Mokopi Conservation Trust cash- strapped to operate Predator Park
Predator Park and Education Centre in Mokoboxane project aims to change the livelihoods of the people and wildlife interventions through adaptation method to assist the government in conservation of the ecosystem.
This will help both people and animals to live in harmony with each other, according to a Progress Report by Mokopi Conservation Trust prepared by Project Coordinator Botshelo Kamodi.
Mokopi Conservation Trust submitted a proposal to construct a conservation park for the purpose of education, conservation, research, entertainment, food security and housing.
Kamodi however explained that the Trust is currently cash- strapped and can not complete the project. He said the Trust is left with only P18 000 which is not enough to complete the remainder of the structures such as building of the snake enclosures holding cubicles for snakes display.
According to the Report in June 2020, Lucara Mine donated P350, 000 which was used to purchase materials to begin construction and they paid salaries of the sum of P160, 000 from the P350, 000.
The rest of the money was paid to the suppliers account directly.
“The amount brought the project in July 2020 to a 25 percent stage of construction. In November 2020 Debswana mines donated the sum of P1, 300, 000 in which P300, 000 was to be used for Marketing activities and the balances used on materials and salaries for employees, water surveying and drilling of borehole and electricity.
“In December 2020, the Trust was given the sum of P400, 000,” said Kamodi in the Report dated March 2021, titled Submission Reporting 1st Quarter, 2021.
He explained that the funds were used to purchase construction materials and to pay part of the professional fees.
The park’s main core of business is the lion and snakes housed for public viewing which has the potential to lure customers in numbers to visit the park, he added.
Kamodi, a Zoologist and Herpetologist by profession, stated that in the year 2020 when the project begun, the management was prompted to crisscross development to make sure that potential development which has the capacity to generate income such as restaurant attached to the lion’s enclosures is completed.
This also allows customers to view lions while they are having their meals, he said, adding that the conference centre adjacent to the crocodile ponds, accommodation for local and international students and even undergraduates’ students pursuing courses in relation to zoology, was also in the priority list.
“In February 2021 the Trust was given the sum of P400, 000. The funds were used to purchase construction materials and to pay part of the professional fees.
The sum of P365, 400 was used for materials and professional fees and currently the Trust is left with the sum of P18 000, which is not enough to complete the remainder of the structures, such as building of the snake enclosures holding cubicles for snakes display.
“We have managed to construct the guard room, gate of the park and roofing the snake park and lion enclosure,” Kamodi revealed.
He said as soon as they are financially set, the project will be completed in no time and ready for operation. He said the lions received from Ghanzi were at an estimated budget of P200, 000.