BOTSWANA

BOTSWANA.

Mail Runners.
Map of a section of the Mafeking-Gubulawayo postal route, 1888.
Third stamp in a set of 4, issued on 21.08.1972.
Face value: 7 cents of Botswana pula.
Printing: Offset lithography.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 90.
- Scott No. 90.
- StampWorld No. 85.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 296.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 242.

The history of the postal services in Botswana starts with the first attempts at establishment of such a service being inaugurated by Sir Charles Grey, governor of the Cape, as far back as 1860. Around 1875 the London Missionary Society established its own runner service north of Bulawayo, through Tatitown and Shoshong, linking with another private runner service operated by the Shoshong missionaries and Chief Khama; this in turn ran south to Dinokana, where it linked up with the postal service of the the Republic of South Africa. By the mid-1880's the service was handling up to 8000 letters annually. After the protectorate had been declared, the first official service administered from Vryburg commenced in 1888, covering the area from Mafeking (via Kanye and Molepolele) to Bulawayo. A year later, with the establishment of a mule cart service, the runners were laid off.