Maun

The name Maun is derived from the Seyei word 'maung', which translates 'the place of river reeds'. Before the arrival of Batawana, Maun was a small Yei village. The village in 1915 became the capital for the Batawana people. The capital was transferred from Toteng after victory over Ndebele King Lobengula.

The settlement was founded in 1915 as the tribal capital of the Batawana people, and has had a reputation as a hard-living 'Wild West' town which was the economic center of local cattle ranching and hunting operations. However, with the growth of the tourism industry and the completion of the tar road from Nata in the early 1990s, Maun has developed swiftly, losing much of its old town character. It is now home to over 55,000 people. In 1993, Conservation International opened an office in Maun as part of its CI-Okavango programme, which later formed the basis of the Botswana country programme Conservation International Botswana. Maun is today a thriving tourist town, infamous for its infestation of donkeys and to a lesser extent goats. These animals can be seen standing around town as the local farmers arrive in innumerable taxis to sell their wares on the curbside. …

Maun has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh). On 7 January 2016, Maun had a record temperature of 44.0 °C (111.2 °F), which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Botswana.

The Top Gear: Botswana Special (episode 4 of series 10), which aired in 2007, includes segments in Maun. Maun was featured again in the series finale of The Grand Tour in 2024, during which Jeremy Clarkson's Lancia Beta and James May's Mercedes-Benz 230E from the special were present, having been found a few years earlier. The sixth and seventh legs of the 22nd installment of the American television program The Amazing Race took place in and around Maun. The music video for "Am I Wrong" by Nico & Vinz, was filmed in Maun, as well as in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The 2012 TV series Bush Pilots was filmed in Maun.