25 Jun 2018

Two community trusts in the Ngamiland region have signed a memorandum of understanding with two companies to host some tourism activities aimed at boosting the local economy.

Lake Ngami Conservation Trust, has signed with Gaborone’s Botswana Anglers Association to jointly host a fishing competition and fish festival at one of its fishing camps at Toteng billed for the Independence Day holidays.

The other, Tsodilo Community Trust, has  signed with SCI Concepts Foundation, an event management company known for organising the Jwaneng Desert Bush Walk.

Tsodilo trust is planning to host Tsodilo Heritage Challenge and would be mentored by the company in its preparations for  the event scheduled for September 1.

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) project coordinator, Mr Innocent Magole confirmed the two signings in an interview.

He said Botswana Anglers Association, which does fishing as a hobby, had already trained some Lake Ngami people to breed bait worms adding that the trainees were currently busy breeding to sell the worms to fishermen.

Mr Magole explained that the activities were part of their exit strategy as the SLM project was coming to an end this year.

The project would inject P200 000 each into the activities, he said adding that they found it fit to leave a legacy amongst the communities they had been working with hence the two major events which would be held annually.

Mr Magole said they wanted to grow tourism and believed that through such activities, communities would gain meaningfully and their livelihoods improved.

He revealed that the events were the first of its kind and were expected to generate income which would be channeled towards trust development activities.

Mr Magole said it was critical for the trusts to engage in activities that would ensure financial gain and sustain the communities.

For the fish competition and festival, competitors would battle it out to catch fish and winners would be awarded prizes, he explained.        

He said there would also be a dish festival where fish dishes would be sold.

“Other activities in the lineup include horse riding, tug of war, family oriented activities and some companies had shown interest to come and put up their stalls at the festival to market their products and services,” he added.

He said the trust had started mobilizing communities to register horses to participate in the event.

Regarding the Tsodilo Challenge, Mr Magole explained that it would be in two parts, the 15km bush walk around the main hill and the 31km bush walk around all the hills.

Tsodilo Hills consist of three large pieces of rock, rising unexpectedly from the dry expanse of desert. Locals refer to the bigger rock as the ‘male’, the smaller one as the ‘female’ and the smallest one as the ‘child’.

Mr Magole said the trust would host an evening cultural festival where different groups would showcase their unique diverse cultures.

Funds accruing from the activities would be used to upgrade the trust’s camp sites and construct ablution blocks.

He expressed the hope that the activities would ignite a spark towards rural development.

“We want to see both trusts attracting more partnerships to sustain their projects in the long run and eventually improve the livelihoods of the communities,” said Mr Magole. ENDS