05 Aug 2026

The pristine, lush waterways, greenery, flora and fauna of the Okavango, the world’s largest inland delta and the 1000th UNESCO Heritage Site, is a major tourism attraction, but the people living there as custodians of this environment seldom have their voices heard.

This was the rationale behind the, Batho Ba Metsi: A Journey to Meet the People of the Water, documentary film directed by Moabi Mogorosi, to feature the lives and resilience of the people who live in one of the world’s most celebrated ecosystems.

Speaking to BOPA during the world premiere of Batho Ba Metsi at the Mass Media Complex in Gaborone on Tuesday, Mogorosi said they sought to document the human experience, challenges and traditions of the people who reside in the delta.

“Being able to showcase the lives, traditions and resilience of people connected to the Okavango Delta is a privilege and an important contribution to preserving Botswana’s heritage,” said Mogorosi.

He said they were working with their partners to get the film to air on National Geographic channel, one of the world’s largest environment focused television channels, as well as to different film festivals, and also for domestic educational purposes to Botswana Television.

The premiere, attended by President Advocate Duma Boko, Minister of Sport and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng, Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse, Leader of the Opposition and Maun North legislator, Mr Dumelang Saleshando as well as conservationists, traditional leaders, creative and other stakeholders, showcased the 92-minute documentary film.

Minister Kelebeng said it was commendable that people who conserved one of the world’s greatest ecosystem would get to have their lives documented. He applauded Mogorosi and the crew that developed the film, and explained that the government was working on legislative framework to enable their work, including to repel and reenact the 1972 Cinematographic Bill to introduce that which would accommodate modern times.

Kelebeng further said government sought to create a film industry that told the Botswana story and generated jobs for local creatives.

Filmed entirely in the Okavango Delta, by an all Batswana crew led by Mogorosi, with former Miss Botswana, actress Palesa Molefe, as the lead presenter and narrator, the documentary features mokoro polers, basket weavers, elders, and community leaders to communicated lived experiences of the Okavango Delta.

The Nkashi Trust founder, Steve Boyes, a non-profit, Maun based organisation focusing on community-led organisation, cultural heritage and sustainable livelihoods in the Okavango Delta that let support to the film, said they were built around four principles, pride, ownership, community and purpose.

He said through these values, they sought to build protected areas, conservation expanses where local people whose history was intertwined with nature, were able to live and participate actively in the protection of the ecosystem. ENDS