Now anyone can travel virtually through Botswana via Street View on Google Maps to explore the country’s unique scenery and world-renowned game reserves. With around 70% of the country being covered by the Kalahari Desert, Botswana has diverse terrain including the delta and wide open grassland and savannah areas.

 

Depending on which kind of terrain Pegman falls on, you can navigate around some of the most remote areas of the country.

 

 

Take an online safari around some of Botswana’s most unique places, by exploring salt pans like the Makgadikgadi Pan, or spot wild animals in the famous Chobe National Park, home to the largest concentration of African elephants in the world.

 

Botswana is well known for housing the world’s largest inland river delta, the Okavango, which spans more than 16 000 square kilometres. The delta is fed by the Okavango River and is an aquatic wilderness teeming with rich wildlife.

 

Users may prefer to wander the streets of capital city Gaborone, or immerse themselves in what the area has to offer on its outskirts. You can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, or get a helping hand with geography homework.

 

House-hunters can save time by exploring the neighbourhoods of potential properties in advance, and also by looking up driving directions. Businesses can benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free, helping them to promote a chain of hotels, B&Bs, or raise awareness about a local library or cafe.

 

 

Ory Okolloh, policy manager at Google Sub-Saharan Africa said: “Whether you are planning a safari, doing a homework assignment on Botswana, or promoting your local business, Street View will allow you to experience a slice of the country. We hope to add more cultures, landscapes and sites as Street View continues to expand to new places.”

 

Street View was first launched on the African continent in South Africa, just before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Some highlights from Street View in South Africa include imagery of dozens of cities and towns, the World Cup soccer stadia, heritage sites such as Vilakazi Street in Soweto, the Kruger National Park and the Cape Winelands.

 

In related Google news, the search giant has recently released a virtual reality game called Ingress in conjunction with Niantic Labs.