10 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com
From the Desk ofHunter Proud Foundation
Tourism is a tough sector. Competing global markets with a smorgasbord of products
makes for stiff competition. Itis also a fickle business; the slight hint of civil unrest can
sinkthatcountry’s prospects overnight.Intensive marketingis the name of the gameand
developinga strong brandis key.Whenit comesto selling Africathatbrand mustappeal
to the sensitivitiesof a pamperedWestern clientele’s world. Inthat“Lion King” universe
ofSimba andPumba, the endless,untamed wilderness is free of humans and the human
touch -nature is left to manage itself.1
75 000 people, 130 000 cattle, 50
000 goats, 9 000 agricultural fields,
130 000 elephants per national park
(Chobe 11 000 km²) and a game reserve
(Moremi 5 000km²) areallcomponents of
a 130 000 km² constituency. These are the
semi-aridNgamilandandChobe districtsof
northern Botswana. Within this region lies
theOkavangoDelta,oneoftheworld’slargest
inlanddeltasanda UNESCOWorldHeritage
site.Thousandsofremoteislandsencircledby
endless palm-and-papyrus-fringed waterways
teem with prolific wildlife and countless
bird species. It is easy to see how the Deltaing.BrandBotswanawasnowa hunting-free
destination;nobloodthirstykillerswelcome
here.
And so, photographic camps multiplied
across the Okavango Delta and along the
Chobe River where mollycoddled clients
couldindulgeintheAfricaoftheirimagina-
tion.It wastheperfectbackdropformaking
award-winning movies about the trials and
tribulationsofcutelynamedanimals,a lucra-
tivemarketingavenue toreinforcetheEden
illusion.Meanwhile,intheareaswheresafari
huntingoncethrivedandwhichwereunsuit-
able for photographic operations, the water-has attracted the rapt attention of foreign
photographicsafaricompanies. Thisis high-
endmarketterritorywithdailyratesreaching
as highas USD2 500perperson.
TheOkavangoDeltais uniqueinitsown
right,butthephotographicsafaricompanies
yearnedforanextracompetitiveedgeoverri-
valregionaldestinations.Eliminatinga thriv-
ingsafarihuntingindustry,withscantregard
totheimplicationsforbothpeopleandwild-
life,wasjusttheticket.A presidentwhovalued
wildlifeandprofitsabovetheinterestsofhis
peoplewasjustthepersontoimplementit.In
2014 president Ian Khama banned safari hunt-The Mysterious Case of the
Vanishing Elephants
By Zig Mackintosh
Whole forests of mopane trees have been wiped out by elephant on the edges of the Okavango Delta.