Botswana camping safari

Botswana camping safari

How this holiday makes a difference

Environment

Low Impact tourism:
- Camping safaris mean that the environmental impact of your visit is a bare minimum. We stay in designated campsites, and we leave each campsite in the same pristine condition when we leave. Camping safaris leave a very small footprint
- Cooking on gas when feasible so that we don’t have to burn firewood which depletes limited resources (particularly in desert environments – Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Nxai Pan National Park & Makgadikgadi Pans National Park),
- Requesting clients to purchase small wooden carvings curio instead of large pieces, again to conserve the forests around the carving markets.
- Ensuring that we take all of our rubbish out of wilderness areas and use proper waste disposal facilities on all tours (and in the workshop). Entrance Fees: All entrance fees for the National Parks are used by the Botswana of Wildlife to maintain the condition and infrastructure of the National Parks, and run regular anti-poaching patrols.

Central Kalahari: The Central Kalahari is an extremely important national park due to the fact that it preserves a unique environment in southern Africa. The Central Kalahari is surrounded by cattle farms and the cattle farming community exert pressure on the Botswanan government to hand over some of the land to cattle farming. This park is off the beaten track, and not often visited by regular tourists. As such, visitors to this area are assured of the fact that it will not be overrun with people, but the entrance fees paid to visit the park are of great importance to keep the park running.

As it is such a unique National Park all of the clients who join us on this trip are giving a full briefing of the fragility of the environment. Litter is strictly policed, the potential of creating wildfires is great, so the group is briefed on smoking restriction, etiquette within campsite, wise use of water in a very dry environment, and how to behave with the wildlife. All camps are un-fenced, so the potential is there for the wildlife to come into camp. The tour leaders are very experienced in dealing with such situations. Clients are advised to stay calm, listen to the tour leaders instructions, and never put the wild animal in a situation where they feel threatened which may illicit a fight or flight reaction. The tour leaders always teach the clients to allow the wildlife to have right of way so that no incidents occur. If an incident does happen the animal will have to be destroyed. Protecting the natural habits of the wildlife is of utmost importance, so client are told not to feed animals or leave food in a place where wild animals might feel tempted to eat it.

Okavango Delta: The Okavango Delta is an important wildlife refuge for many animals, both resident and migratory. It also attracts thousands of tourists to Botswana, and it’s continued health is very important to the country. Water from the Delta is integral to the continued sustainability of the Botswana tourism industry. Without water, the environment would no longer support such a diversity of life. Namibia wants to build a dam on the Kavango River, which will effectively disrupt the natural system of the Delta and adversely affect the wildlife and the industry as a whole. Tour leaders will explain all of this to clients so that people are made aware of what potentially could happen if this plan is implemented. The more people who are made aware of the threats to this ecosystem, the less likely it is to happen. By people visiting the Delta, creating jobs, and allowing the delta to make much needed funds, the less likely it is that the planned dam will go ahead.

As this is a wildlife area with un-fenced campsites, the tour leaders make clients aware that animals have right of way, and that as visitors to the area we must not affect the animals in any way. By building a healthy respect for wildlife within the people who visit the area, the impact of people in this area, and on the wildlife is hugely minimized. Due to careful management of the wildlife in the area, and how people interact with the wildlife, the animals no longer see man as a threat, and are often curious to see these strange 2 legged creatures, instead of fearing them. A huge part of the tour leaders mandate is to ensure that clients respect the wildlife and eco-system and to be aware that they are only visitors to the area, and should feel extremely privileged to be able to visit the area, with local guides who know the environment intimately.

SOS trees project - Okavango Botswana: For hundreds of years, the local communities in and around Botswana's Okavango Delta have used the wood of the sausage tree to craft their traditional mokoro (dugout canoes). The knowledge and skill have been passed down from generation to generation and, up until recently, has been a sustainable practice. With increasing numbers of people visiting the Delta each year, more mokoro are needed and as a direct result, more and more sausage trees are being felled and the sausage tree is sadly disappearing from the region. A traditional wooden mokoro will have to be replaced every five years, thereby placing increased pressure on the dwindling sausage tree supply.

We have established a project to encourage polers in the local communities to buy replica fiberglass mokoro’s, which have a lifespan of approximately ten years, are more stable and are produced without any negative affect to the environment. As such, sponsorship for each fiberglass mokoro is needed, and a portion of the tour cost will be donated to the project, but we also will offer our clients the opportunity to contribute to this worthwhile cause. Please feel free to contact the Sunway Safaris office for more information on the SOS trees project or if you would like to make any contributions towards this project. It is something that is close to all of our hearts and we hope that it will be successful.

Nxai Pan: Nxai Pan is another of the National Parks that are not often visited in Botswana. It is a very important park in that it provides a wildlife corridor for animals to migrate from the northern parts of Botswana to the Kalahari Desert during the rainy season. Without this corridor the huge herds of antelope would not have access to the nutritious grasses that grow in the Kalahari during the wet season. Visiting this park not only generates much needed income, but also informs clients about the importance of creating wildlife corridors so that animals can follow their natural migratory patterns.

Bottled Water: We encourage clients to drink the local clean drinkable tap water wherever possible in order to minimize the amount of plastic bottle waste produced by the purchase of bottled drinking water.

Community

Local Guides: A local Botswana guide travels with us through the national parks & the Okavango Delta. This ensures employment for local people and direct benefits for the community from tourism. The local guides are highly knowledgeable so please ask plenty of questions; you’ll be amazed at what you can learn.

Khama Rhino Sanctuary: The Rhino Sanctuary was set up by the local community to restore an area which had been used as a cattle post to its natural state. Rhinos were introduced in the sanctuary and it is being used as a breeding centre for the re-introduction of both black & white rhinos into the national parks of Botswana after the natural population had virtually been hunted to extinction by poaches. Proceeds from visitors to the park help with the rhino breeding programme and go to the local community.

Okavango Delta guides: We use local 'polers' to take us into the Okavango Delta. The polers have an intimate knowledge of the Okavango Delta, and their employment as guides ensure that the local community benefit from tourism and ensures that these areas are conserved for future generations.

Food: All food and drink on tour are bought in local grocery stores which creates economic activity directly from tourism.

Charities: When in Maun we visit Sibandas Fine Art Fabrics. This is a local community initiative to employ local women who produce hand crafted fabrics. This is a non-profit organisation, and all visits from our groups generate some revenue for the charity and if any clients buy some of the products, it ensures that the charity remains self sufficient.

Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre: We assist a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Springs, outside Johannesburg. Judy Davidson runs a licensed rehab centre from a small holding. She is an amazing person, dedicating her life to the welfare of animals and makes enormous personal sacrifices to live on this plot and care for sick and injured birds. A variety of birds are cared for, from injured barbets, doves, and crows to a brown snake eagle, a gymnogene, and a spotted eagle owl. All birds are treated in a small makeshift clinic, and then kept in aviaries until they have recovered. Once able to fly, or care for themselves again, they are moved to a 'flight' aviary, for a period until they have regained strength. They are then released back into the wild. Those birds which are unable to be released are kept in large aviaries and fed through various donations. We assist the project with donations of practical equipment including shade netting, paint, etc. These are used to repair and maintain several of the existing aviaries.

Botswana camping safari