Ghanzi

Accommodation | Activities | Restaurants | Business Directory

Geography and History

Ghanzi is the centre of the cattle farming industry in Botswana. Over 200 cattle farms, comprising approximately six percent of the national land, are backed one against the other in largely fenced holdings. Several cattle farmers have developed game ranches and wildlife concessions – land allocated near their farms – and tourists come for wildlife viewing and desert walks with the San people, who share their ancient way of life that masterfully and respectfully exploited the food and water resources of the desert.

The town owes its existence to the limestone ridge on which it is situated which supplies it, and the surrounding farms, with a plentiful year-round supply of ground water.

Today it is the centre of a thriving Afrikaner cattle ranching industry, but Ghanzi was once a major centre for many Bushmen hunter-gatherer groups.

Flora and Fauna

Oryx, Springbuck and Ostrich are the most common Ghanzi wildlife to be seen, as well as a number of small desert-dwelling rodents and a range of reptiles.

Ghanzi plant life includes a fair variety of habitats including acacia trees and areas of flat grasslands, with scrub the most common form of vegetation to be seen.

Activities/ Attractions

Things to do in Ghanzi include the following:

The Kuru Dance Festival: A festival held every year in August, featuring the traditional song and dance of Kalahari dwellers, bringing visitors from all over the world.
Ghanzi Hunter-Gatherer Guided Walk: Participate in the traditional hunter-gatherer life by stalking wildlife, digging up roots and climbing trees for wild fruit.
Ghanzi Trance Dance: Your chance to see a traditional and religious Bushman ritual and learn and understand the history behind it.
Horse-riding for experienced horse riders.
Swimming in an old quarry.

Accommodation

Ghanzi offers a variety of accommodation in the form of campsites, rustic traditional-grass huts, guest houses and lodges.

Businesses

Ghanzi has a growing business community and provides a variety of products and services to local and foreign communities.

It is regarded as one of the best cattle ranging areas in the world, renowned for the high quality, free roaming beef it produces. Ghanzi farmers provide 75 percent of the beef that the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) exports, primarily to the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU).

See our business directory for a list of businesses in Ghanzi or add your own free business directory listing.