Botswana's jewel is the Okavango Delta, a dreamland of lagoons, meandering waterways, and bountiful wildlife in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. But almost 20 per cent of the country has been set aside for national parks and game preserves, so the ancient baobabs of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the savannah grasslands of Chobe National Park, and the woodlands of the Tuli Block also beckon.

• TOTAL AREA: 600,370 sq km

• LAND AREA: 585,370 sq km

• WATER AREA: 15,000 sq km

• POPULATION: 1,639,833

• RELIGIONS: Christian 71.6%, Badimo 6%, other 1.4%, unspecified 0.4%, none 20.6%

• LANGUAGES: Setswana 78.2%, Kalanga 7.9%, Sekgalagadi 2.8%, English 2.1% (official), other 8.6%, unspecified 0.4%

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Parliamentary Republic

• CAPITAL CITY: Gaborone

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: pula (BWP)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC +2