Harking back to November when I was looking for goodies to send back to the UK as Christmas presents.
Spending most of my time in Maun I thought it would be great to buy some African curios as gifts, after all, this is the tourism capital of Botswana, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find some pleasing ethnic handicrafts.
My first stop was Jazella’s, just outside Maun airport. Looks promising: lots of ethnic and hippy stuff draped round the place.
Nice necklace, looks like ostrich shell.
Me: “Where is this from?”
Sales: “Indonesia.”
Me: Walks out.
Maybe I should try some of the other shops and see what they have to offer – watch this space for updates
Tourists: ask where it comes from before you buy it. I have heard good things about Botswanacraft, and they genuinely support local manufacturers and charities.
This experience, along with some other observations made in Maun, leads me to some very cynical conclusions about people’s motivations for being here, but that’s another post.
