14 Jul 2022

Plans are underway to exploit camel value chains at Tsabong Ecotourism Camel Park.

Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) tourism development manager, Ms Claudia Zuze said during the Kgalagadi District Council local economic development committee tour of the park recently that the there were enough camels at the park to allow for the production of various camel products such as  milk, meat and other by-products to tap into value chains.

She said the park had, over the years, been under-performing due to numerous challenges, which were currently being addressed through expansion of value chains to draw exponential benefits.

Tsabong Ecotourism Camel Park is a business partnership between BTO and the communities of Tsabong, Maubelo and Maleshe through TSAMAMA Trust, which  partnership has been planned to run for 10 years from 2014-2024.

Ms Zuze said after thorough retrospection through a business review in 2019, they noticed that Tsabong Ecotourism Camel Park was not making enough profit as a lot of funds were injected into the farm operations, leaving a very little profit. 

She also said there was less money coming into the park as there was not enough accommodation. 

As such she said the board had resorted to increasing the chalets from six to 16.

Ms Zuze also pointed out that in 2020, their canvas tents were damaged by a hailstorm and it took a long time for the insurance company to pay for the damages, adding that at the moment they were not in a position to accommodate guests  as the facility was still under maintenance.

Moreover, she said the restaurant had limited space and plans were underway to expand it to accommodate 100 people at a time.

She highlighted that Currently, the trust worked with the technical advisory committee on a project to develop camel feed to save for dry spells. 

The trust shall also embark on horticulture production to supply its restaurant.

Ms Zuze said government had availed P500 000 for the development of the park.

She expressed optimism at the new crop, who opened a trust account last year and were given the first P100 000 to implement proposed projects such as horticulture project and production of stock feeds.

For his part, Camel Park general manager, Mr David Phamolano said Camel Park had exceeded its carrying capacity, noting that the 3 200 hectares was prescribed to carry 150 camels,  while it had 517 and 55 Zebras, which led to overgrazing and limited food for the animals.

The place, he said, offered a unique tourism portfolio of camel rides, quad bikes. 

However, he explained that their main challenge was that the park was underdeveloped, adding that major developments took place in 2014 and more needed to be done to improve it.

Mr Phamolano expressed the need to up skill staff even though they neither had a budget for training nor building more accommodation for staff.

“Ga go na boroko ka gore matlo a seven mme babereki ba 27.”

For his part, Gakhibana councillor, Mr Tirelo Pule called for all stakeholders involved in the running of Camel Park to collectively work together towards improving the farm.

He advised that TSAMAMA Trust members needed to be hands-on to gain skills transfer and be able to run the park independent of government.

Kokotsha councillor, Mr Diteko Janie called for fast-tracking of culling of camels to match the carrying capacity of the farm to ensure that the animals had enough to feed on.

Councillor Janie called for a consistent camel culling strategy to control stock rate.

Councillor for Werda, Mr Obokeng Maletse called for incentives to be put in place to attract and retain TSAMAMA trust members and for them to be hands-on as the project had great potential to create employment opportunities.

He also said overgrazing was a challenge, therefore the camel number should be reduced, suggesting that they could be donated during public celebrations or sold to game farmers and other trusts.

In response, the park general manager said plans were under way to cull old, disabled and sick camels first and also go into camel meat processing together with various other products.

He said implementation of the plan was delayed by members of the community who took too long  to make decisions. 

Camel Park is run by TSAMAMA Tours, which comprises seven members, constituting four board members from BTO, three from TSAMAMA Tours and BTO is the major shareholder. 

The facility has 27 employees. BOPA