Palapye in the middle of bushland

The midsize town Palapye

Palapye is a midsize town in Botswana and locates in the Central District. The town surrounds by savanna only. Serowe is the next nearby city located around 30 km west of Palapye. Gaborone the capital in the southeast and Francistown in the north are the next major cities. The distance to both cities is around 250 km.

Even in the first view, Palapye looks very young nevertheless the town has a long history.

Palapye is a continuously growing town almost in the middle of nowhere between Gaborone and Francistown. However, the town has a strategic position for travellers from the south to the north and vice versa.

The winter is quite cool during the night but around 20 degrees during the day. The summer is much different. Then, the temperature rises to 40 degrees. However, heavy rain is not uncommon, and even more, cresting sometimes floods. The rain is attended mostly by heavy thunderstorms.

The Lotsane river is a small river that passes through Palapye. In wintertime, the river dried out almost completely. While in the summertime after rain, the river swells to a raging river. Then, floods are possible and put the town underwater.

Kalahari Desert

The surrounding savanna is part of the Kalahari desert. The Kalahari covers parts of the Northern Cape province in South Africa and Namibia. The almost flat land gives a nice opportunity to watch beautiful sunsets.

Palapye has its train station. Thereby the town has a connection to the Botswana railway grid. A daily train connects Francistown and Gaborone via Palapye.

The town became known worldwide in the movie “A United Kingdom”. A movie about the first president of Botswana and his wife. Parts of the movie were shot in and around the town indeed. Especially the train station appears in some scenes in the movie.