23 Oct 2025

 Fitness will combine with the calming charm of nature as Mabele village hosts the hiking and cycling challenge at the Aacron and Bekker hills hiking and cycling challenge on Saturday.

The expedition, now in its second year, will traverse the nine hills between Mabele and Kavimba in a challenge that would feature 5km and 10km hikes as well as a 5km fun ride.

The start and finishing point of the hike and cycling challenge would be the Mabele football grounds, while Member of Parliament for Chobe, Mr Simasuku Mapulanga would be the chief hiker for the hiking challenge.

In an interview, the event organiser, Tumedi Tumedi said over 100 fitness and nature enthusiasts had registered for the hike, mostly from Chobe District and a few from Namibia.

Tumedi said the objective of the challenge was to promote health and wellness while immersing participants in the beauty of Chobe. He indicated that Chobe’s landscape was unique in that it was endowed with rivers, trees, wildlife and hills, some of which were untapped resources.

Normally, he said when people mentioned Chobe, it was all about wildlife tourism, despite the fact that the region presented an array of resources that could diversify the tourism product.

He added that such events decentralised activities away from Kasane to draw attention to Chobe West, where most of the cultural heritage sites were.

“Our landscape in Mabele is very beautiful with breath-taking scenic views, which offers hikers an opportunity to exercise and be enthralled by nature,” he said.

He noted that hiking was a new activity in Chobe as most people, including tourists, were accustomed to boat cruises, game drives and Victoria Falls day trips.

Moreover, Tumedi highlighted that tourists were becoming more interested in hiking as a new tourism activity and were now requesting private hiking experiences. He further stated that the event was an opportunity to raise funds to be channelled towards supporting education in local schools. ENDS