De-congesting Chobe...
Source : Kutlwano
Author : Puso Kedidimetse
Location : CHOBE
Event : Tourism
The Chobe River front is Chobe National Park`s greatest attraction. During the dry season, wild animals in their various shapes and sizes converge on this stretch of water from the entire Chobe area to quench their thirst.
Elephants, buffalo, impala, the red lechwe, a water loving antelope, form into huge herds and attract large numbers of tourists from as far as United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, China, United States of America and South America.
Within the waters of the river system, crocodiles, hippos, fish eagles, Kingfishers and other bird species also abound in this small part of the park. They attract onlookers some of whom arrive on boat cruises or by land through four-wheel drive Land Cruisers used for game drives.
These tourists bring a lot of revenue to the country which is needed for diversifying the local economy away from mining revenues. This, it has been observed, however, comes at a great cost to the environment as cars, boats, and tourists congregate in one part of the park in an unsustainable number and pose a danger to the ecosystem.
The national park which the Chobe River passes through is located in the northern part of Botswana within the Chobe District covering an area of 10 590 square kilometres and is arguably one of the country`s premier conservation areas.
It was created in July 1960 as a game reserve and it was later upgraded to become the first national park in 1967. It is the second largest park in Botswana and has one of the greatest concentrations of game found in Africa. Its distinctive feature is the elephant population currently estimated at around 120 000.
The park comprises four distinct ecosystems, which include the Chobe River front with flood plains and thick teak forest, Savuti marsh in the west, Linyanti swamps in the northwest and the hot dry land in between.
For a very long time, tour operators in the Chobe have been selling game drives and boat cruises to tourists. However, the recent mushrooming of operators has come with its own challenges as some areas of the Chobe National Park, especially the river front have experienced congestion that threatens the biodiversity of the area.
Consequently, the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism and tour operators decided to come up with measures to deal with aspects of sustainable use of natural resources through conservation of biodiversity inside the park.
However, the strategy, despite emanating from the tourism industry, is now impacting on their operations as they have been forced to reduce movement to areas prone to congestion, thereby undercutting their businesses. There is a general concern of the congestion of the Chobe River front section from the Sedudu entrance gate to Serondela picnic site covering a distance of 17km.
The Chobe river front finds itself as the centre of attraction for game viewing due to its scenic beauty and animal population. It is a small section of the Chobe National Park which is used by all tour operators and private individuals, hence environmental sustainability is compromised.
Owing to this state of affairs, according to a report from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Chobe, several meetings were held with members of the tourism industry and government officials and stakeholders were given the opportunity to come up with proposals to ease congestion which did not materialise.
The report notes that a number of concerns were raised as some of the factors contributing to congestion, especially the non-implementation of the river front management plan and lack of a common management plan for the utilisation of the river front for both Botswana and the Namibian side.
However, government officials became worried that the tourism industry was more concerned about their business operations only rather than the sustainability of the environment at the Chobe River front.
The Department of Wildlife and National Parks, environment ministry, tour operators and other stakeholders proposed a number of solutions to the congestion along the riverfront. Among the four features or zones the Chobe River front was of major concern as far as congestion is concerned. They decided to come up with mitigation measures as part of the decongestion strategy.
The strategy`s objectives was to introduce a booking system for the routes with different colour tokens, one way traffic system (game drive), one way movement around Sedudu Island on a boat cruise, professional guide and private visitors` code of conduct, client registration forms and the drilling of boreholes and game drive routes, all of which are now in place.
According to the new decongestion strategy the wildlife department has introduced a three one way traffic movement along the Chobe National Park river bank. The three routes include the river front route, upper route and Nogatshaa junction route which would be identified by colour coded circular plastic tokens hanging on the inside rear view mirror for ease of viewing for any passing vehicle.
The fees for each route are different with the river bank route being much higher than the other two and the carrying capacity per route would be 25 vehicles resulting in 75 vehicles per session in all three routes. Also, the maximum number of vehicles per company per route is limited to two and companies are allowed to wait list on first come and first serve basis such that in case the number 75 is not reached by closing time then they can be allowed into the park. This is part of the new strategy that has rubbed tourism operators the wrong way as they feel that government is now stifling their businesses and undercutting their profit margins during a difficult economic period. Having operated for many decades without being regulated they now have to comply with the wildlife department mitigation measures especially with regards to the Chobe River front. However, the decongestion strategy affects tourism operators in different ways with some praising it while others feel hard done by the regulation by government.
Chairperson of the Chobe National Park management committee, Jonathan Gibson, has a different view on the impact of the decongestion strategy on tour operators. His take is that the current situation demonstrates a failure of harmonisation between authorities and the capacity to manage volumes of increasing tourists by operators. However, he acknowledges a serious problem of congestion at the Chobe River front but notes that land boards and councils continue to allocate land for tourism enterprises.
This, he notes, has led to an increase in volumes of boats, cars descending on the river front. Sometimes, he says even tourists who come from afar complain about too much traffic especially when viewing lions inside the park which takes away the pleasures of the experience.
Gibson believes in free enterprise and notes that the regulation that is now in place has the potential to stifle growth of businesses which were allowed to set up in the first place. This, he highlighted, is bad for a developing country such as Botswana.
He argues that harmonisation and utilisation of the riverfront could have been done in a responsible manner which would not have a negative impact on businesses and cited Zimbabwe, noting that policies in place in the Victoria Falls area allow tour operators to thrive while protecting the environment.
However, he says tourism in Chobe is not all about the river front and notes that they are looking at ways of ameliorating this impact by diversifying away from the Chobe River which is now affected by overcrowding by venturing into untapped forest reserves while introducing horse trails and game walks in areas with abundant animals.
Currently, he notes that the forest reserves are not yet open for such activities but mentions that they are in consultation with authorities on this. For his part, Kwalape Lodge managing director, Milton Kachana, has a different take on the impact of the strategy.
“There is no overcrowding in the Chobe National Park but there is only a specific area, the Chobe River front which is overcrowded,” says Kachana. He adds that for a long time tour operators in the Chobe area had been selling game drives and boat cruises to tourists.
Furthermore, he notes government has put limits on how much the river front can take at a particular time. This, he highlighted, limits the ability of operators to sell their products. “We are now being regulated and we are told how much we can produce.
The issue is, can we create a new product or venture into other alternatives and still get a good price?” he asks. This, he notes, is a result of the mushrooming of lodges in the Chobe area all selling the same product but says it is time to adapt to being regulated.
The decongestion strategy, he concedes, has taken away the growth potential of the tourism industry unlike in the past when they were free to determine growth beyond government regulation. Kachana says there is now less flexibility as the industry no longer has any controls over the product.
This, he observes, has taken away the industry`s ability for sustainability. However, he explaines that initially it was the tourism industry which invited government to come up with regulation because big players thought that they could monopolise the river front and close out new entrants.
“They wanted to use government to create a monopoly but it has not turned out the way they wanted and they are now at odds with the authorities who are now regulating the use of the river front,” he highlighted.
In order to overcome the challenges brought about by the decongestion strategy in the Chobe National Park, Kachana urges industry players to look at other opportunities and expand away from the river front. Notwithsatnding the regulation, he argues that this might be a way of government forcing them to be innovative.
“The Chobe National Park is more than 10 000 square metres and only a small fraction is regulated, hence we have to look at other products within the park. The problem is that away from the river front we need to develop the areas that is why operators are crying foul,”he argues.
He says the tourism industry has to start looking at neighbouring villages for opportunities, adding that that small local operators should be thankful of the decongestion strategy because they are now benefitting from the regulation.
He notes that the era of the industry selling only one area with high value species is over and mentions that it took over 12 years for the decongestion strategy to be put in place.
Teaser:
Tour operators cry foul. Within the waters of the river system, crocodiles, hippos, fish eagles, Kingfishers and other bird species also abound in this small part of the park. They attract onlookers some of whom arrive on boat cruises or by land through four-wheel drive Land Cruisers used for game drives...
