KALAHARI ARMS HOTEL IN GHANZI. The first choice for business associates and those who prefer more luxury...

THAKADU CAMP GHANZI: Without a doubt, Temba's suggested choice for people on self-drive holidays.

Ghanzi is on the frontier of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, but Ghanzi is perhaps better known as the heartland of the Botswana beef industry.

It is situated 280km south of Maun on the Trans- Kalahari Highway and 500km from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Gabarone is 650km away on an excellent tar road.

Ghanzi - also known as "The capital of the Kalahari" must be one of Botswana's most intriguing towns - situated in the middle of nowhere and separated from the rest of the world by hundreds of kilometres of road. The first and probably major impression you will have of the interminable journey from Gaborone to Ghanzi is the sheer monotony of the landscape. We offer a selection of accommodation such as hotels, lodges and camping in and around Ghanzi in Botswan.

Once, parts of Kalahari and presentdays Ghanzi District were populated only by Bushmen who had perfected survival strategies for living in this inhospitable land. Later the Bakgalagadi arrived and today live in Kalahari villages such as Ncojane, Matsheng and Kang. After the Bushmen, the Ghanzi area was settled by Hottentots, who it is believed, tended large herds of cattle.

The first white settlers arrived in 1874, led by Hendrik van Zyl, whose legend still persists in Ghanzi, as does the remains of his house. More white settlers followed in the late 1890s. These were trekkers - Boers who sought to escape the authorities in South Africa, some believing they could establish an independent republic deep in the interior of the Kalahari. They were lured by extravagant offers of 5,000 morgen (about 12.76 square kilometres) of land in the Ghanzi district for a £1 application fee, plus free drilling equipment.

Much of the land on offer in the Ghanzi area had, in fact, been fraudulently acquired from Tawana Chief Moremi in Maun by men working for Cecil Rhodes. Today there are over 200 cattle farms around Ghanzi, holding approximately 6 per cent of the national herd. Most Ghanzi Farms are prospering, owing to the fine grazing, abundant supply of groundwater and improved ranching techniques.

Some experts call Ghanzi the best cattle country in the world. Ghanzi community is a conglomeration of ethnic groups - Bushmen, Bakgalagadi, Baherero, Batawana, and Afrikaaners who own many of the farms. Afrikaans is widely spoken - you might feel as if you are in a tiny South African place in the northern Cape.

The main employment around Ghanzi is on the cattle farms, and farm squatters have become a problem in recent years. There are also several RAD (Remote Area Development) settlements in the Ghanzi area.