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Although officially
still a village, Maun is the fifth largest town in Botswana. It is
an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts. Maun is the
"tourism capital" of Botswana and the administrative centre of
Ngamiland district. It is also the headquarters of numerous
safari and air-charter operations who run trips into the
world-famous
Okavango Delta.
Maun has developed rapidly from a rural frontier town and has
spread along the Thamalakane River. It now boasts good shopping
centres, hotels and lodges as well as car and 4-wheel drive
vehicle hire. It still retains a rural atmosphere and local
tribesmen continue to bring their cattle to Maun to sell. This
community is now distributed along the wide banks of the
Thamalakane River where red lechwe can still be seen grazing
next to local donkeys, goats and cattle.
Maun is today a
thriving, chaotic tourist town, infamous for its infestation of
donkeys and to a lesser extent goats. These animals can be seen
standing around town as the local farmers arrive in the
innumerable taxis to sell their wares on the kerbside.
With the influx of tourism dollars, the typical traditional
rondavels have been mostly replaced by square but modestly sized
cinderblock homes roofed with tin and, rarely, tiles. It in not
unusual to see mud rondavels with satellite dishes. Likewise,
mobile phone service in Maun is excellent out to about 20 to
25km.
A
somewhat familiar Maun scene!
Opposite the main shopping strip which has grown around Rileys
Garage, air-conditioned shopping centres are incongruously
surrounded by potholes and dusty or muddy car parking lots, also
inevitably a marketplace for whoever wishes to sell. There are
four major chain supermarkets (Shoprite, Spar, Score and Choppies) and a Nandos.
Maun is also becoming a regional transhipment hub for materials
and tradespeople who service both the local camps and safari
centres and the burgeoning mineral exploration camps in northwestern Botswana. There are a wide variety of variously
 reliable services in Maun, from tyre retailers, air conditioning
service centres, diesel and vehicle mechanics, electricians,
agricultural and hunting (weapons) supply stores, innumerable
local entrepreneurs with welding ventures operated from the back
of a cart.
Tourists fly into the Maun International Airport, opposite the
Cafe Bon Arrivee. They stay at the local lodges including Maun
Lodge, Rileys Hotel, Audi Camp, Crocodile Camp or other safari
lodges. Often, these tourists take the road to the Moremi Game
Reserve, Nata, or otherwise fly to several tourist camps in the
Okavango Delta.
Maun, like most areas in southern Africa, has a protracted
aviation history. See Aviation history of Maun
The name Maun is
derived from the San word 'maung', which translates 'the place
of short reeds'. The village started in 1915 as the capital for
the Tawana people. The capital was transferred from Toteng after
victory over Ndebele King Lobengula.
Goats wandering in front of Maun's old 'Duck Inn' (Photo by Lee
Ouzman) |
