Wilderness Botswana’s operations in the NG 22, a concession under the custodianship of Okavango Community Trust (OCT) have brought the company into partnership with the eastern handle communities of Seronga, Gunotsoga, Eretsha, Beetsha and Gudigwa which are faced with a myriad of challenges affecting their livelihoods.
The communities have for long suffered the effects of human wildlife conflicts, the lack of economic opportunities, high levels of unemployment and poverty among others.
With its commitment to empower communities in areas it operates, Wilderness could not look away, but ensure a robust and decisive impact on the people of the area, while also ensuring environmental sustainability.
In the Kwedi concession of NG 22 in the Okavango Delta, Wilderness operates three lodges – Vumbura North, South and Little Vumbura.
Wilderness Chief of Staff Dawson Ramsden, who recently led a tour of the Vumbura plains and projects the eco-tour operator is involved in by the media, revealed that the company has partnered with a number of organisations, mainly NGO which aim to reduce human and wildlife, and promote co-existence.
This, he said is anchored on the three pillars that the company base its operations on – educate, empower and protect.
In the main the day to day livelihoods of the people in these area is disrupted, in a way unimaginable by wild animals which destroy their crops and livestock – the core of food security.
Community Living Among Wildlife Sustainably (CLAWS) is one such organisation whose work in the eastern panhandle is to reduce the contentious issues human/wildlife conflict, with a specific approach to predation on livestork.
While initially, the program targeted monitoring predator movements – especially collared lions and warn farmers when they approached their livestock, in 2019 the organisation introduced the communal herding program – which involves predator proof mobile kraals and physical herding services.
Since inception, the program has led to improved herding of livestock with a near zero attack rate, while also recording a reduced incidents of lions killed by farmers in retaliation.
Kutlwano Tsheko from CLAWS highlighted the success of the communal herding program, which currently has 807 cattle in all its three kraals spread in the eastern panhandle.
With 83 farmers signed up for the program to date, Tsheko alludes that not one single animal has been lost to predation, and this he says is due to herdings skills that the employed staff apply in their duty.
Wilderness Botswana through its partnership with CLAWS, funds the work of the organisation through grants to sustain its work. Further to the grants, the three camps have made the program one of their activities for their clients. The clients get to experience first-hand the positive impact the company has on local communities and the environment.
“We raise funds to assist CLAWS and to date our donors have raised US$50 000that has been donated to CLAWS. We also accommodate their monitoring and technical teams in our camps whenever they are on the ground for the project,” Ramsden highlighted.
Further, Wilderness has pledged to buy the first wildlife friendly beef from the communal herding program herds.
Vumbura Plains concession relief manager Obonye Baitseng revealed how the three camps in the area support local communities through employment, procurement of goods and services and display of work or art, in this case baskets weaved by ladies from the community in the area for sale to guests.
As part of the lease agreements, Wilderness employs its staff for the three operations from the five villages. Further to this, the camps procure locally available food staff from the communities. One such locally sourced food product is the water lily (tswii), that is then enhanced to make the famous Tswii pasta.
The camps also have an arrangement with local farmers – where they procure millet from them, for the infusion into the camp’s menus. Fact, the millet produced from these area is the base ingredient for Okavango Craft Brewery (OCB)’s craft beer. OCB procures the millet from the farmers here, through the partnership with Wilderness, and this is to promote human/wildlife co-existence.
In the education sector, Wilderness has funded a project to fence Eretsha Primary School, and also construct a two classroom block to the tune of P 1.9 million. The fencing has been completed while the classroom block nears completion. This was necessitated by the plight of children in the area being taught in the open, and to protect them from the harsh weather, and to ensure improved academic performance.
Ramsden has further highlighted other initiatives which Wilderness Botswana is engaged in, and those include the honey project with the communities. The company, would also through its camps buy the honey for its clients. The beehives are also located within ploughing fields, and act as deterrents of elephants from the crops. This will be another way of addressing human wildlife conflicts.
In Gunotsoga, a milling project funded by Wilderness nears completion in support of an initiative by a group of women in the village.
The company has drilled boreholes for the five villages, which have all been commissioned and handed over. The proximity of the boreholes, have now cut down on the need residents to travel down to natural water sources where they come into direct contact with wild animals, especially elephants, leading to injuries and deaths.
All these projects, have and will go a long way in improving the livelihoods of the communities here, while also empowering them to up their efforts in food production.
