Posted by David Dugmore on Dec 15, 2008 in
Boteti Diaries The Boteti River deep in the Kalahari Desert dried up in 1993! A hundred thousand zebra and wildebeest perished, other animals died or had to leave the area. The river went into a coma, to support just a fraction of the life that it once nurtured. Incredibly, thankfully the remnant survivors of those great herds managed to hang on by a thread, getting their sustenance from a few small seeps and holes dug by elephants, and some artificially created waterholes. The more miserable the situation there seemed, the more we hoped for a miracle. I always believed the river would flow again, it was just a question of time. And now it is time! There are a number of influencing factors that determine the flow of the river, or not. Seismic activity, the ever changing delta landscape, and most importantly the regional rainfall occurrences. We are apparently in for a few decades of higher rainfall in the region and that means the Boteti River will be flowing for a while.
The Boteti River drains a small fraction of water from the Okavango Delta to flow two hundred kilometres into the saltpans of the dry Kalahari. Meno A Kwena Tented Camp is located where the river flows into the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. This is the dry season range for Southern Africa’s largest remaining wildlife migration. The water from the Angolan highlands, hundreds of kilometres to the north, that fell during the 2007/2008 summer rains arrived at Meno A Kwena for the first time since 1993! It was Tuesday the 25th November that water flowed down the dry riverbed for the first time in fifteen years! The river awakens from her dry coffin in the desert. Read more…
Tags: Crocodile Teeth, Kalahari Desert, Menoakwena, Zebra Migration, Zebra Migration Botswana
Posted by David Dugmore on Nov 11, 2008 in
Boteti Diaries BREAKING NEWS! Big deal the United States of America has a new president with roots in Africa! Here in Botswana we have a new president with roots in the United Kingdom!!!
OKAVANGO & BOTETI FLOOD
As miracles are being realised in the west, so too are we experiencing the miracle of the rebirth of a river, lost for over a decade, returning life to a desolate world! The Boteti River is flowing deeper into the thirsty Kalahari than it has for sixteen years. A significant volume of water is seeping into the heart of the dry desert sands from the Okavango Delta. There is no other permanent water in Botswana besides the Okavango. Only the great green greasy Limpopo River a thousand kilometres to the south, and the Chobe, five hundred kilometres in the north.
Read more…
Tags: Angola, Grasslands, Horizons, Moremi, Riverine, San, Sunsets, Tracking, wildlife
Posted by David Dugmore on Jul 2, 2008 in
Boteti Diaries CAMP & SAFARI AWARENESS NOTICE
After a few suggestions to put this on my website so people could prepare themselves for their safaris before they left home, I finally decided perhaps it was a good idea. I had thought it might put people off coming to Africa’s deepest darkest secrets! I am sure it will help those people going on safari for the first time to prepare themselves for it.
The idea of this notice displayed in each guest tent is to help people get their heads around the concept of being aware, rather than afraid in the bush. Fear is our most dangerous emotion and so the more we know the more we feel safe, and therefore the more we enjoy and appreciate.
Read more…
Tags: Authentic Safari, Carnivores, Flshlight, Insects, Lanterns, Monkeys, Open Fires, Predators, Safari Awareness, Snakes, Swimming Pool, Tent Zips, Welcome
Posted by David Dugmore on Mar 23, 2008 in
Boteti Diaries uto lose these pristine wildlife habitats to other land uses more conducive to the culture of the people here. Cattle. It is very exciting to see the development of tourism being handed to the private sector within the national parks. I do hope this is appreciated and treated with a great respect by the investors, for the environment and for the people of Botswana.
I do have a concern though, that is the extremely unnatural style in which the national park buildings have been designed. The entrance gates to the parks are looking more like suburbia, than an aesthetic first impression of the pristine wilderness people are entering. Goes to show why Walt Disney is such a success, and how necessary creativity can be. Whose plan was that? …Um! …Go to Disneyland and learn something innovative, mate!!!
MENO A KWENA WATER FOR LIFE PROJECTS
“ACT 1: THE VILLAGE
The stage is dark. (If performed in a well-lit place, use a black shadow cloth.) The only light is a small fire burning in front of the hut. Sounds of people snoring, cows mooing softly and donkeys shuffling around can be heard but only the dark figures of these can be seen. Suddenly a couple of animals let out a nervous cry and the others scurry around in a panic. A pair of eyes appears from the darkness and moves around the front of the hut slowly, sniffing and scratching. Someone in the hut wakes up to the noise of the agitated cattle He shouts “lion,” and this wakes everyone else up. The people in the house get up and start banging pots and pans. A shot is heard, and the lion runs away. The choir sings a note conveying danger and fear.
The next morning. Three kids are playing in front of the hut/cattle post. One is pretending to be a lion and two others cows. The lion lurks around and eventually pounces on one of the cows and starts pretending to eat it. Two adult men (Obi’s father and his friend) are walking around looking for tracks, obviously very distressed. The men herd some cows (just using hand motions) into the gate, which is a hole in the backdrop. They walk through as well closing the gate behind and then come back on stage through the entrance to the kgotla… They are excited, angry, energetic.
Five men are standing around the kgotla, chatting to each other. There is a sense of tension.”
The above extract is from a play we are producing for the Moreomaoto Village Primary School to perform to our guests at Meno a Kwena Tented Camp. Courtney Jones wrote the play after volunteering for us in 2006. The production is designed to educate the school kids about how safari tourism is beneficial to them and their environment, once they have learned to understand it. Yes a comedy! And a musical.
The recently delivered set of six traditional marimba (xylophone) musical instruments, to the village school, was acknowledged with great enthusiasm by the Deputy Head Teacher, Mma Pearl. The instruments were made possible from funds raised by the readers of La Tavola magazine in Switzerland. We have sourced a marimba player to teach the children to play them, as part of their traditional dancing and singing repertoire to practice, until we produce music for the play.
We are assisting with various wildlife conservation and community development projects we have identified as priorities for the encouragement of environmental awareness. Our trust has been officially registered to accept tax free donations for these projects. We are in the process of setting up promotional material, and creating our website for maximum global awareness.
At some point soon, I will detail our projects, and what is required. It is our mission to create awareness to potential donors of the importance of understanding the threats to the environment in developing countries. Our aim is to develop sustainable tourism potential for maximised benefits to the people of Botswana. This is necessary for the preservation of our threatened wildlife and habitats. Our efforts involve more than the basic benefits of employment and income to the country. Education comes from opportunity - we are helping the government of this dynamic country provide that opportunity at every level.
Our present and proposed projects include environmental education at the local village primary school. Supplying desperately needed water to wildlife, their dependency on us is the result of fences blocking their access to water. White rhino rehabilitation, after decades of human encroachment wiped them out of the area. Assisting government with National Park wildlife management on a crisis level, particularly relieving fire threats. Creating a community owned tourism enterprise with maximised benefits to the people of the Boteti. Encouraging local industry to support our tourism venture. Giving the rural people of the area the benefit of the doubt as they learn to understand this new tourism industry, particularly when considering the impact it has on their culture.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and express appreciation for the recent support from Mischa and Hanka Tryzna and (artist friend) for their contribution of funds towards water provision for the Boteti wildlife. To Kristine Hannon who went to a lot of effort to raise funds at her ‘Botswana presentation’ in Belgium to raise funds for our community projects. Kristine’s website is… www.traveltheglobe.be. To Desert & Delta Safaris for their speedy action in supplying the materials for the construction of the rhino holding enclosure. To the Meno a Kwena Tented Camp & Safaris guests who gave cash donations while on safari with us. This appreciation goes specifically to these people’s compassionate obligation to the planet’s environment. Isn’t that what all this is about? Global environmental obligation!
A LUXURIOUS RHINO PALACE!
The proposed male white rhino relocation plans for the Boteti in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is moving ahead with the recent completion of the holding enclosure by Desert & Delta Safaris. Ms Mercy Masedi, the National Rhino Coordinator for DWNP will be doing a site inspection of the new structure, in which the rhinos will become acclimatised to their new home. She says the plan is to release two males in April, one after the other, as the enclosure has been designed to hold one animal at a time. I will update everyone after our meeting in my next diaries.
The two resident female rhinos are spending a lot of time close to the hippo pool at Kumaga, a thirty minute drive from Meno a Kwena. We saw them with guests in mid March, which was brilliant as the guests were not happy to be on safari with us, saying they felt Meno a Kwena Tented Camp was a bit too rustic! They expected a luxury lodge with air conditioning and teak decks!
Patrick, our Camp Manager, and I were somewhat worried at 8.00 pm the night after they set out at 8.00 am for a day trip into Nxai Pan… they had not returned to camp! We were considering a rescue plan, and thinking the worst case scenario, unhappy high expectations of luxury guests stuck in the mud at Baines Baobabs until late at night! That would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for these people. Their agent was interested to know their comments having never been to my camp. Bummer! Then we heard the diesel land cruiser approaching! Thank goodness for that! Was not in the mood for an all night Kalahari rescue plan, especially as I felt these people did not deserve rescuing!
Turns out the reason they were late returning to camp was a leopard sighting at Nxai Pan which thrilled the guests …and the rare sighting of the two white rhinos at Kumaga! Wow! Brilliant! Thank God!!! The guests had forgotten all about the lack of chandeliers in camp, they realised there was more to luxury than that. Dabe, their guide, was a real star, opening their eyes to a newfound magnificence, and of course, luxury is relative at the end of the day. Yes, we here will agree that the luxury in our lives comes from being a part of nature… we are so fortunate to be able to have this. When we can instill this appreciation in our guests, especially those ignorant to it, then we have done our work properly.
TWENTY CHICKENS FOR A SADDLE
Late in 2007 Jenny Dunlop, family friend and Morula School teacher in Selebi Phikwe, visited camp with her friend Linda Scott, and daughter Lulu. I was thrilled to learn about the Scott family’s creative efforts to do their bit for Botswana. Their innovative idea to encourage self-employment amongst the villagers, with crafted wire and beads, made from rolled varnished magazine paper, really impressed me. I had never seen that before, so simple, yet very effective. I was also very interested in Linda’s other daughter, no not in that way …they are very pretty though!!!, Robyn’s creativity, a new book called ‘Twenty Chickens for a Saddle’. Great title for a story about Botswana! I would like to share this with you, as we all ought to be reading these stories, we so can relate to. Yes, we do all have our ‘African childhood’ stories but it’s not very often one does anything about publishing them, and in turn compassionately supporting the less fortunate members of our society. Have a look at the intro’ I copied from their website, really cool…
“Twenty Chickens for a Saddle, a story that begins when six year old Robyn Scott’s parents abruptly exchange the tranquil pastures of New Zealand for a converted cowshed in the wilds of Botswana. There, falling in love with the country where Robyn’s eccentric grandfather had served as pilot to Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first president, Linda and Keith Scott set off in his pioneering and unconventional footsteps. Their three small children, mostly left to amuse themselves, grow up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld.
This is the funny and moving account of the family’s fifteen years in Botswana, during which Linda haphazardly and single-handedly home schools Robyn, Damien and Lulu, while Keith runs a flying doctor practice, attempting, with erratic success, to adapt to the unique demands of rural clinics and the growing burden of AIDS. The book remains throughout an uplifting, engaging and deeply affectionate portrayal of an extraordinary place and family.”
‘Mothers for All’, is an AIDS orphans’ support organisation established by proceeds generated from book sales. Check out their website for more intriguing information about AIDS in Botswana, and the goodwill project… www.mothers4all.org.
I HATE CHRISTMAS!
Ever since a terrible car accident in Zimbabwe, just before Christmas of 1983, took my brother Alan’s young life, I have had mixed feelings about the festive season. Yes, a time to celebrate and give was also a time to take. Our family was about to meet for our usual very festive Christmas celebration that my Mum, Cookie, so loved. Since leaving school, we had all gone our separate ways, but Christmas was always spent together. Cookie looked forward to it all year long, to being with her four sons at Christmas time! The devastation of Alan’s death just before Christmas has been with us all ever since. Especially for Alan’s Mum, our friend and crazy purple Mother, Cookie, who has relived that terrible night every Christmas since.
It didn’t seem unusual for Cookie to tell a friend this last Christmas that she had strong feelings… even visions, that Alan felt very close to her. Extraordinary, she said. As she does, in very Cookie fashion! She had been admitted to a Gaborone hospital a few days before Christmas, for what turned out to be a chest infection. Nothing life threatening. She would be out on Boxing Day, the doctors said. God she hated being in hospital. Especially as she was booked to fly to Maun the day after Boxing Day. To come to Meno a Kwena Tented Camp for New Year celebrations there with my Brothers and I, her nieces, Leslie and Bridgitte, friends and other animals!
There were the usual Christmas wishes phone calls, especially appreciated as Cookie wasn’t having fun, there were many, and friends going into hospital with flowers and gifts to cheer her up. My Bothers and I should have been there, I know that’s what she needed most. She repeated that she felt very close to Alan. Then she was gone! …Gone to Alan.
I suppose if there is any consolation, it would suffice to know that at least Cookie, who adored her sons, and despite leaving three of us behind, at least had one to welcome her. That in a sense makes it a bit easier for us to lose her, knowing she wasn’t too afraid, she had Alan to take her by the hand… I can picture that!
My Brothers and I unanimously agreed that we would hold a “Celebration of Cookie’s Life and Laughter” at Meno a Kwena. She loved her time when visiting camp. The peace and tranquility, the commanding territorial roar of lions in front of her tent at night just when she needed to pee… “Oh my Lordy!” The camp staff were so considerate towards her, treating her like a Mosadi (Mogolo). Camp guests loved her stories at supper of a ‘hunter’s wife in Africa’. Cookie was ever so interested and concerned about the plight of the wildlife at Boteti that she made a considerable contribution to our efforts to keep the migration alive with desperately needed water. She loathed the negative effects of development and progress on our environment and so shied away from modernisation and materialistic values. Her ashes were scattered in the Boteti Riverbed, in the one place she loved, close to her boys.
PRESIDENT MOGAE RETIRES
Festus Gontebanye Mogae, born 21 August 1939, retired in March 2008 after his second term in the Office of the President of Botswana. He is a native of the Bamangwato tribe, from Ngwato District, also known as Central District, where Meno a Kwena is located. Mogae studied economics at the University of Sussex and then at Oxford in the UK. On his return to Botswana he worked as a civil servant before taking up posts with the IMF and Bank of Botswana. He was Vice President of Botswana from 1992 to 1998. Mogae promised to tackle poverty and unemployment, as well pledging to stop the spread of HIV-AIDS by 2016.
Seretse Khama Ian Khama takes the Office of the President of Botswana from Mogae after his term as Vice President. Khama is the Paramount Chief of the Bamangwato tribe. He is the firstborn son of Sir Seretse Khama, the country’s foremost independence leader, presiding over the people of Botswana from 1966 to 1980. Khama was married to Lady Ruth Williams Khama. Ian Khama is the fourth president of Botswana - the next general election is planned for October 2009. Khama has served as the military commander of the Botswana Defense Force and is a qualified pilot.
In 2007 Khama appeared on the BBC Top Gear motoring programme. In his short appearance he met the presenters Clarkson, May and Hammond as they prepared to brave the Makgadikgadi Pans crossing, in the most unlikely old two-wheel drive saloon cars!
Tags: Birds, Central Kalahari, Cultural Tourism, Environmental Safaris, Gweta Village, Habitats, Lion, Maun, Oryx, Pristine, Pula, Reptiles, Sky, Southern Africa, Springbok, Sustainable Tourism, Trek, Volunteers, Waterfall, Weather
Posted by David Dugmore on Nov 3, 2007 in
Boteti Diaries We are so desperate for rain now at the end of the dry season. We dream about it, dance for it, wish for rain. BUT! Be careful of what you wish for!!!
At the end of September one of our saltpans experience safaris was ready to head out into the middle of the saltpans from base camp, on the edge of this vast flat dry lake bed. The intense heat building up the last week was unusual for the end of the winter, should have been a lot milder. There was no distinguishing where the pan surface met the sky, the horizon shimmered ahead of the quad bike safari convoy as they entered the 13,000 sq km pans. Hot salty dust air stung sunburned faces, eyes squinting from intense light reflecting off scorched bone white saltpan.
Read more…
Tags: 4X4, Bird Baths, Boteti Diaries, Carcass, Cheetah, Conservancies, Conservation, Conservationists, Cubs, Dry Lake, Ghanzi District, Hippo, Kudu Antelope, Land Rover, Lion Prides, National Parks, Prey, Protected Wildlife, Rain, Safari Car, Safari Reserves, Seasonal, Tent Fly Sheets, Wildlife Management
Posted by David Dugmore on Sep 4, 2007 in
Boteti Diaries Maun Game Reserve is the small wildlife sanctuary opposite the central business district of Maun, our urban village, as it is still considered for now, pending town status approval. The tourism capital of Botswana. This small reserve is home to wildebeest, giraffe, warthog, impala, baboons, and a small herd of about 20 zebra. The Thamalakane River acts as the barrier between the donkeys and zebras. The river is higher than we have seen it in over a decade or more. There is still a huge amount of water flowing through the Okavango Delta, spilling over into the Thamalakane, and Lake Ngami.
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Tags: Bleeding, Bush Man, Conservancy, Courtship, Cultural Safaris, Digital Cameras, Film, Giraffe, Impala, Kills, Lake Ngami, Leopard, Mating, Maun, Prey, Research, Rhino, San, Tracking Collars, Traditional, Trekking, Warthog
Posted by David Dugmore on Jul 18, 2007 in
Boteti Diaries Here we are in July already. Crikey! The last ‘burning the candle’ moments I had to write the Boteti Diaries was in February!!! Yup, been a crazy busy year here at Meno A Kwena, in fact all over the place has been busy busy busy…and so I attempt to catch up best I can with a more summarised version of the goings on …and not, …the doings and undoings of life here in and out of the Botswana bush. A combination of the poor rains we had this last summer, and camp being a lot more busy with eager and demanding visitors has dominated most of my time. The transition from not being busy enough to too busy has meant that we have to move on from crisis management to a lot more organised direction. We do our best!
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Tags: Animals, Biologically, Birds, Black Rhino, Breeding, Conditions, Females, Fundraising, Gaborone, Habits, History, Locations, Males, Populations, Relocation, San, Shotgun, Stalking, White Rhino, Wilderness, Young
Posted by David Dugmore on Feb 11, 2007 in
Boteti Diaries A belated Happy New year, February already!!! ‘Time flies when you are having fun’, so I must be having a lot of fun! Mmmm???
Operating safaris in the rain is quite a challenge. That’s why once upon a time safaris only operated in the dry season, and because not so long ago there were only hunting safaris in operation. And the summer months are the wildlife breeding season, for most of them. Now with non hunting safaris operating throughout the year into the summer rains, we are faced with having to deal with muddy roads, sitting in open safari cars, impressive tropical storms dropping buckets of water on us. Leaking tents, flooded camps, no fires for cooking, wet toilet paper! Whinging tourists! “Came to the Kalahari to get away from this bloody awful weather!” We love it. We need as much rain as we can get.
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Tags: Boats, Buckets, Bushes, CCTV, Cooking, Creativity, Danger, Dangerous, Dry Season, Flies, Flowers, Fund, Gregarious, Hyaenas, Injured, Instincts, Kalahari Sands, Life, Lodges, Magazine, Moonlit, Muddy, Musicians, Photography, Plants, Protect, Rains, Roots, Shoots, Summertime, Survive, Today, Tourists, Trees, Trust, Vulnerable, Vulture, World
Posted by David Dugmore on Dec 11, 2006 in
Boteti Diaries The legendry Mike Watson - safari guide, hunter, fisherman, decorated soldier - general all round adventure character, stroked his long beard as the motor boat got onto the plane for the Okavango Delta from Maun. The 2006 Okavango flood was better than average and so the navigable waterways were ideal for boating right from Maun. Something we haven’t been able to do for years since the last few floods from Angola, and our higher than average local rains. I was excited to be seeing so much water, after all we are dealing with in the dry Boteti River, just over a hundred kilometres downstream.
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Tags: Alert, Babies, Breeze, Canoes, Cartridge, Character, Elephant, Family, Fences, Fisherman, Flood, Floods, Footage, French, Funds, Guide, Landscape, Lechwe, Legendry, Liquid Leopard, Love, mammals, May, Moon, Neighbour, Passion, Plane, Safariing, Safaris, Safe, Shadows, Sticks, Supper, Thunder, Trumpeting, View