Guide Books

Sandy Grant | Wednesday May 31, 2017 16:30

 

Alec Campbell’s The Guide to Botswana published in 1968 and priced then at P3.95 was perhaps the first.

There followed a string of internationally published guides, Lonely Planet, the Rough Guide, and Bradt and others, less well know to me, such as Southern Book Publishers and surprisingly, Pula Press. Most of the big-name commercially published guides now are unfortunately well beyond my price range.

It may also be that those publishers recognise, anyway, that there is no market for them here and therefore concentrate solely on the parts of the world where they have identified potential buyers.  It is when we come to the more locally published guidebooks that matters become interesting. 

By their nature, the production and publication of guidebooks of this kind are more likely to be the result of personal motivation than of a desire to make sizeable cash returns.

This may also mean that the only return that many of these authors get derives from inevitably small sales which is in sharp contrast to the commissioned authors who are paid regardless of sales.

Amongst those authors have been Mike Main and Linda Pfotenhauer.

In the former bracket, can be slotted Patricia Farrow’s Gaborone, the Complete City Guide, Campbell and Main’s 2003 Guide to Greater Gaborone, Ilona Somerset’s Selebi Phikwe and the Tuli Block, van Warden’s Guide to Francistown and Environs, the small guide of long ago, of Palapye and not least, the Phuthadiikobo Museum’s illustrated Guide to Mochudi with the text by myself.  Apart from the Campbell and Main guide, it can be assumed that all the others are now long out of print.

It can also be assumed that for some time the local guide book scenario has been in limbo.

It has long been my hope that all the major settlements should have their own published guidebooks.

But of course the difficulties involved are formidable – which is probably why none have recently been produced.  Local guidebooks are likely to enjoy only the most modest sales. Not every place even possesses a suitable outlet.

It follows that if there are to be local guidebooks in future, they will need to be subsidised probably by the City, Town and District Councils.

Producing guidebooks however is a tricky business, which demands an ability to write clearly, factual accuracy and a sensible choice of material. Selecting material may appear to be a doddle, but what is of interest to one, say Shopping Malls, is not likely to be of interested to another.  So, what should go in and what should go out, and who should decide?

But to give a better idea of this problem, let me give you two contrasting views of Gaborone. ‘Gaborone is an amorphous kind of place  not because it’s unpleasant, but because it is incredibly vague and unsatisfying.’

The Rough Guide 1996 and Myria Sekgoroarane’s appraisal, ‘Rarely do you visit a major city to be awestruck by its modern infrastructure, bright lights and fast pace, yet also to be amazed and charmed by its truly friendly and culturally sound character.’ Dumela 2010.