Gov’t Backtracks On Chobe National Park Congestion

On 28 June 2023, The Business Weekly & Review sent a detailed inquiry to Dr Kabelo Senyatso, Director at the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), about whether the government was still forging ahead with its decision to lease out eight lodges along the Chobe riverfront with a cumulative 400 rooms.

It is almost two months now and Dr Senyatso has not bothered to respond. This is inspite of repeated follow-ups in order for this publication to understand how they have progressed with the matter.

The Business Weekly & Review’s inquiry was motivated by the information that after facing a backlash from the tourism sector and the public, the government is said to be making a U-turn on its decision. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,3,2,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ]

This publication wanted to know whether the plan to lease out eight lodges still exists. If not, The Business Weekly & Review wanted to know why the government is backing down on the plan. If the government is still going ahead with the plan, this publication wanted to establish from Dr Senyatso whether that means the government has decided to ignore the public outcry and widespread criticism.

Low-volume, high-value policy

Botswana’s tourism policy has been clear from the onset. It was deliberately designed to be a low-volume, high-value policy to ensure that tourism makes the most from its exclusivity, attracting high net-worth individuals who pay top-dollar to see the wildlife and vegetation in their pristine purity.

The 400 rooms that would be established in the park were going to be in contravention of this policy. Was this on purpose?, The Business Weekly & Review wanted to know. But lo and behold, Dr Senyantso and his team have not answered any of these questions! Nevertheless, this publication is informed that the government is planning to abandon the plan but maybe too embarrassed to accept defeat occasioned by the outcry from the public and industry players.

There are complaints that Chobe National Park is already congested. This publication visited the park a few weeks ago to engage with tourists and stakeholders there, as well as to observe activities inside the veritable Edenic haven.

What is evident is that while Chobe National Park is certainly huge, the river frontage is already congested because that is where most wildlife activities are concentrated.

While there is only one lodge inside the park, members of the public and several Kasane-based tour operators in Kasane are allowed to go on game drives to the park, which results in a lot of vehicular movement inside the park.

Constant trampling

According to the tourists we spoke to, tour operators in Kasane and other stakeholders, this causes pollution in the form of carbon emissions, littering and noise, all of which have increased tremendously to the detriment of conservation efforts. Vegetation is being destroyed by the constant trampling that also raises much dust.

Some of the tourists who spoke to this publication said they prefer exclusivity, even serenity, and pointed to the fact that a lot of movement in the parks scares some of the wildlife away, which minimises game viewing as a key attraction to come visit.

If word of this spreads, it could impact numbers of the well-heeled category of visitors sought after by Botswana’s low volume, high value tourism policy and ultimately revenue.

An example is that because tour guides are on radio communication during game drives, whenever one guide spots a lion, for example, they share the news with others who all bring their coterie of tourists to the site. There could be up to 25 vehicles and their human loads – excited photographers among them - converging on one spot at a time. Needless to say, the exhilaration soon results in nothing for anyone to see.

This is sans the eight lodges with a combined capacity of 400 rooms that were/are envisage in the controversial plans that the government is said to be abandoning. The concern of observers is that the multiplier effect of the plan on the environment would lead to a level of degradation with deleterious consequences for Chobe National Park and the veritable Edenic Park.

Conservationists believe that Wildlife corridors would be impinged upon and human-wildlife conflict increasing, necessitating mitigations like fences. They also believe wildlife behaviour would be negatively affected, leading to increases in dangerous encounters and increases in human-wildlife conflict. Other concerns are that the loss of up to 8 kilometres of wildlife viewing roads (fenced off lodge sites) and a further 8 kilometres of interrupted wildlife corridors in a park with an already limited road network would further degrade the tourists’ wildlife experience that is already under severe crowding pressure. The impact of increasing an already high traffic volume by an estimated minimum of 50 game viewing vehicles, they also say, would be devastating on the quality of the tourism experience and would certainly change wildlife behaviour and distribution.

8 lodges on the river frontage

More than a year ago, the government issued out an expression of interest detailing plans to lease out concessions in the Chobe National Park. The plans would result in establishment of facilities with a combined total of 400 rooms along the Chobe riverfront inside the park. In an interview with The Business Weekly & Review at the time, Dr Senyatso confirmed that there were eight lots, each permitting “a facility with a maximum of 50 rooms and a maximum of 7) beds at each site”.

In essence, what Dr Senyatso meant was that after completion, the facilities would have the capacity to accommodate 600 people. Located in the northern part of Botswana, Chobe National Park is the second largest in Botswana and is known for its super game viewing all year round because it has one of the largest populations of wild animals on the African continent.

100 percent citizen-owned

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), which is under the Ministry of the Environment, Natural Resource Conservation and Tourism (MENT), is tasked with management of wildlife and fish resources in Botswana. The management of all Wildlife Conservation Areas,Wildlife Management Areas, Game Reserves and National Parks, is governed by Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act (Chapter 38:01) of 1992. Section 6 (d & e) of the Act provides an economic opportunity for investment by individuals, companies and consortia into hospitality enterprises and related activities.

In an Expression of Interest (EOI) issued by the government more than a year ago, it was stated that it is against this background that DWNPundertook to identify eight sites for potential development into tourism enterprises within Chobe National Park which could be leased out to companies and consortia domiciled in Botswana and are 100 percent citizen-owned.

Speaking to The Business Weekly & Review months ago, Dr Senyatso said the Department of Wildlife and National Parks had just finalised a management plan for Chobe National Park and identified untapped potential for more accommodation within the park as one way to better use the capacity that exists within the 10,600 km 2 park.

He added that the development of the management plan would involve extensive consultations and analysis, including ecological aspects. Dr Senyatso said the proposed developments were within the ecological limits that the park could sustain.

The management plan, he added, had deliberate actions that would mitigate congestion, including opening new routes to incentivise investors inparticular sections of the park, assuring water provision within parts of the park where such infrastructure is required, and creating new tourism routes to link the Chobe National Park with neighbouring forest reserves and community conservation areas.

Dr Senyatso spoke of the management plan recognising several zones ranging from high intensity zones, medium-intensity zones, remote zones and wilderness zones. This zonation provides for ample space for wildlife to use andallows for the high-end tourism products that Chobe National Park provides to be sustained into the future.

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Gov’t Backtracks On Chobe National Park Congestion

After facing a public backlash, it appears the government is planning to backtrack on leasing out eight lots along the Chobe riverfront inside Chobe National Park that would have resulted in construction of lodges with a combined total of 400 rooms.

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Gov’t Backtracks On Chobe National Park Congestion

After facing a public backlash, it appears the government is planning to backtrack on leasing out eight lots along the Chobe riverfront inside Chobe National Park that would have resulted in construction of lodges with a combined total of 400 rooms.

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