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Dates & Prices | Special Offers | Contact Us
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Francistown, a City Off the Beaten Track

Francistown seated between the confluence of the Tati and Inchwe rivers is where we will be spending one day and two nights during our Victoria Falls, Frank Oates’ Final Trek voyage. It is a city that is off the beaten track as far as Botswana visitors are concerned but for us it is the gateway to visiting Frank Oates’  grave and by so doing, we will be making history. The pioneer, artist and naturalist, who died in 1875, lies in a marked but isolated grave, its whereabouts known by less than a handful of people. We will bring back news and photographs for the Gilbert White museum in Selbourne, Hampshire, a jewel that houses the Frank Oates collection.
map of Botswana
Map of Botswana

Francistown, little more than a hundred years old is steeped in history. By the mid 1800’s  gold mining produced a rush for concessions. The Rinderperst, an infectious disease of ruminants, had wiped out oxen and transport of goods and passengers were carried by donkey cart and mule-drawn coaches instead of larger ox wagons.  By 1897 a railway line from Mafaking to Bulawayo was built, at an incredible mile per day and a new town was established by the railway line – called Francistown after Daniel Francis, one of the founding Directors of the Tati Concessions Ltd. Typical of a mining town the rowdy folk were either celebrating their new found wealth or drowning their sorrows.

railwayline
Building the railway line, Eastern Botswana.
tati
Bechuanaland 1896 £5 Elephant Tati Concessions stamp
By 1936 a less welcome industry was created by a company called Witwatersrand Native Labour Association Ltd  (WNLA) which recruited (forced) labour for the South African Mines.  It was the WNLA that built the original roads to Kasane and Maun, in order to truck the labour to Francistown where they were put on trains to South Africa. Labour agents beat the bush for recruits, and chiefs were coerced or bribed to deliver a quota of young men to the mines. The  numbers  were astonishing, for example  432,234 African workers were recruited in 1939 alone.
supa ngwao museum at francistown jpg
Supa Ngwao Museum at Francistown
Much of the history can be found at the Supa Ngwao Museum which we hope to visit and learn not only of Francistown but the eastern corner of a country that lies off the tourist trail but like all of Africa has many a tale to tell.

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