Gaborone - Post Report Question and Answers
How do you send and receive your letters and package mail? Are local postal facilities adequate?
Embassy pouch services. Bring anything large in your UAB or HHE as you won't be able to get it here. - Aug 2024
Diplomatic pouch. DHL and FEDEX operate here as well. Botswana does not have a formal address system, so the post office delivers to local P.O. Boxes, but largely serves as a bank for low income people. - Dec 2023
I used the DPO. - Jul 2019
Diplomatic pouch. The Embassy does not have a DPO.
If you are not attached to the U.S. Embassy, mail service is pretty unreliable and inadequate. The Botswana Post office does not deliver to residences no matter where you live. If you want to receive mail you must rent a PO Box. Valuable items often do not reach their destination. - Apr 2017
Diplamatic Pouch. - Jul 2016
Via diplomatic pouch through the Embassy. Mail comes in once per week, and takes two to three weeks to reach us. Outgoing mail to the U.S. takes longer - probably 3-4 weeks. - Mar 2015
No.. You cannot sent any mail out unless is a letter or the package is the size of an old VHS. We only have pouch here. No DPO. When buying stuff online, you can send returns for what I know. I have not tried this. - Oct 2014
Pouch. - Nov 2013
The Embassy has a pouch. We can only mail out packages the size of a VHS tape or smaller. We can receive packages, but it takes on average 3 weeks from the States. There have been many problems with the pouch, particularly in receiving the bags once they arrive in South Africa; the airlines flying from Johannesburg to Gaborone are small planes, and they de-prioritize sending the pouch mail on their flights. After more than two years of requests, the Government of Botswana has approved a DPO for post, but plans for establishing it remain forthcoming. Local mail is available, but I have never used it and would not be confident of it. - Jul 2013
It is hard to get mail from the States and even then it is not so reliable. There is no home delivery, so you have to rent a mail box. - Apr 2013
We use the diplomatic pouch. - Jun 2010
