- Trust makes strides in combating poaching, maintaining the park
- Park recovers from effects of drought
- Set to open for public use by April
- Stakeholders yet to meet about its envisioned transformation into a science park
The partnership between the Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland and Conservation of Natural Ecosystems Trust (CONNECT) proves to be bearing fruits in restoring the once ruined Maun Educational Park (MEP) to acceptable standards of conservation.
Following the handover of the park to the Batawana community by government in 2019, the facility got neglected leading to the dilapidation of the fence and the infrastructure inside, further leading to a rise in incidents of poaching and activities that generally went against ethos of conservation.
As the custodian of the park, the reestablished Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland had to take some measures in combating the illegal activities and restoring the facility.
This as the society were hoping to open the park for public use for activities comprising picnics, walks, environmental education, and training programmes among others in early April. The park could not be opened as planned because there were no functioning ablutions but the society has since engaged Builders World company to refurbish the building as well as the entrance gate.
This led to the establishment of their 3-year-long partnership with CONNECT on sustainable management of the park. Among other roles, the Trust is mandated to fix and maintain the then dilapidated fence, conduct daily patrols and monitoring the park.
Further to that, they also conduct population counts of the animals to see if they are in line with the carrying capacity of the park or not.
In an interview, Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland chairperson, Tiego Mpho updated that the situation to do with poaching has improved drastically thanks to CONNECT whom he applauded for its ecological and range management skills. He indicated that the Trust was also able to remove snares that were set up by poachers.
Mpho added that the fence is also in good shape although he noted that there are still some holes dug beneath the fence by some dogs that team up to hunt the animals. He has however assured that the situation is being managed.
Mpho added that a certain environmental education clubs by some local institutions have also expressed interest in contributing to the upkeep of the park.
Mpho added that due to the recent heavy rainfalls the park has also recovered from the effects of drought that forced them reduce the numbers of some of the species to ensure that they do not exceed the facility’s carrying capacity. “We are now hoping to get few donations from private game reserves for diversity of animals to make it interesting.”
As for the long-term goal of transforming the facility into a science park, Mpho indicated that they are yet to convene the board and engage with relevant stakeholders about the envisioned development. Batawana Paramount Chief, Kgosi Tawana Moremi has previously announced that a whopping 500 million Euros (P5 billion) has been budgeted for the conversion of the park that will turn it into a business incubator for advanced technology projects.
