Date Published: 10th January 2017

Alexander has written an article for the Belmond Travel magazine about his latest trip to Botswana, a county which he loves and home to Precious Ramotswe and The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. You can read the article here and you still have time to book onto his next safari with Belmond, later this year. The photographs below of Alexander McCall Smith in Botswana were taken by the photographer Chris Watt.

Extract from the article:

WHAT BETTER PROSPECT can there be for any author than this? Ahead of me lie six days with 16 readers of my Botswana novels—not in the usual setting of a bustling literary fair, but in the very country where those books are set. We shall be together on one of the few great adventures that are left in a shrinking world—a real safari in Africa’s most beautiful and unspoilt wilderness. But this is no ordinary safari—this is, as far as I know, the world’s only literary safari. This is the third time I have undertaken it—the last two occasions were memorable and I have every expectation that this will be so too.

The excitement starts at Maun, the place from which most Okavango safaris are launched. Our plane descends towards the tarmac and I see that it has been raining. That is a good omen in Botswana—to arrive in the midst of rain is a sign of good fortune. The ground has been dry for months and the land is crying out for water. After the first few showers, the dust will be settled and the earth will suddenly turn green as plants spring back into life. This is a good time to be here…