Our Gaborone Apartment

Because many of our family members and friends were asking about where we’d be living upon arrival here in Gaborone, I’m writing to describe our new home. We are living at the Manor Apartments, a group of 14 apartments within a gated community called Kgale Manor. The main part of the development consists mostly of single-family homes and some side-by-side duplexes. We’ve taken a three-month lease on a furnished, two-bedroom suite on the second floor. Bonus: our balcony faces west, so we get great sunsets.


Sun down from our balcony.

The kitchen even has granite counters. Not bad, though the
electric stove is a drag.

Let’s start with the most important room from my perspective: the kitchen. It’s decently equipped and Rishi had a delicious dinner waiting for me upon my first evening here. We have a refrigerator-freezer, a range with an oven below, a microwave, a toaster, and an electric kettle for boiling water. I’m sorry to report that the four-burner electric cooktop has my least favorite type of cooking element: French plates. These cast-iron resistance heating units take too long to heat up and then a good while to respond when you turn them down. So if all you need to do is scramble an egg, you still have to wait about two minutes, just for the pan to warm up. And forget about making any kind of delicate sauce that requires sensitive heat control. It’s déjà vu because our Boulder home had the same type of heating elements before we remodeled and installed a gas cooktop. The kitchen contains the basics: dishes, glassware, table ware, a few pots and pans, cutting boards, a colander, some basic tools, and much to my surprise, a decent set of knives. On Sunday, we picked up a food processor / blender combination, which is a single motor unit to which you can attach either the processor bowl or the blender. I’m already making a list of other kitchen items we’ll want, but we are in good shape for starters.

Living/dining room

The kitchen and the adjacent living room are nice and airy, with a cathedral ceiling. All of the furniture, which includes a sofa, arm chairs, and a dining table with four chairs, is contemporary and comfortable. The flat screen TV appears to be brand new and included in our rent is Dish TV, with a selection of about 400 channels, but there’s still nothing worth watching. From the living room, we can walk out to our balcony where we have a small table and a couple of chairs.




The master bedroom includes a queen bed and bed tables, while the second bedroom has a double. Within each bedroom, one wall has built-in closet/storage units with sections to hang clothes as well as shelves and drawers, so we have plenty of storage space. And, we have two full baths. Plenty of space for guests!


The pool and palapa, with apartments in the background

The fourteen apartments have access to a common area with a pool, a thatched palapa, and a grill, which in these parts is called a braii, from the Afrikaans word braaivleis. We’ve picked up some charcoal, so one of these days we’ll have to slap some of that famous Botswana beef onto the grill.

Our rent seems somewhat steep, but it’s not that bad when one considers that not only does it cover the furnishings, but also our water, electricity, wireless internet, dish TV, security services, landscaping, and oh yes – the best part of all, which is going to completely spoil us – a cleaning service five days a week! 

The main drawback with this place is the distance from the University, requiring about a 20-30 minute drive depending on traffic. Because we only have one car, Rishi either takes the car and I’m sort of marooned here since there’s no place nearby to walk to, or I have to drive him back and forth. Consequently, we plan on seeing if we can find someplace closer to the University to move into when our lease is up. If nothing suitable turns up, though, we’ll be fine staying here.

The view from the front entrance to our apartment, showing a couple of the single
family homes, with Kgale Hill in the background. The red rock looks a bit like Lyons, CO.