Selebi-Phikwe

A town built for a mine that closed. What that leaves behind is an unusually large stock of solid, inexpensive rooms in eastern Botswana — and a place that is honest about what it is.

Selebi-Phikwe accommodation Eastern Botswana

A preserved steam locomotive standing as a monument in Selebi-Phikwe. Photo: Matthias-Tf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Why the town exists at all

There were two small places here, Selebi and Phikwe, sitting on opposite sides of a copper and nickel deposit nobody had found. When it was discovered in the 1960s a mining township was built between them, and the hyphenated name is the join. Nickel mining began in 1973, and for four decades BCL Limited was effectively the town’s reason for being.

It ceased operations in September 2016, putting thousands out of work. The 2022 census still recorded 42,488 residents, which makes Selebi-Phikwe one of the larger towns in the Central District — a town of substantial size that lost its single industry and is still working out what comes next.

We say this plainly because it explains what a visitor actually finds. Towns built around mines get built properly: tarred streets, a hospital, sports facilities, hotels and guesthouses sized for a shift workforce and visiting contractors. When the mine goes, the infrastructure stays. For a traveller crossing eastern Botswana, that translates into more beds, at lower prices, than any comparable-sized place on this side of the country.

What there is to do

Let us not overstate this. Selebi-Phikwe is not a safari town and there is no park at the end of the road. Two things are genuinely worth knowing about.

Letsibogo Dam lies on the Motloutse River near Mmadinare, a short drive from town. It was completed in 2000, initially to supply water to Selebi-Phikwe itself, and now feeds Gaborone through a 400-kilometre pipeline as part of the North–South Carrier scheme. It holds up to 100 million cubic metres across an 18-square-kilometre surface behind a 28-metre wall, and it is actively promoted for fishing and water sports. Open water on this scale in eastern Botswana attracts birds, and it is the obvious half-day out from town.

The Phikwe Marathon is the town’s other claim, and a real one — it has been rated among the best marathons in the world by the international athletics federation. If you are travelling anywhere near its date, the town’s accommodation will be full, which is worth knowing in both directions.

Getting there

From the A1 — Selebi-Phikwe lies east of the main highway, reached by a tarred road that leaves the A1 between Palapye and Francistown.
From Francistown — a straightforward drive south-west; the closest city with a full range of services and an airport.
From Palapye — north-east, and the reason some travellers break an A1 drive here instead of on the highway itself.
Towards Bobonong and the Tuli country — the road east from Selebi-Phikwe heads that way, and the town is the last place of any size on it. Be clear, though, that the Northern Tuli Game Reserve itself is a private concession normally entered from South Africa at Pont Drift, by arrangement with your lodge. Selebi-Phikwe is a staging town on that side of the country, not a park gate.

Where to stay, and how long

One night, unless the dam or an event is the reason you came. What Selebi-Phikwe offers is value and availability rather than character: guesthouses, lodges and small hotels built for contract workers, most of them well-run, secure and considerably cheaper than the equivalent in Francistown or Gaborone. If you are driving eastern Botswana on a budget, or you want a quiet night off the highway rather than beside it, this is a sensible and under-used stop.

Accommodation in Selebi-Phikwe

Every Selebi-Phikwe property we have checked. Each card opens our own property page first - we publish no rates, no availability and no ratings of our own.