Sue Williams.
A film about the making of modern Botswana may trigger a surge in tourists, writes
It was one of last century’s great forbidden love affairs – between an African prince leading his people to independence from its British colonial masters, and a young Englishwoman.
The passionate story of the making of modern Botswana is about to hit the big screen, and likely to trigger, in the 50th year of the nation’s independence, a surge of interest in visiting the country.
A United Kingdom, released next month, tells the tale of Botswana’s first president Seretse Khama, who married London office worker Ruth Williams.
The pair fought for their relationship against the staunch opposition of both their families, their communities, Britain and apartheid South Africa which threatened to withhold vital resources from Britain, and possibly invade Botswana, if the government failed to foil the match.
Film-goers could be attracted in ever greater numbers now to Botswana by both the stunning scenery, and the stirring revelations of how Khama steered one of the poorest countries in the world to independence and then helped turn it into a modern-day miracle of development, democracy and desirability. South African leader Nelson Mandela acclaimed it an ‘‘inspiration’’.
Actor Rosamund Pike, who plays Williams, alongside David Oyelowo’s Khama, wasn’t aware of its charm before going there to film. ‘‘Arriving there, it was so flat: an open sky, no elevation, vast plains, red earth,’’ she says. ‘‘It’s a shock when you first see it. But by the time I left, I saw a beauty in the place I hadn’t seen when I arrived.’’
Most tourists visit Botswana today because of the abundant wildlife, particularly while boating around the picturesque Okavango Delta, but the film will highlight how much more there is to see.
‘‘It could bring so much more awareness of Botswana, in the same way that the film Hotel