District · Botswana
Kweneng District
The Bakwena heartland west of Gaborone: Molepolole, Livingstone's ruined mission at Kolobeng, Thamaga's pottery, and a long drive north-west to Khutse Game Reserve.
Short answer
This page covers 1 parks and reserves and 1 towns and cities in Kweneng District.
- Parks and reserves
- 1
- Towns and cities
- 1
- Where
- Botswana23.87°S 24.53°E
Parks and reserves in Kweneng District
1Towns and cities in Kweneng District
1Kweneng is the country of the Bakwena, the first people in Botswana David Livingstone converted, and its biggest town, Mogoditshane, runs straight on from Gaborone. It covers 35,890 km² and is the only district in Botswana with no foreign border. The 2022 census counted 387,983 people, with Mogoditshane (88,006) and Molepolole (74,674) the two largest places.
Getting there
Mogoditshane and Gaborone have grown into one built-up area, so there is no gap to cross. Molepolole, the district capital and seat of the Bakwena, is 50 km west of the city. Thamaga is about 40 km west of Gaborone and Kumakwane 25 km. Letlhakeng lies 75 km north-west of Molepolole.
All of those are day trips from the city. Khutse is not. It is a 240 km drive from Gaborone through Molepolole, and the reserve’s own page has the road, sand and fuel notes.
When to go
Rain is thin here, about 250 mm a year, and it comes in summer. The dry season runs from April to October. Winter is early May to late August, and nearby Gaborone averages a July low of 4 °C against January highs of 33 °C.
What to do
Kolobeng is the stop with the most history. Livingstone built his mission here in 1847, baptised the Bakwena kgosi Sechele I in 1848, and left in 1852. Only the building foundations and traces of the irrigation works remain, along with the grave of his daughter Elizabeth, who died at two months old. The site is 3 km west of Kumakwane, just off the Gaborone to Thamaga road. The Department of National Museum and Monuments preserves it, in a partnership with the UCCSA church and the Kumakwane community that the minister described in 2013.
Thamaga sits among big rock formations, the largest being Thamaga Hill. Its Botswelelo Centre, better known as Thamaga Pottery, was started in the 1970s with the help of a Catholic missionary, who trained young villagers so they would have work. In 2017 a board member said most of its customers came from overseas.
In Molepolole the Kgosi Sechele I Museum, open to the public since 1992, keeps Livingstone memorabilia. Livingstone’s Cave (Legaga la ga Kobokwe) is about 3 km out on the road to Thamaga.
The Manyana rock paintings are on the district’s southern edge by the Kolobeng hills (the village itself is usually counted under Southern District). Five rock faces spread along about 750 m carry giraffe, kudu, gemsbok and human figures, dated between 1100 and 1700 AD. The site is fenced as a national monument.
Khutse covers 2,500 km², with no fence between it and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to its north.
Good to know
- The CDC lists Kweneng among the districts with only rare or scattered malaria cases. Its advice there is to avoid mosquito bites, with no tablets.
- Stray livestock and wildlife wander onto the roads outside the towns, and at night donkeys and cows sleep on them. The UK government tells drivers to take extra care after dark.
- Past Molepolole, leave each village with enough fuel and water for the next leg, and a spare tyre.