Botswana is famous for beautiful baskets such as these made by the Hambukushu and Bayei women of Ngamiland, in the far Northern region of the great Okavango Delta on the fringes of the vast Kalahari Desert. It is said that although the tribes of Botswana made baskets before the arrival of the Hambukushu refugees fleeing Angola earlier in this century, the skill brought to the industry by the immigrants significantly improved the quality and beauty of the local baskets which are skillfully woven from fibers of the leaf of the Mokolwani, or Real Fan Palm (Hyphaene petersiana),and dyed using local plant derived pigments.