2019-08-29 Thu

Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has a landscape defined by the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta, which becomes a lush animal habitat during the seasonal floods. The massive Central Kalahari Game Reserve, with its fossilized river valleys and undulating grasslands, is home to numerous animals including giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.

The “pula” is the currency of Botswana and is subdivided into 100 thebe. The word Pula literally means "rain" in Setswana, because rain is very scarce in Botswana — home to much of the Kalahari Desert — and therefore valuable and a blessing. The word also serves as the national motto of the country. A sub-unit of the currency which is known as thebe or "shield" represents defence.

Today we are discussing a 100 Pula banknote issued in 2005. This note depicts on its obverse images of the Three Dikgosi (Chiefs) of the three main tribes of Botswana that in 1895 travelled to England to appeal directly to Queen Victoria to prevent Cecil Rhodes from bringing Bechuanaland under British South Africa Company rule. The names of the chiefs are: Sebele I; Bathoen I; Khama III Boikanyo - King (Kgosi) of Bechuanaland. The African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) decorates the centre on the note with the official Coat of Arms with zebras, three cogwheels representing industry, waves symbolising water and rain (pula) and a head of a bull, which symbolizes the importance of cattle herding in Botswana, to right upper top corner.

The reverse of this blue note depicts a female diamond sorter examining rough diamonds with an open pit diamond mine in the background.

Image Courtesy: eBAy.com