Francistown

Francistown is a great place for a stopover.

Francistown has everything a traveller requires en route to a chosen destination.

After travelling through several African countries during our 2011 December holidays, Botswana was the last country before our way home to Namibia. When entering Botswana, our first stop over was in Francistown. The drive to Francistown was easy, with excellent roads, and we found the city with ease. We were stunned by how clean Francistown were. With huge, clean buildings. The roads in the city were in excellent condition. Excellent road markings. We were excited to find several restaurants in Francistown, wich was a far cry from what we've seen during our travels the last 3 weeks before arriving in Francistown. People were friendly and helpful. We found our accommodation for the night with ease. What a beautiful city!!! After travelling 3 weeks already via other African countries, sometimes struggling to find fuel, supplies, etc. Francistown was like an oases. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Francistown. Unfortunately we did not have more time to visit the city, as we were heading home, but we defnitely visit Francistown again!!!

Francistown is a very busy city with a large volume of traffic flowing through it on a constant basis. We did not choose the right accommodation and as a result did not have the best night's sleep but we found a great place to have breakfast in one of the many malls. The people were very friendly and helpful. Only downside to the city is the traffic, it is congested as a result of very narrow roads. Driving in the city centre is not for the faint hearted. Otherwise, a good stop over when travelling to the Okavango.

Francistown or Nyangabgwe is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 100, 000 and often described as the "Capital of the North". Francistown is home to the Supa Ngwao Museum, with exhibits related to the area's history and heritage. A new nature reserve, Tachila, has been established 5 kilometres from central Francistown on an old Tati Company Farm, Lady Mary. The nature reserve is expected to be a tourism turn-over for the already flourishing city with its variety of wild animals. Francistown is home to several hotels, lodges and guest houses like River View Vila, which can provide stopover accommodation for tourist traveling through the city. River View Villa is located in the serene neighbourhood of Tati River North. It is, as many know it, the heart and soul of the city. There are several high class restaurants and eateries like Spur's, KFC, Barcelos, Debonairs Pizza, Milky Lane and many more in the city which can provide alternative eating places to our customers. These provide a variety of cuisine for the different taste buds of the city's visitors, our customers as well as inhabitants. Our clients can chill off at clubs like Francistown Rugby Club which hosts different weekend events that are eye-catching to any age group. There are also several night clubs in the city that cater for the city's night revelers like Lizard Entertainment.

Francistown, is the oldest town in Botswana. Tachila Private Game Reserve, which is just five kilometres from the city, is being developed into an international-standard destination. Francistown is idealy situated as a transit or stop-over for travellers en-route to Botswana's wildlife rich Chobe and the world renowned Okavango Delta. Chobe National Park is famous for its herd of elephant and the other "big five" species. The Kazungula Boarder post which is about 10 kilometres from the entrance into Chobe National Park, boaders Zimbabwe and Zambia, and the rest of Africa. The two countries share the Victoria Falls, one of the eight wonders of the world. Perhaps the most interesting fact about this city is that it was the home to the first "Gold Rush" in southern Africa. This established Francistown as a central hub for traders in the 1800's. The city still caters for traders from Zimbabwe, Zambia and the DRC. Present day Francistown is a cosmopolitan city with almost all nationalities represented here. There is a rich history in mining, manufucturing of textiles and cattle ranching. Mining continues to be the economic back-bone of the city. There are considerable deposits of copper, nickel, gold, uranium, salt, soda-ash and coal within a 150 kiometre radius of the city.

The town has beautiful shopping malls. The city is clean but the roads are too narrow. Unfortunately we did not visit the game reserve because we were not sure if there were places of interest nearby. It is a very busy town.

It's a lovely place to be, even though there is nothing you can do to cool the temperatures, but overall it's a place to be. The people are welcoming and friendly, I wish more people were like that. What a beautiful country you've got. Even though the food is good, there is nothing you can do to separate a Zimbabwean and Sadza. There was very few of it in Botswana.