Serowe

Serowe (population approx. 90 000) was famed as Botswana's largest village. It was superseded in this by neighbouring Palapye around 2000.

Serowe is located in a fertile, well-watered area in Botswana's Central District and is a trade and commerce centre. It lies west of the Gaborone–Francistown road, from which it is easily reached. It also marks the beginning of the Serowe-Orapa road, which ends at the diamond mines in Orapa. Construction of this road began in 1986, and was completed several years later.

It has a memorial to Khama III, chief of the Bamangwato people in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1903 he founded as a new capital Serowe, Bamangwato.[1]It is also the birthplace of Seretse Khama, Botswana's first President, and the traditional center of the Bamangwato tribe.

Swaneng Hill School in Serowe was the first of the Brigades Movement schools founded by educationalist Patrick van Rensburg.

Swaneng hill is divided into three hillocks called Ba-Swaneng, Ma-Swaneng and Pa-Swaneng: Father, Mother and Baby Swaneng respectively.

Local Area

Notable features of the local area include a Botswana Defence Force (BDF) base on the road to Paje and the Khama Rhino Sanctuary.

The Khama Rhino Sanctuary is a charitable game reserve established in 1992 by the Watsons (a local family) and Ian Khama (the current President) that lies 25km north of Serowe itself. The 4,300 hectares of Kalahari sandveld was established as a haven for black and white Rhinoceros.

Literature

View from Swaneng Hill east across the beginnings of the Kalahari

Serowe was the adopted home of South African-born writer Bessie Head, inspiring her 1974 book Serowe: Village of the Rain Wind. Her name and importance to the village is remembered in the Khama III Memorial Museum in the Bessie Head Room, which was established (the room) in 2007.

External links

• Serowe tourist information
• Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Coordinates: 22°23′S 26°43′E / 22.383°S 26.717°E / -22.383; 26.717

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