee, which is worth asking about if you are buying a large piece. Keep any receipt with the maker's name, since it helps if a customs officer asks where the item came from, and it is a good memory of the person behind it.

Botswana has the world's largest elephant population, with well over a hundred thousand animals in the north, and the Okavango region is one of the best places in Africa to see them. Lion, leopard, cheetah, African wild dog, hippo, crocodile, buffalo and a long list of antelope share the same country. Rhinos have been reintroduced in protected areas, and the animals' whereabouts are kept quiet for their safety. Smaller creatures matter as much as the big ones: the Delta holds hundreds of bird species, plus frogs, fish such as tigerfish and bream, and reeds and lilies that anchor the whole system.

The Moremi Game Reserve, in the eastern Delta, was set up in 1963 by the Batawana chiefdom and named after a former chief. It remains one of the main destinations reached from Maun. Beyond Moremi are private concessions, where camps lease land from communities or the state and control how many visitors come. This is the meaning of low-volume tourism: fewer guests, higher prices, and money that supports conservation and local jobs.

Wildlife policy is contested. Botswana banned commercial hunting in 2014 and lifted the ban again in 2019, and the argument about how to live with large numbers of elephants continues. Veterinary fences intended to protect cattle from disease also affect wildlife movement. You do not have to resolve any of this on a trip, but it helps to ask your camp how it works with neighbouring villages and what happens to the money.

Practical rules protect both you and the animals. Keep quiet on game drives, stay in the vehicle, and follow your guide. Do not approach animals on foot, do not feed them and never use flash at night. In town, treat the riverbank as wild: hippos, crocodiles and elephants use it, especially after dark. If a lodge staff member tells you to go inside, do it. Ask your guide questions, too: the best ones can tell you which birds are calling, why a termite mound matters to a tree, and how the flood has changed from one year to the next, and that knowledge is a large part of what you are paying for.

Maun works best when you treat it as a base with a purpose. Arrive with cash in small notes, a soft bag under the camp-flight weight limit and your onward transfers confirmed in writing. Book camps and scenic flights with registered operators, and be wary of anyone who approaches you at the airport or in the street with a very low price.

Seasons change what you can do. From May to October the Delta has water and the weather is dry, with cold mornings and warm days. From November to March it is green, humid and cheaper, with storms and the best bird life. The hottest weeks are September and October, when afternoons can reach 35 degrees. Malaria risk is highest from about November to May. Ask a travel clinic well before you fly.

Behave as a guest. Greet people, ask before you photograph them, and carry small notes for tips. Choose camps that publish how they treat staff and neighbours. Take your rubbish with you, drink filtered water from refill points and avoid single-use plastic. Keep a respectful distance from animals, even from the ones that look calm. In town, buy from local shops and craftspeople so that some of your money stays close to the Delta.

Finally, leave space in your plan for the unplanned. Flights move, storms close airstrips and a road can be slow after rain. A spare day at the start or end of a Delta trip is the cheapest insurance. Confirm your camp transfer the day before, keep a phone number for your operator, and treat the hours at the Main Mall and the museum as things to check, since small-town opening times change with the season and the public holiday calendar. The reward for planning lightly is a town that runs to the rhythm of water and rain, which is the rhythm of the whole region.