Our first stop was the Three Dikgosi (Chiefs) Monument. We met him at the Cafe dijo, and with lattes in hand, we boarded his stretch Land Rover. Tim Race of Africa Insight was our guide for this half-day tour. The President Hotel is very much worth a visit we had a snack and a nice pot of red bush tea, which is delicious! Tim would not come with us but he was willing to drop us off there and he asked the doorman to get us a reliable cab when we were finished so we could go back to our hotel. We really wanted to go to the President Hotel where Mma Ramotswe likes to sip coffee on the terrace. We also were not taken to see the set for the TV series, because apparently it is in very poor shape. I was disappointed that we did not see Tlokweng Road but perhaps that is only available on the full-day tour. Our guide, Tim, is acquainted with Alexander McCall Smith, who apparently visits Gaborone every year or so just to keep current on how things are coming along there. :) The tour contained a surprisingly large amount of Botswana history, which my husband loved we did see Zebra Way (the Model for Zebra Road in the books) and the location where Mma Ramotswe's house would be, and we were taken to see a university and hospital that had made appearances in the books. I have read all the books, though the early ones were quite a while ago now my husband had seen the TV series that was made and had heard one or two of the audio books but this was mostly for me. If, like me, your normal crime diet is the bleak, noir end of things, pour yourself a cup of redbush tea and prepare to be seduced by the no-nonsense Mma Ramotswe and her beloved Botswana.My husband and I had come to Gaborone on business and decided to use our final extra day doing this tour. These include her capable secretary Mma Makutsi, Happy Bapetsi and her conman father, Mr Paliwar Patel whose feisty teenage daughter is giving him cause for concern, and Precious's loyal friend and hesitant suitor Mr JLB Matekoni. One of McCall's strengths is his ability to provide a convincing supporting cast who complement but do not overshadow Precious. Beneath the understated prose and laconic humour, though, is a dark seam Obed Ramotswe's life in South African gold and diamond mines, Precious's short-lived and abusive marriage, the death of her child, witchcraft and kidnappings. The book is the first in a series, and by necessity dwells on Precious's past life, the death of her beloved father and on the difficult life he had led which allowed him to bequeath his daughter enough money to set up the detective agency. There are no gimmicks, no over-the-top flashiness instead, the reader is seduced by an affectionate portrayal of a culture. This is honest-to-goodness natural storytelling, which should be on the syllabus of any writing course. You can smell and see Botswana in every sentence of his impeccable, measured writing. And before too long she finds herself embroiled in cases ranging from stolen cars and wayward teenagers to impostors and kidnappers. Mma Ramotswe's claim to fame is that she has set up the only detective agency for ladies (sic) in Gaborone, Botswana. Rather, she is a comfortably-sized woman who enjoys a refreshing cup of redbush tea and who solves her cases through good, old-fashioned commonsense. You won't find her hanging around bars or cruising the mean streets. Precious Ramotswe is a private investigator with a difference.
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