Maun's Top Ten

Maun is a village located in Northern Botswana, at the edge of the Okavango Delta. It is a strange mixture of safari companies, NGOs and expats. Although 80,000 people live in this area, there are only two tar roads and no traffic lights. Here are a few things to know about Maun:

1.       All bars close at 11 (This is a fairly new law in Botswana as an attempt to reduce drinking. Hasn’t worked, particularly in Maun. People just start drinking earlier).

2.       There are more stray dogs, donkeys and goats in this town than there are people.

3.       All white people wear khaki-coloured cargo pants and khaki shirts. On one of my first days of work at the Maun Counselling Centre, I wore a purple dress and my coworkers looked at me in disbelief. “Why aren’t you wearing khaki?” they asked. “I don’t own anything khaki,” I replied. “You lie!” they exclaimed.  It took me a few minutes to convince them that I truly did not own anything cargo or khaki-related, but that purple dress broke the ice and helped me forge relationships with the women I work with. A purple dress. That’s all it took. A note to all my Caucasian friends: when and if you visit, bring some cargos and some khakis but don’t forget to add a little colour. This little gesture will go a long way in getting to know locals.

4.       Nando’s fast food is considered a fine meal.

5.       Maun is set to experience its first flood in 34 years. The water is rising

6.       No one actually has HIV or AIDS. Could’ve fooled me. Although this disease has ravaged the country, people still refuse to talk about it within their communities and with their peers. Sure there are plenty of ads, billboards, literature, etc about the HIV statistics in Botswana, however, no one will talk about it. It is still a huge stigma to be infected with HIV and when people die from this disease, no one will ever acknowledge it. Everyone here dies of pneumonia, tuberculosis or the “black magic”, never of AIDS.

7.       Termite mounds are considered landmarks.

8.       When people talk about malls, they mean a grouping of shops next to each other, kind of like our version of outlet malls, but smaller, dirtier and all run by Asians.

9.       It’s GNAW-kia, not NO-key-A

10.   Although it has a lot of flaws, Maun is growing on me. Especially the outskirts of Maun where the lions, leopards, wild dogs and elephants roam. I’ve been fortunate to spend a few weekends in the bush and it is spectacular!