The first settlers of the area were mostly Afrikaans speakers of Khoi/Boer descent. Migrating principally from South Africa and Namibia, these 'Great Trekkers' arrived in Botswana somewhere between 1912 and 1913.Unbeknown to them, their source of water would later become a part of their personal and geographical identity.Another group of people is said to have arrived from Gemsbok and Mabuasehuba national parks. In 1938, the parks were incorporated to form the TransFrontier Park after indigenous people were driven out by British colonisers and apartheid masters in South Africa.
Bitter memories of this dark history are still harboured by some members of this community; they claim their eviction to pave way for wildlife and tourism activities, was inhumane and a flagrant violation of their fundamental human rights. Upon arrival at Bokspits, the first small group of settlers did not find any water. Searching for water in their newfound land, a group of men using an intriguingly simple method where a straight wire is placed on each arm to determine the direction of the water channel soon identified an area with underground water.Thus within days a 35-metre deep well was excavated for the community to use. There are conflicting theories about whose well it was, with the most popular being that it belonged to one Bok, thus it was named after him and the village deriving its name from the same, hence Bokspits.
