Maun, Botswana

Maun is Botswana's fifth largest town and is made up of a varied mix of modern buildings and traditional native huts. Maun is known as the "tourism capital" of Botswana and is also the administrative centre of the Ngamiland district. Maun is also home to many safari and air-charter operations who run trips into the Okavango Delta.

Although Maun has many modern conveniences such as shopping centres, hotels and lodges and car hire companies, it still has a very rural atmosphere with local tribesmen bringing cattle to sell in the village.

Maun is a thriving tourist town, infamous for its large donkey population and to a lesser extent goats. These animals can be spotted throughout the town. Mobile phone service in Maun is only reliable out to about 20km from the town, depending on weather. There are three major chain supermarkets and few leading retail auto parts stores. Maun is also becoming a regional transshipment 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 services in stores as well as many local entrepreneurs with welding ventures operated from the back of a cart.