I have only visited Botswana once, but the burning desire to return and explore more increases daily.
Yes, you guessed right! It was the animals that got me there, of course, for, it has Africa’s highest concentration of elephants and all the other wonderful animals you would want to see.
Since that initial visit, I have made it my business to learn more about the paradise I got a taste of. It has a population about the same size as Jamaica, and got its independence in 1966, just four years after we did. Importantly though, it is Africa’s most stable democracy and its safest country.
As a proud descendent of the Mandingo Tribe from the Ivory Coast (my grandmother told me and DNA confirmed it) , since I ‘discovered’ Africa I have wanted to tour the continent widely, but the Ivory Coast is not on my bucket list for that very reason — Safety.
Yes, the former colonial masters so divided the tribes of Africa and planted such hatred among them that many countries have been torn by civil war and the modern power-hungry leaders so evil, that they are unwilling to help their population ‘get over it’ and move on.
But thank heavens, Rwanda did and is today a very stable and progressive country and one I would love to visit.
How I would also love to visit Mali which had one of history’s greatest and most intellectually developed empires, but their constant infighting makes it impossible.
And while I am at it, I shall complain about my great disappointment when I was going to Kenya in 2018, (Joan, my views: Kenya: the most amazing outdoors) at not being able to visit Ethiopia. For I bought an air ticket and obtained a visa to visit that next door country, but guess what, they started a civil war there.
So not only did I lose my air fare (which was non-refundable) but also my visa fee, (US$50), as it is one of the few African countries which does not allow Jamaicans visa-free entry!
It all comes back to security when I travel these days, so my ancestral homeland Ivory Coast, must sit on the back burner for a while! Because in 2010, they had another civil war which killed thousands and left over half million people displaced and they have not been able to get their act together yet.
And talking about wars, I consider a large segment of the Jewish population to be extremely evil because of their support for what the Netanyahu Government is doing to the Palestinians, especially the women and children.
However, what is happening in Gaza pales in comparison to what is happening in Somalia, where power hungry blacks have murdered an estimated one million of their fellow Africans and today some four million people are said to be on the verge of famine.
What is especially disheartening too is how most of the world, including Jamaica, is ignoring what is happening there.
But now, I want to return to Botswana, my model country.
Yes, that country is rich in diamonds, but what is outstanding and unusual is how the Government has always used its resources to develop its people.
So, it not only has low debt and Africa’s highest credit rating, but also, although 70% of the country is desert, it gives its citizens free land, free healthcare and free education! In addition, university students receive $154 in allowances monthly.
Incidentally, it is the desert there which has created Botswana’s most important UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Okavango Delta located in the Kalahari Desert. This is a vast inland delta formed with the Okavango River.
Yup, Botswana is so far up my bucket list, that it is bursting.
