Overview

There are three types of land tenure in Botswana namely; Tribal, State and Freehold land tenure systems. Tribal land currently accounts for about 70% of national land, while state land constitutes approxiamately 26% and is mainly composed of game reserves, forest reserves, farms, national parks and urban centers. Freehold land accounts for the ramaining 4% of the national land and is mainly characterised by commercial agricultural farms and ranches. Each of the land tenure systems is administered and managed under their respective institutional, legal and policy frameworks.

Tribal land. Allocation of land is administered by the twelve (12) Main Land Boards of the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services and their forty one (41) Subordinate Land Boards. Applicants who are granted land will receive a Certificate of Customary Grant as evidence of their right to the land specified. Citizens may apply for un-allocated tribal land in any tribal territory/area in Botswana.

State land is held and administered on behalf of the Government of Botswana by the Department of Lands, which issues fixed state period grant titles on a lease basis for periods of 99 years for residential land and 50 years for non-residential land. The Department of Lands is responsible for the allocation and administration of state land, after which Attorney General's chambers issues the assorciated titles.

Freehold land is held by individuals or entities in perpetuity, hence with no restrictions on lease durations. Furthermore, this form of tenure is transferable in perpetuity and may be leased for defined periods of time. Under the guidance of the Deeds Registry Act, long term leases may be registered and are readily hypothecated.

Land Administration

The Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services is responsible for the management of land and water resources in Botswana. The mandate of the Ministry is to ensure proper land administration and management to facilitate socio-economic development through land servicing.

Botswana offers the traveller a choice of accommodation options from top class tourist hotels, luxury lodges and safari camps, to budget guesthouses and camping grounds. The major tourist areas have a choice of private lodges, safari camps, and public camping sites. Click below to browse the different packages available for you.

Accommodation Packages

HOTELS

Botswana offers a wide array of hotel accomodation, from unrated to 5 star rated accross the country. Hotels can be found in cities, towns and even in the wild where the game can be viewed from your residential.

LUXURY ACCOMODATION

BW offers affordable luxury accomodation to its visitors mostly in cities. More expensive luxury accomodation can be book in the northern parts of the country mostly in tousrism areas. Accomodation ranges from stand alone chalet, bush camouflaged cottages and modern high rise.

SAFARI CAMPING

Other visitors/tourists prefer to experience the nature wholely by opting for bush or safari camping. Chalet or Campsites are located or can be assembled on request by tour operators in game parks.

URBANISATION

Gaborone is one of the fastest growing cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the urban agglomeration of the capital of Botswana has 244,107 inhabitants [2022 census], but will become a half-million city in only two decades. The second city is Francistown which has about half Gaborone habitants.

RURAL HOMESTEAD

Traditionally Batswana built simple housing using natural resources(clay and cow-dung) that is found in their areas. Traditional mud built houses as above were common amongst most tribes. The different many traditional housing trends will be exhibited in detail in this section.

URBAN HOMESTEADS

Modern day civilised Batswana housing styles follow modern day architectural designs with a mixture of high rise to luxuries cottages built with cement, sand and concrete. The different housing spectacles vary with surburbs and middle to low income households.