Some fifteen or so years ago, armed with a pen and a spiral notebook, I made myself comfortable on the visitor’s chair and watched Sedia Modise squirming in his swivel chair.
The then Director of Wildlife and National Parks was at pains justifying why his department was secretly dallying with the Boer regime over the establishment of Africa’s first Trans frontier park ÔÇô the Gemsbok Trans frontier Park.
Across the road, newspaper lead stories of Botswana denying that it had given South Africa diplomatic status, complete with pictures of the then South African High Commissioner, Piet Barnad’s Toyota Cressida adorned with “CD“ number plates was a reminder that there was an embarrassing horse trading game being played beneath the shadow of an incendiary power struggle between South Africa and the frontline states.
After a long debate, Modise finally managed to convince me to kill what I had diarized as the Botswana Gazette possible lead story for the week. I left with no story and a promise that once negotiations with the Apartheid regime were over, I would be the first with the scoop.
The difficult choice he made when politics and conservation made strange bedfellows may serve as a valuable precedent this week as Botswana enters into negotiations over the establishment of the biggest Trans-frontier park in the world.
As plans to create the world’s largest game park to straddle the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are being finalized in Botswana; difficult questions about the Zimbabwean political situation are coming to the fore. Ministers mulling over the conservation area have also been grappling with the bad image associated with Zimbabwe that could well tarnish their park project.
Tourism Minister, Kitso Mokaila, was however quoted by the BBC saying he did not see politics coming in the way of business.
“When I was in the Victoria Falls, all I could see were tourists all over the show. Obviously, if the Zimbabwe situation were to change it would also enhance what we’re doing.
“But I think that the very fact that we’re also involved with them in these negotiations also assists their issues.”
As well as finding a common position on issues of tourism and the management of the wildlife, it is also hoped that the project will assist the region economically.
It is hoped the park will bring in tourists to such attractions as the Victoria Falls, Okavango swamps, Chobe National Park and Caprivi Strip.
Officials believe it will also help regional tourism ahead of the 2010 World Cup taking place in South Africa.
The proposed Kavango-Zambezi Tran frontier Park will cost an estimated $100m to set up and is expected to contribute significantly to job creation in the five countries.
Africa’s biggest game park at the moment is the 35,000-square-kilometre Great Limpopo Tran frontier Park on the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
While the southern African region has big potential as a tourist destination, those meeting in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, say much needs to be done to attract tourists to the region.
The Victoria Falls are known as one of the seven wonders of the world
At Thursday’s gathering, tourism ministers and environmental experts are hammering out a joint conservation policy.
“The major issue is about sustainable tourism,” Mokaila told the BBC.
“Tourism is a revenue generator and therefore if we can get the conservation issue right then I think we can start talking more positively and more confidently about sustainable tourism.”
Among the obstacles cited were the landmines scattered in the Cuando Cubango region of Angola, where a 27-year civil war ended in 2002.
“What we want right now is to make sure that the funds that are available for the de-mining to proceed as soon as possible,” said Eduardoa Chingunji, Angola’s tourism minister.
“But let’s not forget that at times also the question of landmines in Angola is overblown… there are specific areas where there were battle lines for a long time – that’s where you find the concentration.
“The priority right now is to de-mine a major part of the border that is between the countries,” he said.
