The Bushmen are the indigenous peoples of southern Africa. Largely hunter-gatherers, their territory spans several nations and they have called the region home for tens of thousands of years.
The tribes are well-known for the profound connection they have with their land, for their intimate knowledge of the natural world, and the delicate balance they have maintained for millennia with the environment.
The San people or Saan but also known as Bushmen, are members of various Khoisan-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer people representing the first nation of Southern Africa, whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africa.
There is a significant linguistic difference between the northern people living between the Okavango River in Botswana and Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia, extending up into southern Angola; the central people of most of Namibia and Botswana, extending into Zambia and Zimbabwe; and the southern people in the central Kalahari towards the Molopo River, who are the last remnant of the previously extensive indigenous San of South Africa.
The ancestors of the hunter-gatherer San people are considered to have been the first inhabitants of what is now Botswana and South Africa. The historical presence of the San in Botswana is particularly evident in northern Botswana's Tsodilo Hills region. In this area, stone tools and rock art paintings date back over 70,000 years and are by far the oldest known art.The San were traditionally semi-nomadic, moving seasonally within certain defined areas based on the availability of resources such as water, game animals, and edible plants. As of 2010, the San population in Botswana numbers about 50,000 to 60,000.
From the 1950s through the 1990s, the San switched to farming because of government-mandated modernisation programs. Despite the lifestyle changes, they have provided a wealth of information in anthropology and genetics. One broad study of African genetic diversity completed in 2009 found that the San were among the five populations with the highest measured levels of genetic diversity among the 121 distinct African populations sampled.
The San are one of 14 known extant ancestral population clusters. That is, groups of populations with common genetic ancestry, who share ethnicity and similarities in both their culture and the properties of their languages.
Despite some positive aspects of government development programs reported by members of the San and Bakgalagadi communities in Botswana, many have spoken of a consistent sense of exclusion from government decision-making processes, and many San and Bakgalagadi have alleged experiencing ethnic discrimination on the part of the government.The United States Department of State described ongoing discrimination against San, or Basarwa, people in Botswana in 2013 as a principal human rights concern.
The indigenous hunter-gatherer people of southern Africa prefer to be identified by the names of their individual nations, for example the:
Kung,
Xam,
Khomani,
Nusan (Nǀu),
Khwe (Khoi, Kxoe),
Naro,
Haiǁom,
Tsoa,
Auen,
Juǀ'hoan,
Kua and,
Gǀu (Gwi) and Gana.
Various terms—including San, Bushmen and Basarwa—have been used to refer to them collectively. Each of these terms has a problematic history, as they have been used by others to refer to them, often with pejorative connotations.In the 1970s, many Western anthropologists adopted the term San or Saan to refer to the people collectively, although some later switched back to the term Bushmen.
Historically San was a derogatory term meaning foragers, applied to them by pastoralist Khoikhoi rivals.The term became associated with people without cattle or people who stole cattle, and is still an ethnic slur in the central Kalahari.The term Bushmen is still widely used by others and to self-identify; however, opinions vary on whether it is appropriate as it is sometimes viewed as pejorative.
The consensus of delegates representing the people at various meetings held in the 1990s was in favour of using the term San to refer to them collectively, as it was considered the most neutral term.These meetings included the Common Access to Development Conference organised by the Government of Botswana held in Gaborone in 1993,the 1996 inaugural Annual General Meeting of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) held in Namibia,and a 1997 conference in Cape Town on Khoisan Identities and Cultural Heritage organised by the University of the Western Cape.
According to anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee, the term San was in general use by the people themselves by the late 1990s. Representatives of the people from WIMSA and the South African San Institute attending the 2003 Africa Human Genome Initiative conference held in Stellenbosch reiterated that they prefer to be described by either their individual group names or the collective term San.
There are regional variations in acceptable nomenclature:
The term most commonly used for them in Botswana is Basarwa,where it is accepted reluctantly. Being a Tswana word meaning those who do not rear cattle, it also has negative connotations. The term is in a noun class representing people who are accepted while an older variant Masarwa is considered offensive now.
In 1996 the different San language groups of Namibia met and agreed to allow the term San to be used externally to refer to them collectively, and the term has been used in Namibia since then.
There are no official terms for them in Angola, Zambia or in Zimbabwe. In Angola they are sometimes referred to as mucancalas,or bosquímanos (the Portuguese term for Bushmen). The terms Amasili and Batwa are sometimes used for them in Zimbabwe.
The term San has become favoured in South Africa, and is used in the blazon of the national coat-of-arms. The South African San Council representing San communities in South Africa was established as part of WIMSA in 2001.The people are also referred to as Twa by Xhosa people and Baroa by Sotho people.Bushman is considered derogatory by many South Africans, regardless of their race.A 2008 Equality Court ruling nevertheless found that the use of the Afrikaans equivalent boesman by Die Burger newspaper did not amount to hate speech in the context used.
The San kinship system reflects their interdependence as traditionally small mobile foraging bands. San kinship is comparable to Eskimo kinship, with the same set of terms as in European cultures, but also uses a name rule and an age rule. The age rule resolves any confusion arising from kinship terms, as the older of two people always decides what to call the younger. Relatively few names circulate approximately 35 names per sex, and each child is named after a grandparent or another relative.
Children have no social duties besides playing, and leisure is very important to San of all ages. Large amounts of time are spent in conversation, joking, music, and sacred dances. Women have a high status in San society, are greatly respected, and may be leaders of their own family groups. They make important family and group decisions and claim ownership of water holes and foraging areas. Women are mainly involved in the gathering of food, but may also take part in hunting.
Water is important in San life. Droughts may last many months and waterholes may dry up. When this happens, they use sip wells. To get water this way, a San scrapes a deep hole where the sand is damp. Into this hole is inserted a long hollow grass stem. An empty ostrich egg is used to collect the water. Water is sucked into the straw from the sand, into the mouth, and then travels down another straw into the ostrich egg.
Traditionally, the San were an egalitarian society.Although they had hereditary chiefs, their authority was limited. The San made decisions among themselves by consensus,with women treated as relative equals.San economy was a gift economy, based on giving each other gifts regularly rather than on trading or purchasing goods and services.
Villages range in sturdiness from nightly rain shelters in the warm spring when people move constantly in search of budding greens, to formalised rings, wherein people congregate in the dry season around permanent waterholes. Early spring is the hardest season: a hot dry period following the cool, dry winter. Most plants still are dead or dormant, and supplies of autumn nuts are exhausted. Meat is particularly important in the dry months when wildlife can not range far from the receding waters.
Women gather fruit, berries, tubers, bush onions, and other plant materials for the band's consumption. Ostrich eggs are gathered, and the empty shells are used as water containers. Insects provide perhaps 10% of animal proteins consumed, most often during the dry season.Depending on location, the San consume 18 to 104 species, including grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, and termites.
Women's traditional gathering gear is simple and effective: a hide sling, a blanket, a cloak called a kaross to carry foodstuffs, firewood, smaller bags, a digging stick, and perhaps, a smaller version of the kaross to carry a baby.
Men hunt in long, laborious tracking excursions. They kill their game using arrows and spears tipped in diamphotoxin, a slow-acting arrow poison produced by beetle larvae of the genus Diamphidia.
A set of tools almost identical to that used by the modern San and dating to 44,000 BCE was discovered at Border Cave in KwaZulu-Natal in 2012.
Historical evidence shows that certain San communities have always lived in the desert regions of the Kalahari; however, eventually nearly all other San communities in southern Africa were forced into this region. The Kalahari San remained in poverty where their richer neighbours denied them rights to the land. Before long, in both Botswana and Namibia, they found their territory drastically reduced.
Various Y chromosome studies show that the San carry some of the most divergent (oldest) human Y-chromosome haplogroups. These haplogroups are specific sub-groups of haplogroups A and B, the two earliest branches on the human Y-chromosome tree.
Mitochondrial DNA studies also provide evidence that the San carry high frequencies of the earliest haplogroup branches in the human mitochondrial DNA tree. This DNA is inherited only from one's mother. The most divergent oldest mitochondrial haplogroup, L0d, has been identified at its highest frequencies in the southern African San groups.
In a study published in March 2011, Brenna Henn and colleagues found that the ǂKhomani San, as well as the Sandawe and Hadza peoples of Tanzania, were the most genetically diverse of any living humans studied. This high degree of genetic diversity hints at the origin of anatomically modern humans.
Recent analysis suggests that the San may have been isolated from other original ancestral groups for as much as 100,000 years and later rejoined, re-integrating the human gene pool.
A DNA study of fully sequenced genomes, published in September 2016, showed that the ancestors of today's San hunter-gatherers began to diverge from other human populations in Africa about 200,000 years ago and were fully isolated by 100,000 years ago, well before the first archaeological evidence of modern behaviour in humans.
Much aboriginal people's land in Botswana, including land occupied by the San people or Basarwa, was lost during colonization, and the pattern of loss of land and access to natural resources continued after Botswana's independence.The San have been particularly affected by encroachment by majority peoples and non-indigenous farmers onto land traditionally occupied by San people.
Government policies from the 1970s transferred a significant area of traditionally San land to White settlers and majority agro-pastoralist tribes.Much of the government's policy regarding land tended to favor the dominant Tswana peoples over the minority San and Bakgalagadi.Loss of land is a major contributor to the problems facing Botswana's indigenous people, including especially the San's eviction from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
The government of Botswana decided to relocate all of those living within the reserve to settlements outside it. Harassment of residents, dismantling of infrastructure, and bans on hunting appear to have been used to induce residents to leave.The government has denied that any of the relocation was forced. A legal battle followed.The relocation policy may have been intended to facilitate diamond mining by Gem Diamonds within the reserve.
Hoodia gordonii, used by the San, was patented by the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1998, for its presumed appetite suppressing quality. A licence was granted to Phytopharm, for development of the active ingredient in the Hoodia plant, p57 (glycoside), to be used as a pharmaceutical drug for dieting.
Once this patent was brought to the attention of the San, a benefit-sharing agreement was reached between them and the CSIR in 2003. This would award royalties to the San for the benefits of their indigenous knowledge.During the case, the San people were represented and assisted by the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), the South African San Council and the South African San Institute.
This benefit-sharing agreement is one of the first to give royalties to the holders of traditional knowledge used for drug sales. The terms of the agreement are contentious, because of their apparent lack of adherence to the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing, as outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).The San have yet to profit from this agreement, as P57 has still not yet been legally developed and marketed.
The San of the Kalahari were first brought to the globalized world's attention in the 1950s by South African author Laurens van der Post. In 1955, Van der Post was commissioned by the BBC to go to the Kalahari desert with a film crew in search of the San. The filmed material was turned into a very popular six-part television documentary a year later. Driven by a lifelong fascination with this "vanished tribe", Van der Post published a 1958 book about this expedition, entitled The Lost World of the Kalahari.
It was to be his most famous book. In 1961, he published The Heart of the Hunter, a narrative which he admits in the introduction uses two previous works of stories and mythology as "a sort of Stone Age Bible", namely Specimens of Bushman Folklore' (1911), collected by Wilhelm H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. Lloyd, and Dorothea Bleek's Mantis and His Friend. Van der Post's work is largely discredited, as it is the subjective view of a European in the 1950s and 1960s.
His opinions branded the San as simple "children of Nature" or even "mystical ecologists". That record was set straight in 1992 by John Perrot and team with the publication of the book "Bush for the Bushman" - a "desperate plea" on behalf of the aboriginal San addressing the international community and calling on the governments throughout Southern Africa to respect and reconstitute the ancestral land-rights of all San.
There are 100,000 Bushmen in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola. They are the indigenous people of southern Africa, and have lived there for tens of thousands of years.
Map of the Bushmen's land, Botswana
In the middle of Botswana lies the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a reserve created to protect the traditional territory of the 5,000 Gana, Gwi and Tsila Bushmen (and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi), and the game they depend on.
In the early 1980s, diamonds were discovered in the reserve. Soon after, government ministers went into the reserve to tell the Bushmen living there that they would have to leave because of the diamond finds.
In three big clearances, in 1997, 2002 and 2005, virtually all the Bushmen were forced out. Their homes were dismantled, their school and health post were closed, their water supply was destroyed and the people were threatened and trucked away.
Those who have not returned to the reserve now live in resettlement camps outside the reserve. Rarely able to hunt, and arrested and beaten when they do, they are dependent on government handouts. Many are now gripped by alcoholism, depression, and illnesses such as TB and HIV/AIDS.
Unless they are able to live on their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die.
Although the Bushmen won the right in court to go back to their lands in 2006, the government has done everything it can to make their return impossible, including cementing over their only water borehole; without it, the Bushmen struggled to find enough water to survive on their lands.
The Bushmen launched further litigation against the government in a bid to gain access to their borehole. Although their application was initially dismissed, in January 2011 Botswana’s Court of Appeal ruled that the Bushmen can use their old borehole and sink new ones in the reserve as well. The judges described the Bushmen’s plight as ‘a harrowing story of human suffering and despair.’
Bushman woman Xoroxloo Duxee from the Metsiamenong community, died of dehydration and starvation in 2005 after the government blockaded the reserve and armed guards prevented her people from hunting, gathering or obtaining water, Botswana.
At the same time as preventing the Bushmen from accessing water, the government drilled new boreholes for wildlife only and allowed safari company, Wilderness Safaris, to open a tourist camp in the reserve.
The Kalahari Plains Camp was opened after Wilderness Safaris entered into a lease with the government. However, the lease made no provisions for the rights of the Bushmen on whose ancestral lands the camp sits, nor were they consulted about the venture.
While Bushmen nearby struggle to find enough water to survive on their lands, guests can sip cocktails by the camp’s swimming pool.
In addition, the government has:
Refused to issue a single permit to hunt on their land (despite Botswana’s High Court ruling that its refusal to issue permits was unlawful),
Arrested more than 50 Bushmen for hunting to feed their families,
Enforced restricted access to the reserve for the majority of Bushmen, who must now apply for a one-month permit to visit their families.
Its policy is clearly to intimidate and frighten the Bushmen into staying in the resettlement camps, and making the lives of those who have gone back to their ancestral land impossible.
Court case
In 2002 the Bushmen took the government to court. They wanted the court to rule that their eviction was illegal. Due to procedural wrangling, evidence did not start to be heard until 2004.
Although the Bushmen are Botswana’s poorest citizens, the case became the longest and most expensive in the country’s history.
239 Bushman adults put their names to the case, and another 135 adults asked to be added to it. Together with their children, they represented around 1,000 people. (Of the original 239 Bushmen, 12% died awaiting justice.)
While the case continued, many Bushmen tried to return to their homeland in the reserve. Nearly all were evicted again by the government, some of them for the third time. During the case, the key clause protecting Bushman rights in Botswana’s constitution was removed by the government.
Through the generosity of its supporters, Survival helped the Bushmen bring their case.
On 13 December 2006 the Bushmen won an historic victory. The judges ruled that their eviction by the government was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’, and that they have the right to live inside the reserve, on their ancestral land.
The court also ruled that the Bushmen have the right to hunt and gather in the reserve, and should not have to apply for permits to enter it. Read more on this landmark ruling.
Although the government quickly announced that it would not appeal the judgment, it has since done everything it can to obstruct it.
In 2010 the Bushmen took the government to court again in a bid to access water inside the reserve. The judge dismissed their case, but in January 2011 Botswana’s Court of Appeal overturned the decision and condemned the government’s ‘degrading treatment’ of the Bushmen.
Lawyer barred
Two successful court cases have not deterred government attempts to uproot the Bushmen from their land. In 2013, the Bushmen again returned to the court to demand free access to the reserve, abolishing the government’s one-month permit policy.
But at the last minute, the Bushmen’s long-standing lawyer, British barrister Gordon Bennett, was barred from Botswana. Their case was subsequently dismissed, and the Bushmen are now left without the legal representative of their choice, in stark contravention of international law.
Diamonds
The Bushmen, Survival and many other observers believe that the Bushmen were evicted because their land is rich in diamonds.
Their reserve lies in the middle of the richest diamond-producing area in the world. There is known to be at least one major diamond deposit in the reserve, at a Bushman community called Gope. Many other ‘kimberlites’ (volcanic rock in which diamonds are found) are present in the reserve.
In May 2007 De Beers sold its deposit at Gope to Gem Diamonds, for $34 million. Gem Diamonds’ chief executive called the Gope deposit ‘a problematic asset for De Beers’ because of the Bushmen campaign.
The Botswana government approved the mine, and previously stated that Gem would not be allowed to provide the Bushmen with water. The government has, however, reserved the right to use water boreholes drilled by Gem for wildlife. Gem Diamonds claims that the Bushmen are in favour of the mine, but the Bushmen have had no independent advice on its probable impact.
Gem Diamonds has stated publicly that the Gope mine (now renamed ‘Ghaghoo’) contains a diamond deposit worth an estimated $4 billion.
The mine officially opened in September 2014.
Other companies are also involved. Petra Diamonds is exploring throughout the reserve and has identified the Gope and Kukama areas as priorities.
Tourism
Tourism is Botswana’s most important market, after diamonds.
Glossy images of Bushmen hunters are unashamedly used by Botswana’s Tourism Board to promote tourism to the country, while government authorities are doing everything they can to wipe out any last trace of the tribe.
Tourists are openly encouraged to enjoy a ‘Bushman experience’, taking trips with Bushmen to learn about their hunting and gathering survival techniques and watch them perform ‘trance-dances’. At the same time, the Bushmen are prevented from hunting and the majority are forced to live outside their ancestral land.
Survival is calling on tour operators and tourists across the globe to show their support for the Bushmen by boycotting tourism to Botswana.
Public pressure is the only way to ensure the government respects the Bushmen’s rights.
Reaction to the tourism boycott
Former Robben Island prisoner, Michael Dingake, accuses President Khama of despotism, calling on him to stop the ‘genocidal’ war against the Bushmen.
Mmegi, 12 November 2013
Richard Madden, sponsored by Wilderness Safaris, comes out against the boycott.
Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2013
Christopher Booker describes the ‘ruthless persecution’ of southern Africa’s original inhabitants.
The Spectator, 26 October 2013
The BBC’s John Simpson asks why an otherwise enlightened government treats its Bushmen so obscenely.
The Independent, 25 October 2013
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Showing posts with label okavango river. Show all posts
Showing posts with label okavango river. Show all posts
Saturday, 22 July 2017
Saturday, 12 December 2015
BOTSWANA: Okavango Delta
Some flood-waters drain into Lake Ngami. The Moremi Game Reserve, a National Park, is on the eastern side of the Delta. The scale and magnificence of the Okavango Delta helped it secure a position as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, which were officially declared on February 11, 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. On 22 June 2014, the Okavango Delta became the 1000th site to be officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that mostly dried up by the early Holocene. Although the Okavango Delta is widely believed to be the world's largest inland delta, it is not. In Africa alone there are two larger similar geological features: the Sudd on the Nile in South Sudan, and the Inner Niger Delta in Mali.
The Okavango is produced by seasonal flooding. The Okavango River drains the summer (January–February) rainfall from the Angola highlands and the surge flows 1,200 kilometres in approximately one month. The waters then spread over the 250 km by 150 km area of the delta over the next four months (March–June).
The high temperature of the delta causes rapid transpiration and evaporation, resulting in a cycle of rising and falling water level that was not fully understood until the early 20th century. The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from kilometres around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.
The delta is very flat, with less than 2 metres variation in height across its 15,000 km2.
Every year, circa 11 cubic kilometres (11,000,000,000,000 litres) of water flow into the delta. Approximately 60% is consumed through transpiration by plants, 36% by evaporation, 2% percolates into the aquifer system; and 2% flows into Lake Ngami.
This turgid outflow means that the delta is unable to flush out the minerals carried by the river and is liable to become increasingly salty and uninhabitable, but this effect is reduced by the low salt content which collects around the roots of the plants. The low salinity of the water also means that the floods do not greatly enrich the floodplain with nutrients.
The agglomeration of salt around plant roots means that many of the thousands of islands have barren white patches in their centre, which have become too salty to support plants, aside from the odd salt resistant palm tree. Trees and grasses grow in sand near the edges of the islands that has yet to become too salty.
Approximately 70% of the islands began as termite mounds, where a tree then takes root on the mound of earth.
Chief’s Island, the largest island in the delta, was formed by a fault line which uplifted an area over 70 km long and 15 km wide. Historically it was reserved as an exclusive hunting area for the chief. It now provides the core area for much of the resident wildlife when the waters rise.
The Okavango delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife which is now a popular tourist attraction.
Species include African bush elephant, African buffalo, hippopotamus, lechwe, tsessebe, sitatunga, blue wildebeest, Angolan giraffe, Nile crocodile, Southwest African lion, South African cheetah, African leopard, brown hyena, spotted hyena, springbok, greater kudu, sable antelope, south-central black rhinoceros, southern white rhinoceros, Burchell's zebra, common warthog and chacma baboon.
Endangered Cape wild dog still survives within the Okavango Delta, exhibiting one of the richest pack densities in Africa. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including African fish eagle, Pel's fishing owl, crested crane, lilac-breasted roller, hammerkop, ostrich, and sacred ibis.
The majority of the estimated 200,000 large mammals in and around the delta are not year-round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, then make their way back as winter approaches.
Large herds of buffalo and elephant total about 30,000 beasts.
The Okavango Delta is home to 71 fish species including tigerfish, tilapia and various species of catfish. Fish sizes range from 1.4 m African sharptooth catfish to 3.2 cm sickle barb. The same species are to be found in the Zambezi River, indicating a historic link between the two river systems.
The most populous large mammal is the lechwe antelope, with more than 60,000. It is a little larger than an impala with elongated hooves and a water repellent substance on their legs that enables rapid movement through knee deep water. They graze on aquatic plants and, like the waterbuck, take to water when threatened by predators. Only the males have horns.
Papyrus and reed rafts make up a large part of the Okavango's vegetation. During the flood season they float well above the sandy river bed with roots dangling free in the water. This gap between bed and roots is utilised as shelter by crocodiles.
The plants of the Delta play an important role in providing cohesion for the sand. The banks or levees of a river normally have a high mud content and this combines with the sand in the river’s load to continuously build up the river banks.
In the Delta, because of the clean waters of the Okavango, there is almost no mud and the river’s load consists almost entirely of sand.
The plants capture the sand, acting as the glue and making up for the lack of mud and in the process creating further islands on which more plants can take root.
This process is not important in the formation of linear islands. They are long and thin and often curved like a gently meandering river. The reason for that is that they are actually the natural banks of old river channels which over time have become blocked up by plant growth and sand deposition, resulting in the river changing course and the old river levees becoming islands.
Due to the flatness of the Delta, and the large tonnage of sand flowing into it from the Okavango River, the floor of the delta is slowly but constantly rising. Where channels are today, islands will be tomorrow and then new channels may wash away these existing islands.
The Botswana Okavango Game Lodges cater to small numbers of guests, each one operating in its own Okavango Delta private concession area. There are many lodges with low-environmental-effect policies.
The Okavango Delta peoples consist of five ethnic groups, each with its own ethnic identity and language. They are Hambukushu (also known as Mbukushu, Bukushu, Bukusu, Mabukuschu, Ghuva, Haghuva), Dceriku (Dxeriku, Diriku, Gciriku, Gceriku, Giriku, Niriku), Wayeyi (Bayei, Bayeyi, Yei), Bugakhwe (Kxoe, Khwe, Kwengo, Barakwena, G/anda) and anikhwe (Gxanekwe, tanekwe, River Bushmen, Swamp Bushmen, Gani, ani, Xanekwe). The Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Wayeyi have traditionally engaged in mixed economies of millet/sorghum agriculture; fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods; and pastoralism.
The Bugakhwe and anikwhe are Bushmen who have traditionally practised fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods; Bugakhwe utilized both forest and riverine resources while the anikhwe mostly focused on riverine resources. The Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Bugakhwe are present along the Okavango River in Angola and in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, and there are small numbers of Hambukushu and Bugakhwe in Zambia as well.
Within the Okavango Delta, over the past 150 years or so Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Bugakhwe have inhabited the Panhandle and the Magwegqana in the northeastern Delta. anikhwe have inhabited the Panhandle and the area along the Boro River through the Delta, as well as the area along the Boteti River.
The Wayeyi have inhabited the area around Seronga as well as the southern Delta around Maun, and a few Wayeyi live in their putative ancestral home in the Caprivi Strip. Within the past 20 years many people from all over the Okavango have migrated to Maun, the late 1960s and early 1970s over 4,000 Hambukushu refugees from Angola were settled in the area around Etsha in the western Panhandle.
The Okavango Delta has been under the political control of the Batawana (a Tswana nation) since the late 18th century. Led by the house of Mathiba I, the leader of a Bangwato offshoot, the Batawana established complete control over the Delta in the 1850s as the regional ivory trade exploded.
Most Batawana, however, have traditionally lived on the edges of the Delta, due to the threat that tsetse fly poses to their cattle. During a hiatus of some forty years, the tsetse fly retreated and most Batawana lived in the swamps from 1896 through the late 1930s. Since then the edge of the Delta has become increasingly crowded with its growing human and livestock populations.
The Namibian government has presented plans to build a hydropower station in the Zambezi Region, which would regulate the Okavango's flow to some extent. While proponents argue that the effect would be minimal, environmentalists argue that this project could destroy most of the rich animal and plant life in the Delta. Other threats include local human encroachment and regional extraction of water in both Angola and Namibia.
The award-winning South African filmmaker and conservationist Rick Lomba warned in the 1980s of the threat of cattle invasion to the area. His documentary The End of Eden vividly portrays this and his lobbying on behalf of the Delta helped to preserve its integrity.
Friday, 23 October 2015
NAMIBIA: Bwabwata National Park
Bwabwata National Park
Bwabwata is a national park located in north east Namibia. The park was established in 2007 and has a size of 6,274 square kilometres (2,422 sq mi). It was created from Caprivi Game Park and Mahango Game Reserve.
Bwabwata is situated in the Zambezi and Kavango regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
The area is an important migration route from Botswana to Angola for African elephant and some other game species. It is an unusual Protected Area as about 5,500 people live in the park. The Namibian government involves park residents and neighbours in planning and managing the park.
The area was first proclaimed as Caprivi Nature Park in 1963. It became the Caprivi Game Reserve in 1966 and upgraded to the Caprivi Game Park in 1968. The South African Defence Force occupied it during Namibia’s war of liberation. Conservation officials were not permitted to enter or manage the park due to military operations.
The Defence Force left the area shortly before Namibia obtained Independence from South Africa in 1990. The Namibian Government commissioned a study to assess the fauna and flora and developed plans to accommodate both biodiversity protection and the 5,500 park residents.
Mahango Game Reserve, to the west of the Park, was proclaimed in 1989. The Caprivi Game Park, Mahango Game Reserve and an unproclaimed area along the Kwando River were united to become Bwabwata National Park in 2007.
The wreckage of LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 was found in the park in November 2013.
The park is 40 km north to south and 190 km from west to east. Bwabwata is situated in the Caprivi and Kavango regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
The main road between the towns of Rundu and Katima Mulilo, the Trans-Caprivi Highway (B8), runs through Bwabwata, linking Namibia to Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A minor road (C48) dissects Mahango in a north-south direction and connects Namibia to Botswana.
At either end of the Park are small settlements – Kongola in the east and Divundu in the west.
The park is largely unfenced but the southern boundary with Botswana has three veterinary standard fences. These prevent the spread of cattle diseases, such as Foot-and-mouth disease.
Bwabwata is located in the Tree and Shrub Savannah biome. Vegetation types include North-eastern Kalahari Woodland, Caprivi Mopane Woodland, Riverine Woodlands and Islands, Okavango Valley, Caprivi Floodplains. The landscape consists of low vegetated sand dunes with old drainage lines (omurambas) in between.
Bwabwata forms a crucial trans-boundary link for wildlife movement between Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.
Flora
Typical trees include Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga), wild seringa (Burkea africana), African teak (Pterocarpus angolensis), manketti (Schinziophyton rautanenii), false mopane (Guibourtia coleosperma), camelthorn tree (Acacia erioloba), jackalberry (Diospyros mespiliformis) and makalani palm (Hyphaene petersiana).
Several rare large mammal and bird species are found in Bwabwata. Elephants regularly move between Namibia, Angola, Botswana and Zambia. Other species found are African buffalo, hippopotamus, roan antelope, sable antelope, tsessebe, Burchell's zebra, blue wildebeest, common reedbuck, red lechwe, sitatunga and crocodile. Main predators are lion, leopard, cheetah and spotted hyena.
The Mahango Area and Kavango River in western Bwabwata are listed as an internationally Important Bird Area supporting globally threatened species and is an avian diversity hotspot. Species include black-winged pratincole, slaty egret, wattled crane, African skimmer, African pygmy-goose, coppery-tailed coucal, white-backed night heron, rufous-bellied heron, Allen's gallinule, Dickinson's kestrel, black-faced babbler, swamp boubou, collared palm thrush, Meves's starling, southern ground hornbill, barred owlet, Bennett's woodpecker, wood owl, various warblers and cisticolas.
Fires occur almost annually and are mainly caused by humans and lightning. Although fires are a natural phenomenon in these savannas, too frequent or infrequent fires may negatively affect vegetation and fauna. A managed burning programme aims to reduce the frequency and intensity of fires.
Visitors travelling off the main road need a permit and must drive only on designated roads. Several sandy roads, suitable for all-wheel drive vehicles, are found near the Kwando and Okavango rivers.
Bwabwata has three community-operated campsites within the park, namely Nǁgoabaca, Nambwa and Bum Hill. Local communities, organised into communal area conservancies, earn revenue from these campsites. Several lodges are situated outside Bwabwata on its borders. Tour operators offer game drives, boat trips and walks in the Park.
Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed to manage trans-boundary conservation through the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KaZa TFCA). Bwabwata is situated in the centre of the KaZa TFCA and forms a corridor for elephant movement from Botswana into Angola and Zambia.
To accommodate Bwabwata’s resident people, the Namibian Government has adopted integrated park management. The park is zoned into core areas for conservation and farming. Three areas are designated for special protection and controlled tourism – Kwando (1,345 square kilometres (519 sq mi)), Buffalo (629 square kilometres (243 sq mi)), and Mahango (245 square kilometres (95 sq mi)). A large Multiple Use Area (4,055 square kilometres (1,566 sq mi)) is zoned for community-based tourism, trophy hunting, human settlement and farming.
Park residents are mostly from the Khwe San bushmen minority group. Most residents live in Omega village in the central part of the park and several smaller settlements. Residents have formed the Kyaramacan Association to represent them. Kyaramacan manages income from tourism (the Nǁgoabaca campsite and a small lodge), from trophy hunting and the sale of devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), a plant sold internationally to reduce pain and fever.
The Namibian Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, works with local communities to manage Bwabwata National Park. A technical committee, consisting of representatives from other Government departments, conservancies, community forests and non-governmental organisations, advises the Minister of Environment and Tourism. Community game guards work with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism staff to prevent poaching.
Bwabwata is one of five national parks in north-eastern Namibia. It is managed as a unit with Mangetti, Khaudom National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara (formerly Mamili National Park).
Since 2006, the NamParks Project (formerly BMM Parks Project), co-funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW has helped develop management and tourism plans and constructed new park offices and staff housing in Namibia’s north-eastern parks, including Bwabwata. The Project has helped introduce park-friendly land-uses in the surrounding areas and collaborative management structures. Management priorities include the conservation of important habitats, safeguarding corridors for regional wildlife migration; providing income for rural residents and developing tourism.
Bwabwata is a national park located in north east Namibia. The park was established in 2007 and has a size of 6,274 square kilometres (2,422 sq mi). It was created from Caprivi Game Park and Mahango Game Reserve.
Bwabwata is situated in the Zambezi and Kavango regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
The area is an important migration route from Botswana to Angola for African elephant and some other game species. It is an unusual Protected Area as about 5,500 people live in the park. The Namibian government involves park residents and neighbours in planning and managing the park.
The area was first proclaimed as Caprivi Nature Park in 1963. It became the Caprivi Game Reserve in 1966 and upgraded to the Caprivi Game Park in 1968. The South African Defence Force occupied it during Namibia’s war of liberation. Conservation officials were not permitted to enter or manage the park due to military operations.
The Defence Force left the area shortly before Namibia obtained Independence from South Africa in 1990. The Namibian Government commissioned a study to assess the fauna and flora and developed plans to accommodate both biodiversity protection and the 5,500 park residents.
Mahango Game Reserve, to the west of the Park, was proclaimed in 1989. The Caprivi Game Park, Mahango Game Reserve and an unproclaimed area along the Kwando River were united to become Bwabwata National Park in 2007.
The wreckage of LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470 was found in the park in November 2013.
The park is 40 km north to south and 190 km from west to east. Bwabwata is situated in the Caprivi and Kavango regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
The main road between the towns of Rundu and Katima Mulilo, the Trans-Caprivi Highway (B8), runs through Bwabwata, linking Namibia to Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A minor road (C48) dissects Mahango in a north-south direction and connects Namibia to Botswana.
At either end of the Park are small settlements – Kongola in the east and Divundu in the west.
The park is largely unfenced but the southern boundary with Botswana has three veterinary standard fences. These prevent the spread of cattle diseases, such as Foot-and-mouth disease.
Bwabwata is located in the Tree and Shrub Savannah biome. Vegetation types include North-eastern Kalahari Woodland, Caprivi Mopane Woodland, Riverine Woodlands and Islands, Okavango Valley, Caprivi Floodplains. The landscape consists of low vegetated sand dunes with old drainage lines (omurambas) in between.
Bwabwata forms a crucial trans-boundary link for wildlife movement between Angola, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.
Flora
Typical trees include Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga), wild seringa (Burkea africana), African teak (Pterocarpus angolensis), manketti (Schinziophyton rautanenii), false mopane (Guibourtia coleosperma), camelthorn tree (Acacia erioloba), jackalberry (Diospyros mespiliformis) and makalani palm (Hyphaene petersiana).
Several rare large mammal and bird species are found in Bwabwata. Elephants regularly move between Namibia, Angola, Botswana and Zambia. Other species found are African buffalo, hippopotamus, roan antelope, sable antelope, tsessebe, Burchell's zebra, blue wildebeest, common reedbuck, red lechwe, sitatunga and crocodile. Main predators are lion, leopard, cheetah and spotted hyena.
The Mahango Area and Kavango River in western Bwabwata are listed as an internationally Important Bird Area supporting globally threatened species and is an avian diversity hotspot. Species include black-winged pratincole, slaty egret, wattled crane, African skimmer, African pygmy-goose, coppery-tailed coucal, white-backed night heron, rufous-bellied heron, Allen's gallinule, Dickinson's kestrel, black-faced babbler, swamp boubou, collared palm thrush, Meves's starling, southern ground hornbill, barred owlet, Bennett's woodpecker, wood owl, various warblers and cisticolas.
Fires occur almost annually and are mainly caused by humans and lightning. Although fires are a natural phenomenon in these savannas, too frequent or infrequent fires may negatively affect vegetation and fauna. A managed burning programme aims to reduce the frequency and intensity of fires.
Visitors travelling off the main road need a permit and must drive only on designated roads. Several sandy roads, suitable for all-wheel drive vehicles, are found near the Kwando and Okavango rivers.
Bwabwata has three community-operated campsites within the park, namely Nǁgoabaca, Nambwa and Bum Hill. Local communities, organised into communal area conservancies, earn revenue from these campsites. Several lodges are situated outside Bwabwata on its borders. Tour operators offer game drives, boat trips and walks in the Park.
Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed to manage trans-boundary conservation through the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KaZa TFCA). Bwabwata is situated in the centre of the KaZa TFCA and forms a corridor for elephant movement from Botswana into Angola and Zambia.
To accommodate Bwabwata’s resident people, the Namibian Government has adopted integrated park management. The park is zoned into core areas for conservation and farming. Three areas are designated for special protection and controlled tourism – Kwando (1,345 square kilometres (519 sq mi)), Buffalo (629 square kilometres (243 sq mi)), and Mahango (245 square kilometres (95 sq mi)). A large Multiple Use Area (4,055 square kilometres (1,566 sq mi)) is zoned for community-based tourism, trophy hunting, human settlement and farming.
Park residents are mostly from the Khwe San bushmen minority group. Most residents live in Omega village in the central part of the park and several smaller settlements. Residents have formed the Kyaramacan Association to represent them. Kyaramacan manages income from tourism (the Nǁgoabaca campsite and a small lodge), from trophy hunting and the sale of devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), a plant sold internationally to reduce pain and fever.
The Namibian Government, through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, works with local communities to manage Bwabwata National Park. A technical committee, consisting of representatives from other Government departments, conservancies, community forests and non-governmental organisations, advises the Minister of Environment and Tourism. Community game guards work with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism staff to prevent poaching.
Bwabwata is one of five national parks in north-eastern Namibia. It is managed as a unit with Mangetti, Khaudom National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara (formerly Mamili National Park).
Since 2006, the NamParks Project (formerly BMM Parks Project), co-funded by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW has helped develop management and tourism plans and constructed new park offices and staff housing in Namibia’s north-eastern parks, including Bwabwata. The Project has helped introduce park-friendly land-uses in the surrounding areas and collaborative management structures. Management priorities include the conservation of important habitats, safeguarding corridors for regional wildlife migration; providing income for rural residents and developing tourism.
Saturday, 19 September 2015
BOTSWANA: Linyati, Selinda and Kwando
Linyati, Selinda and Kwando
At the extreme northern reaches of Botswana – the caprivi just on the other side – lie three of the most splendid, wild and secluded destinations the country has to offer.
Sandwiched between the Chobe National Park to the east and the Okavango south, the extensive Kwando, Selinda and Linyanti concessions offer superb wildlife viewing – and terrain to rival the physical beauty of the Okavango.
And no wonder – both share geographical similarities. Like the Okavango River, the Kwando River flows south from Angola across the caprivi Strip and into Botswana. Like the Okavango, it slowly fills the Linyanti Swamps. The outflow from the Swamps then fills the Linyanti River, which courses east into the Chobe River.
The swamps that fan out from the rivers carry the same magnificent natural history as the Okavango – picturesque channels, lagoons, papyrus stands and reedbeds. Riparian forest lines the waterways, giving rise to magnificent, towering trees. Dry riverbeds – the Selinda Spillway and the Savuté channel – meet the swamps, their lack of flowing water possibly determined by faulting underground that halts the course of the waters. interestingly, faults in this area are believed to be the southernmost point of Africa’s Great Rift Valley.
The reserves string along the rivers, with the Kwando to the northwest, Selinda (1350 sq kms in area) south and Linyanti (1250 sq kms in area) east. A small area of the Chobe National Park juts up to meet the Linyanti River and swamps; it has a government campsite and facilities for the self-drive camper, while the concessions offer private camps.
This is real African big game country, and during the dry season the permanent waters of both the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers serve as important migration points for wildlife from much of northern Botswana – including large herds of buffalo and elephant, wildebeest and zebra.
Virtually all naturally occurring antelope and predators can be seen in these concessions, depending, of course, on the season, and food and water availability. These include waterbuck, reedbuck, giraffe, impala, kudu, and with any luck the rare and shy sitatunga, and accompanying lion, hyena, leopard, cheetah, jackal, serval and caracal.
But perhaps the greatest attraction of this part of Botswana is the feeling it gives of extreme isolation, and being completely removed from the world as we know it. The camps are small and private, with perhaps only twenty or so guests present at one time.
There’s nothing else out there – except you, the bush and a fascinating contingent of wild animals – just waiting to be discovered, and explored.
Sandwiched between the Chobe National Park to the east and the Okavango south, the extensive Kwando, Selinda and Linyanti concessions offer superb wildlife viewing – and terrain to rival the physical beauty of the Okavango.
And no wonder – both share geographical similarities. Like the Okavango River, the Kwando River flows south from Angola across the caprivi Strip and into Botswana. Like the Okavango, it slowly fills the Linyanti Swamps. The outflow from the Swamps then fills the Linyanti River, which courses east into the Chobe River.
The swamps that fan out from the rivers carry the same magnificent natural history as the Okavango – picturesque channels, lagoons, papyrus stands and reedbeds. Riparian forest lines the waterways, giving rise to magnificent, towering trees. Dry riverbeds – the Selinda Spillway and the Savuté channel – meet the swamps, their lack of flowing water possibly determined by faulting underground that halts the course of the waters. interestingly, faults in this area are believed to be the southernmost point of Africa’s Great Rift Valley.
The reserves string along the rivers, with the Kwando to the northwest, Selinda (1350 sq kms in area) south and Linyanti (1250 sq kms in area) east. A small area of the Chobe National Park juts up to meet the Linyanti River and swamps; it has a government campsite and facilities for the self-drive camper, while the concessions offer private camps.
This is real African big game country, and during the dry season the permanent waters of both the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers serve as important migration points for wildlife from much of northern Botswana – including large herds of buffalo and elephant, wildebeest and zebra.
Virtually all naturally occurring antelope and predators can be seen in these concessions, depending, of course, on the season, and food and water availability. These include waterbuck, reedbuck, giraffe, impala, kudu, and with any luck the rare and shy sitatunga, and accompanying lion, hyena, leopard, cheetah, jackal, serval and caracal.
But perhaps the greatest attraction of this part of Botswana is the feeling it gives of extreme isolation, and being completely removed from the world as we know it. The camps are small and private, with perhaps only twenty or so guests present at one time.
There’s nothing else out there – except you, the bush and a fascinating contingent of wild animals – just waiting to be discovered, and explored.
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