Mahalapye

Mahalapye began as a station on the Gaborone to Francistown railway and is now mostly a place where the A1 traffic pulls over. It had three wards in 1922 and 2,453 people in 1946. The 2022 census counted 48,431. Nobody plans a holiday around it. You stop for fuel, a meal and a bed that breaks the long run north, and if you have a spare morning the old Bangwato capital at Shoshong is in the hills to the west.

Getting there

The A1 runs through town. Gaborone is about 200 km south and Palapye 72 km north, with Francistown another 163 km past that. It is tar the whole way and any car will do. A side road goes west to Shoshong, and the B145 heads east to the small Limpopo border post at Parr’s Halt (Stockpoort on the South African side), which shuts at 18:00.

There is a bus station. Botswana Railways keeps its offices on the main road, but its passenger trains are suspended.

When to go

The dry season runs from April to October, and May to August is the cool part of it. Winter nights get properly cold here: the record low is -6°C. Summers are hot, with a record of 41.9°C, and the year’s rain (around 450 mm) falls then. The Mhalatswe, the river through town, is dry outside the rains.

What to do

Shoshong is the one outing I would make time for. It lies about 40 km west, in a valley ringed by hills. Sekgoma I settled the Bangwato there around 1850, and by the 1880s it was a big trading town on the road north. Khama III moved the capital to Old Palapye in 1889 when the water ran short. What is left is a quiet village with its kgotla at the mouth of the kloof and a trader’s store from 1911.

South of town on the A1 you pass the Tropic of Capricorn monument, a group of big stones that name the other countries the line crosses. A survey published in Botswana Notes and Records found it sits some 7 km south of where the line really is. Stop for the photo anyway.

In town itself there is the Water Shed mall, and that is about it. Mahalapye was in the running to be the capital in 1965 and lost out partly over water. President Duma Boko was born here in 1969.

Good to know

• Mahalapye sub-district is on the CDC’s list of malaria areas in Botswana, and it advises preventive tablets.
• Some of the petrol stations stay open 24 hours.
• Do not drive the A1 after dark if you can help it. Cattle and donkeys wander onto the road, and the British travel advice warns about it.
• The Cresta hotel is built for exactly this stopover and has a pool and a restaurant.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Mahalapye (bus and railway station, 24-hour fuel, Water Shed mall, temperature records, Duma Boko), Wikipedia (German), Mahalapye (Mhalatswe river, railway origin, name, rainfall, Shoshong and Parr's Halt roads), Wikipedia, A1 road (Botswana) (distances to Palapye, Gaborone and Francistown), City Population, Botswana census tables from Statistics Botswana (2022 population), Jacob Knight, Shoshong, a short history (Mahalapye in 1922 and 1946, mix of peoples, 1965 capital contest), Botswana Railways, passenger services (suspended, Mahalapye offices), Botswana Daily News, Historical perspective of Shoshong (5 February 2020), Wikipedia, Shoshong (distance, hills, kgotla and kloof, move to Old Palapye), Botswana Notes and Records vol 45, Mike Main, The Moving Tropic of Capricorn (monument position), Botswana Daily News, Dept to erect billboard at Capricorn (28 November 2018, stones at the monument), Wikipedia, Botswana and South Africa border crossings (Parr's Halt and Stockpoort, B145, closing time), Cresta Hotels, Cresta Mahalapye (stopover hotel, pool, restaurant), Wikipedia, Geography of Botswana (dry season and winter months), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana traveller health (malaria areas), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana travel advice (driving conditions), Wikivoyage, Botswana (animals on the road at night, passenger trains).