25 Aug 2020

Members of Trans- Okavango Charity Cycle team in collaboration with Naletsana Charity Organisation will embark on a cycling activity to raise funds for charity.

 The cycling is expected to start at Seronga village on Sunday with Maun set as the final destination on September 7.

The Maun based team, formed a month ago, is made up of four professional safari guides namely; Lemme Dintwa, Tebogo Mokgosi, Thuto Moutloatse and Seeletso Rakonche who have been in the tourism industry for over twenty years.

Naletsana is an organisation aimed at transforming the livelihoods of communities residing in the Okavango Delta. 

One of the group members Mr Dintwa explained in an interview that the association was formed a month back to support charity activities and promote local tourism following the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector.

Plans for the cycling event, he said were on track stating that main objective of the event was to raise funds and assist safari guides and other employees in the Okavango Panhandle who have been hard hit by the pandemic.

He noted that the tourism industry had been hard hit by the pandemic resulting in the closure of many safari companies and  leaving employees in limbo. 

Mr Dintwa said the proceeds accrued from the activity would make a difference to cushion them noting that it was unfortunate that the safari guides did not benefit from the COVID-19 wage subsidy aimed to relieve workers from economic effects of the pandemic.

He also noted that they had received support from their international guests who offered monetary assistance while several local companies also assisted in kind to make the event a success.

The group has selected three villages where they would donate food hampers, sanitary towels, school shoes and a cow in every village. The selected villages are Mokgacha, Mogotlho and Tamochaa near Sepopa village. 

Mr Dintwa said they had been working closely with social workers to identify the beneficiaries and 30 households had been selected to receive the assistance.

Furthermore, he revealed that while cycling from village to village, they would have stopovers, to interact with the communities and raise awareness on COVID-19. 

Another member of the group Mr Mokgosi explained that they would also promote local tourism to revive the industry. Okavango Panhandle, he said had a lot to offer in terms of tourism citing heritage sites such as Tsodilo Hills and the Okavango Delta.

On the other hand, he said they would also promote conservation to protect the beauty of such sites.

“We are expecting a medical doctor and a nurse to join us during cycling and we do appreciate assistance from other companies such as Helicopter Horizons who offered scenic flight for three of our beneficiaries who would be selected through a raffle system”, he added.Mokgosi also acknowledged other companies which supported the activity such as, Delta Rain Safari, SKL Safari, Kalahari Canvas, Aquarite, Woolworths, Delta Projects, Avis, KBL Breweries, Botswana Tourism Organisation, and Okavango House Boat among others. ends