25 Aug 2021

Bobirwa Sub-district Council chairperson Mr Christopher Motsholapheko says Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) is currently in charge of the development of dam tourism at Letsibogo, Thune and Dikgatlhong dams.

Addressing the sub-district council meeting recently, Mr Motsholapheko said the Letsibogo Dam lease area for development had been approved and issued to Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to start the investment process. 

“Tendering process to develop and manage tourism sites at Letsibogo Dam commenced last year October. Evaluation and award is expected to be complete by end of this financial year,” said Mr Motsholapheko. 

He also revealed that Thune Dam lease area had also been approved and issued to WUC to also start the investment process with tendering process planned to commence by September 2021. The chairperson further updated that BTO was in the process of initiating strategic environmental assessment for Dikgatlhong Dam and development of tourism concept plan ‘envisaged to guide tourism development.’ 

“It is worth noting that the Dam Master Plans have reserved land to be allocated to our local communities, a decision that is in line with the country’s economic transformation agenda of promoting citizen economic empowerment, employment creation and economic diversification drive,” he said. 

On other tourism related matters, Mr Motsholapheko said the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) had conducted an operation of collaring dominant elephants on the herd. 

A female and a bull in the outskirts of Mathathane have been collared. 

He said collaring helped to determine movement pattern of elephants in the area especially from Tuli farms into communal areas, adding that this would help the sub-district to curb human-wildlife conflict. 

“The collars are connected to Mathathane smart fence monitoring system which enables the elephants’ movements to be monitored twenty-four hours,” he explained. 

He said the DWNP also intended to translocate 18 lions from Limpopo Lepadi Game Ranch to other controlled hunting areas within Botswana. 

So far, five lions have been captured and translocated to a controlled hunting area- CT 1 while the remaining 13 lions would be translocated after securing their collars for monitoring purposes. 

“The release of these lions assists in avoiding inbreeding as well as stabilising predator- prey ration inside the ranch,” he said and applauded DWNP for their continued efforts in ensuring a healthy ecosystem. ENDS