Orapa

Orapa is a company town with a fence round it. Debswana, the diamond firm owned half by the government and half by De Beers, built it for the mine De Beers geologists found here in 1967, and still calls it a closed town. You get in through a gate, with permission, or you do not get in. The 2022 census counted 8,648 residents. The name is Sesarwa for the resting place of lions.

Getting there

The mine is 240 km west of Francistown, on the A30. From the south, the A14 runs 248 km from Palapye by way of Serowe, Khama Rhino Sanctuary and Letlhakane. Both are tar. The gates are on the east and west sides of town, and a bypass loops round the south of the fence and carries on west towards Mopipi, Rakops and eventually Maun, so nobody passing through needs a permit.

When to go

The dry season starts in April and lasts to October or November, with winter from early May to late August. Summers are hot, and the mine tour dress rule is long sleeves and long trousers whatever the weather, so pick the cool months if you can.

What to do

The mine tour is the reason to make an effort. Debswana takes visitors over 18 round the Orapa operation on Fridays, starting at 08:00 from the corporate office. You apply to its Corporate Affairs department at least ten working days ahead with passport details and, oddly, your shoe size, since they lend you safety boots, a hard hat and a reflective jacket. Bring socks. Groups run from 10 to 30 people, so a couple should ask to join a party. Phones and laptops are banned in the high security areas and cameras have to be declared when you apply.

Orapa also has the Adrian Gale Diamond Museum, which Debswana describes as the first diamond museum in the country, and Orapa Game Park, north-west of town. Residents started the park in 1985 on worn-out grazing land beside the mine, and it has grown to 10,800 hectares, stocked over the years with springbok, blue wildebeest, eland, zebra, waterbuck and giraffe. I have not found published visiting arrangements for either, so ask about both when you write in about the tour.

The other mine people have heard of, Karowe, belongs to the Canadian company Lucara and not to Debswana. A 2,492 carat diamond came out of it in August 2024.

Good to know

• Do not turn up at the gate hoping to talk your way in. Bradt’s guide, in an older edition, said permission was not given easily.
• You can sleep outside the fence. Makumutu Safari Lodge gives its address as the Orapa and Mopipi junction on the B300 towards Maun, with safari tents, a campsite and a restaurant.
• Letlhakane, down the A14, is the bigger town, with 36,404 people at the 2022 census. It has its own page here.
• Boteti sub-district is on the CDC’s list of malaria areas in Botswana, and the CDC recommends tablets there. See a travel clinic before you leave home.
• Livestock and wild animals stray on to these roads after dark. The UK government singles out night driving as a risk, so be off the A30 and A14 by sunset.

Last updated 12 October 2026. Sources: Debswana, Orapa Mine (closed town, discovery and opening, distance from Francistown, meaning of the name), Debswana, Mine Tours (who can apply, notice period, tour days and start time, group size, dress and equipment rules), Debswana, Orapa Game Park (history from 1985, species moved in, size), Debswana, Adrian Gale Museum (first diamond museum in Botswana, who it is named after), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botswana (malaria transmission areas), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Botswana travel advice (road travel), City Population, Botswana (Statistics Botswana census figures for Orapa and Letlhakane, 2022), Wikipedia, Orapa (2022 census population, Karowe mine nearby), Wikipedia (German), Orapa (perimeter fence, east and west gates, bypass road, A30 and A14, Letlhakane on the A14, game park north-west of town), Bradt Travel Guide to Botswana (Chris McIntyre, online extract on Orapa), Bradt Travel Guide to Botswana (online extract on Rakops, tarred roads round Orapa to Francistown and Palapye), Wikipedia, A14 road (Palapye to Orapa, length, Khama Rhino Sanctuary), Wikipedia, Karowe diamond mine (Lucara, the 2,492 carat stone of August 2024), Wikipedia, Debswana (joint venture, half government and half De Beers), Wikipedia, Geography of Botswana (dry season and winter months), Makumutu Safari Lodge and Camp-Site (location at the Orapa and Mopipi junction on the B300, facilities).