No, Botswana Does NOT Require Residents to Register Their Bicycles

This claim is a fabrication that does not appear in any Botswana statute, regulation, or government publication. Botswana's primary road legislation, the Road Traffic Act (Cap. 69:01), explicitly limits its registration and licensing regime to 'motor vehicles' and 'trailers.' The Act carefully defines 'cycle' (pedal-powered bicycle) as a separate category, distinct from motor vehicles, and the registration framework never extends to cycles. The government's own Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS) only handles motor vehicle registration — weight-based fees, roadworthiness testing, and number plate formats are all tied to motorised vehicles. There is a country in the world that does famously require bicycle license plates — North Korea — a policy international observers have described as 'unreasonable.' It is highly plausible that this myth originated from a misattribution of North Korea's unusual bicycle plate law to Botswana, compounded by uncritical recycling across 'weird laws' listicle websites. Botswana cyclists face no registration requirement, though they are subject to general traffic rules (e.g., they are prohibited from motorways) and bicycles are not permitted in national parks. If anything, Botswana has been described in cycling circles as a challenging but registration-free country to ride through.