In August of 1990 I had the opportunity to visit southern Africa. A friend, Max Gilika from Botswana kept inviting me to visit him there. Max had graduated from Adelphi University a few years earlier. While a student, he brought his wife and one of his sons to live near here, returning to Botswana after his graduation.

I had come to know him and his family through my involvement with WBAU, Adelphi’s radio station. After he repeated his invitation several times, I finally said yes, I would come to Botswana.

The Gilikas live in Gaborone, the capital city. The Republic of Botswana is a large country, about the size of Texas. Landlocked, it is immediately north of South Africa. While much of the country is high desert (the mean altitude is 3300 feet above sea level), there are significant areas of savannah and forest, and areas of wetlands in the north of the country.

The population of Botswana in 1990 was about 1.3 million, of which about 133,000 lived in Gaborone. Botswana is one of the least densely populated countries in the world.

Three activities account for most of the business in Botswana. Botswana exports more diamonds from its mines than any other country. Tourism is an important business, particularly in the game reserves in the north of the country. And much of the population herds livestock.

The climate in Botswana is driven by its mostly desert geography. Being in the southern hemisphere, its winter is from June through September. Winter is the dry season with almost no rain. January (their summer) is the peak of the rainy season with about 3 inches of rain in Gaborone. Some parts of the desert get hardly any rain year-round. Incidentally, there was a brief shower one day while I was there in late August, very unusual. The Setswana word for rain is Pula; the same word is used for the Botswana currency. Rain is money in a desert agricultural country.

It can get quite chilly in Gaborone in the winter (I was there in late August, winter) at night, below freezing on occasion. But daytime temperatures often reach 80 (degrees F). It apparently has never snowed in Botswana but only 200 miles south, Johannesburg, South Africa, gets snow once every few years.

Botswana was a British colony from 1885 until it gained independence in 1966. It is now a parliamentary democracy.

Gaborone is a pleasant, modern small city. It was founded in 1965 as plans for independence were being finalized. It has grown rapidly, the population almost doubling since I visited. It seemed to be the kind of place I would be comfortable living in. It is a very walkable city, although I tended to get lost, probably because being in the southern hemisphere, the sun was to my north, not the south as here in New York.

To the Gilikas, Max, Mpho and their sons, I am forever grateful for your hospitality. I had the opportunity to visit a part of the world seen by few Americans and to see firsthand an area often misunderstood. Of all the traveling I’ve done over the years, my trip there was certainly the most educational and one I have never forgotten.