Ghanzi District

Ghanzi District is the empty west of Botswana: 117,910 km² of Kalahari sandveld against the Namibian border, with 56,555 people at the 2022 census. The east of it is the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The rest is cattle country, ranches settled by Afrikaner families from the late 1890s, and the home of the Naro San. Most travellers know it as one night between Windhoek and Maun. Ghanzi is sometimes spelled Gantsi. It is the same town.

Getting there

From Namibia you cross at Mamuno (Buitepos on the other side), which is open 24 hours (the switch was set for April 2023). The A2 runs 165 km east from the border to the junction with the A3, and Ghanzi town is 45 km up the A3 from there. Maun is another 280 km up the A3 by way of D’kar and Sehithwa. From the Gaborone side the A2, the Trans-Kalahari Highway, comes up from Lobatse through Kang. All of it is tar.

Buses run to Ghanzi from Gaborone and Maun. Nothing crosses the border, so on foot you pick up a bus at Charles Hill, about three and a half hours from town. The airport has no scheduled flights, only charters.

When to go

June to August is almost rainless. Days sit in the mid 20s but July nights average 4°C, and the town has recorded -8.5°C, so campers need proper sleeping bags. Rain comes between November and March and January is the wettest month.

What to do

D’kar, 35 km from Ghanzi on the Maun road, is the stop I would make. The Kuru Art Project started here in 1990 and supports about twenty Naro and Dcui San artists who work in oils, linocuts and etchings. A design by one of them, Cg’ose Ntcõx’o, flew on British Airways planes in 1997. The studio opens on weekdays, 09:00 to 17:00.

Between D’kar and Ghanzi is Dqae Qare, a San-owned game farm run by the Kuru D’kar Trust and for years the August venue of the Kuru Dance Festival. The organisers paused the festival in 2019 and said they wanted to move it into D’kar village, so ask the trust before you plan a trip around it.

For the Central Kalahari, Xade Gate is the reserve’s western way in, 170 km from Ghanzi. New Xade is about 100 km out, and the old Xade settlement inside the reserve is 70 km beyond that.

Good to know

• Ghanzi town has banks with ATMs, supermarkets and filling stations, and it is the fuel stop on the roughly 500 km between Kang and Maun. Charles Hill has a filling station near the border.
• The tracks in the reserve are thick sand and need a well-equipped 4x4, and there is no fuel inside. UK government advice for remote areas is spare fuel and water, and a convoy or a satellite phone.
• The CDC counts Ghanzi District as a malaria transmission area and recommends tablets. Ask a travel clinic.
• Cattle, donkeys and wildlife stand on the tar, and after dark you will not see them in time. Finish driving before sunset.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Kuru Art Project, about (founded 1990, Naro and Dcui artists at D'kar), Kuru Art Project, contact (location in D'kar, opening days and hours), Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana, Ghanzi Airport (no scheduled flights, charter and private only), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana traveller health (malaria transmission areas), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana travel advice (road travel, remote areas), Botswana Daily News (BOPA), Mamuno border post to start operating 24 hours on 1 April 2023, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Botswana ports of entry with operating hours (PDF, updated April 2025, copy hosted by pcf11.org), Mamuno 24 hours, Botswana Daily News (BOPA), Kuru Dance Festival at Dqae Qare farm (2 August 2015), Botswana Daily News (BOPA), Kuru Dance Festival paused and moving to D'kar (19 May 2019), City Population, Botswana districts (area and 2022 census figures from Statistics Botswana), Wikipedia, Ghanzi District (area, 2022 census, Gantsi spelling, Central Kalahari), Wikipedia, Ghanzi (settlement history, climate table and record low, banks, fuel), Wikipedia, A2 road (Botswana) (distances from the Namibian border), Wikipedia, A3 road (Botswana) (Maun to Ghanzi), Wikipedia, Charles Hill (filling station on the border road), Wikipedia, New Xade (distances from Ghanzi and Xade, resettlement), Wikivoyage, Botswana (Trans-Kalahari Highway, fuel and water, animals on the road), Wikivoyage, Central Kalahari Game Reserve (sand tracks, four-wheel drive), Wikivoyage, Ghanzi (buses, Charles Hill connection), Lonely Planet, Central Kalahari and Khutse map (Xade Gate, 170 km to Ghanzi), Expert Africa, Central Kalahari Game Reserve (sandy tracks, well-equipped 4WD needed), Tracks4Africa blog, the Kalahari is not for sissies (no fuel in the Central Kalahari), Expert Africa, Kalahari Arms Hotel (Ghanzi as an overnight and supply stop).