Kgatleng District

Kgatleng is the small district on Gaborone’s north-eastern doorstep, and it is the home of one people, the Bakgatla. Mochudi is their capital. About 121,000 people live here (2022 census), with roughly 50,000 of them in Mochudi. There are no big parks. People come for a day out of the capital: a hilltop museum, old rock engravings and a weaving workshop. If you read the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, this is where Mma Ramotswe was born.

Getting there

Take the A1 north from Gaborone, the main road to Francistown. Mochudi is about 37 km from the city and sits several kilometres off the highway. The turn is at Pilane, 10 km south-west of the village. Oodi is closer still, about 20 km north-east of Gaborone. Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is about 15 km north of the city centre, so you start on the right side of town.

From South Africa the Sikwane border post, opposite Derdepoort, opens from 06:00 to 19:00.

When to go

Any month works, since nothing here depends on game. The dry season runs from April to October. May to late August is winter, with sunny days and cold nights, and Gaborone’s lows drop to around 4 or 5 °C in June and July. Summer highs sit around 32 or 33 °C in January and February, and January is the wettest month. I would pick winter for walking around Mochudi.

What to do

The Phuthadikobo Museum is the reason to drive to Mochudi. It sits on top of Phuthadikobo Hill (the Bakgatla settled at its foot in 1871), in a school built between 1921 and 1923 under the regent Isang Pilane. The old classrooms hold displays on Bakgatla life, a craft shop and a silkscreen printing workshop, and the hill looks out over the village. Below it, Mochudi still has a traditional kgotla (the tribal meeting place) and some traditionally painted houses.

The Matsieng Footprints are engravings pecked into a flat sandstone outcrop: up to 117 of them, many shaped like human feet or big-cat paws, thought to be between 3,000 and 10,000 years old. Tswana tradition says the giant Matsieng climbed out of the waterhole here with his animals. People still hold rain ceremonies at the site, so treat it as a place of worship.

At Oodi a weaving workshop set up in 1972 makes woven wall hangings of village scenes, and visitors can watch the weavers at work. It is listed as open on weekdays only, so don’t plan it for a Saturday.

Bokaa Dam has a picnic spot on its southern shore and water birds when it is full. It dried up completely in 2012, so ask in Gaborone before you count on it.

Good to know

• Malaria is barely an issue. The CDC puts Kgatleng among the districts with rare cases only and advises avoiding bites, not tablets.
• The UK government warns about stray livestock and wildlife on roads outside the towns, most of all at night. Be back before dark.
• The Notwane River runs through Mochudi. It is dry through the dry season and can flash flood after rain.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Statistics Botswana, 2022 Population and Housing Census preliminary results (Kgatleng and Mochudi figures), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana traveller health (malaria areas), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana travel advice (road travel), Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Botswana ports of entry with operating hours (PDF, updated April 2025, copy hosted by pcf11.org), Wikipedia, Kgatleng District (neighbours, capital, Bakgatla homeland, Mochudi in the detective novels), Wikipedia, Mochudi (distance from Gaborone, Pilane turn-off, 1871 settlement, kgotla, painted houses), Wikipedia, Phuthadikobo Museum (hilltop school building of 1921 to 1923, displays, silkscreen workshop), Wikipedia, Matsieng Footprints (engravings, rock holes, age, legend), Wikipedia, Bokaa Dam (picnic site, water birds, 2012 drying), Wikipedia, Pilane (distance from Mochudi), Wikipedia, Oodi (distance from Gaborone), Wikipedia, Sikwane (village beside the South African border post), Wikipedia, Notwane River (seasonal flow, flash floods), Wikipedia, Geography of Botswana, climate section (dry season, winter months), Wikivoyage, Mochudi (museum, kgotla, painted homes), Wikivoyage, Gaborone (Oodi Weavers and its listed hours, airport, monthly temperatures and rainfall).