Okavango Wilderness Safaris surviving the wild
KOOBONYE RAMOKOPELWA
The challenges brought by Covid- 19 pandemic have kept the tourism industry on its toes. From shaving off staff to dwindling tourists’ arrivals, the industry has breathing difficulties and in need of business ventilators to survive beyond its natural, wild air. Below, speaks to the newly appointed Chairman of Okavango Wilderness Safaris, a major player in the industry, Kabelo Binns.
BG: In a nutshell, kindly provide historic background on the formation of Okavango Wilderness Safaris and where it is today. BINNS: The history of Okavango Wilderness Safaris ( OWS) began in Botswana, 38 years ago with one single purpose – to use life- changing journeys to help conserve and restore Africa’s wilderness and wildlife. The company was the first with the passion and courage to pioneer conservation tourism as we know it today, growing its positive impact through southern Africa. Today, Wilderness curates authentic and intimate wildlife encounters across two million hectares of pristine areas in seven countries and operates around 40 camps and lodges across Africa. It all began in Botswana, and today, OWS continues to drive conservation tourism in Botswana and indeed to build further conservation economies across Africa and beyond.
BG: As the newly appointed Chairman of OWS board of directors, what are some of the immediate tasks you have undertaken to move the company forward amid challenges experienced by the tourism sub sector?
BINNS: My immediate priority, which will be expected, is to support the management team and staff of OWS to counter the negative effects of COVID- 19 on our business and the lives of our staff and partner communities, who live near the wilderness areas, where we operate.
This pandemic, has and continues to provide new challenges every day, but we are positive that with the efforts of Government, the Private sector and all Batswana we will build up our tourism industry again, in this new world of travel. With that fact in mind, the OWS Board and Leadership team are working on how we support Batswana right across Botswana as our economy recovers. We aim to play a leading role in the tourism sector to see a full economic recovery of Botswana. To this end, we are exploring how to provide more opportunities in our supplier value chain that can be ring fenced for Proudly Botswana businesses; we will ensure a particular focus on young ownerled and founded SMMEs.
Expect to see more on this re- emphasized drive from OWS; our guests from all over the world will get to experience not just our exceptional camp offerings, but they will also get a bigger window into all of Botswana, from our fresh vegetables, world- class beef, award- winning basket weaving, our culturally rich curios, our delightful soaps, our refreshing teas, our leather works, our enchanting music and so many other incredible products that are proudly made and produced right here in Botswana.
BG: The tourism sector in which OWS operates has been hard hit by COVID - 19. What strategic initiatives has the company devised to deal with its impact on the business in the short to medium term?
BINNS:
As you correctly state, the tourism sector has been hard hit and this state of affairs still exists today, 16 months later. Occupancies and revenues in the financial year ended 28 February 2021 were a mere 5percent of those in the prior year. The start of June 2021 has revealed a few positive signs of recovery; however, we are still well below budget for the year to date. No business can survive such a sustained reduction in income without adopting strong measures to protect itself. To this end, OWS needed to make some very difficult decisions to protect the long- term viability of the business. This included the immediate deferral of all non- essential capital expenditure. We went to great lengths to reduce all costs. Staff costs are our single largest cost item, and we sadly had to reduce these across the business. This was a very difficult, but necessary action; the effect on OWS staff lives has, needless to say, been very hard. The entire community was affected by this with starvation
being a real and sadly new reality in some homes.
As part of our Conservation Heroes COVIDRelief programme, Okavango Wilderness Safaris has to date delivered over 4 500 food parcels, amounting to more than 170 tonnes, to community partners in Botswana, positively impacting over 18 000 people. More such handovers are planned for the coming months. We are committed to ensuring our people, our communities and our industry – indeed the Nation at large – not only weathers this storm, but engineers a more positive future, well beyond the pandemic.
BG: OWS operates a number of camps and lodges in Botswana. Are there any plans to expand your existing portfolio?
BINNS: We are continually looking for opportunities to expand our camp footprint and are really thrilled to have recently rebuilt DumaTau Camp in the Linyanti.
BG: How many jobs has the company created, both directly and indirectly?
BINNS: OWS and its subsidiaries employ nearly 800 people directly. It is hard to know how many jobs are created indirectly but we believe this is substantial. Having been a vanguard in the sector for over 35 years we are also credited with training and empowering thousands more Batswana. We are limited by how many camps we have to economically hire more Batswana. So we now seek to explore other ways to create jobs that support our business in a sustainable manner.
BG: More often than not, Wilderness Safaris talks about ‘ Sustainability’, kindly provide us with more insights on the company’s sustainability initiatives?
BINNS:
At OWS, we live by the mantra that ‘ without the wilderness, there is no Wilderness’. Our sustainability efforts are therefore focused on ensuring that any negative impacts of our business on the environment are minimised and that any positive impacts are maximised. Reducing the negative impacts is the easier part and this is the objective of our Group Environmental Minimum Standards ( GEMS), which were developed to guide the way our camps are developed, operated and ultimately decommissioned. Important initiatives implemented under our GEMS include the conversion of our camps to renewable energy in place of the diesel generators that previously produced power. We are also installing only above ground sewage treatment plants to prevent any contamination of surface water. Another example is the use of on- site water purification plants to reduce usage of bottled water and production of plastic waste.
In terms of maximising positive impacts, we have a long and proud history of working with our partner communities and our non- profit partner, Children in the Wilderness on a range of initiatives, as well as to improve the habitats and wildlife of the areas in which we operate. The day- to- day operations of Wilderness contribute in a meaningful way to ensure sustainable conservation of a wide array of Botswana ecosystems, covering a total of 4 363 km2, in the Okavango Delta, Linyanti Wildlife Reserve and Central Kalahari Game Reserve. We pay a variety of lease, traversing and park entry fees, as well as resource royalties, thus adding to the financial viability of these areas. In the 2020 financial year, such payments tallied more than 25 million pula. We also provide de- facto protection through presence and monitoring, or through active conservation activities such as anti- poaching, research and monitoring.
OWS has over the years committed substantial funds and resources to a number of conservation and research projects on specific species and conservation challenges or processes in the Okavango Delta and Botswana as a whole. These contributions were made either through OWS itself, through our independent non- profit partner, Wilderness Wildlife Trust, or through donations by our guests and other partners. Over the course of the last 20 years, we have worked with the Government and other partners to reintroduce both black and white rhino to the Okavango Delta and assisted in their monitoring and ongoing protection. As recently as 2021, the Wilderness Wildlife Trust donated a new Toyota Landcruiser to these monitoring efforts. Beyond this, Wilderness Wildlife Trust also contributes rhino conservation operational costs. These are just a few examples, and we continue to work to deliver positive impact where we can.
BG: How much does OWS contributes to group profits as per latest financial statements?
BINNS: This information is commercially sensitive so we’re unable to share it publicly, however, we can confirm that OWS is the largest company in the Wilderness Group.
BG: As a local eco- tourism companies, what strategic partnerships does the company have with communities it operates in?
BINNS:
OWS has a long history of working with the Kwedi and Santawani communities and has sound business and other relationships with both these communities.
BG: What are some of the major corporate social investments the company has embarked on lately? BINNS: The COVID food relief programme outlined under 3 above is the most important and recent CSR initiatives.
Over the longer term, our most important CSR initiative is Children in the Wilderness ( CITW). This is a programme that works through an independent non- profit organisation to secure sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of local community children in Africa. By exposing children to their natural heritage. CITW aims to create a network of learning sanctuaries that uplifts and care for our children and conserves the planet. In this way, we hope to inspire the children to care for the environment so that they can become the custodians of these areas in the future. CITW started operating in Botswana in 2001 and has since expanded to Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Rwanda. Prior to the pandemic, the programme had over 860 children as current beneficiaries. During the course of the year, the CITW ground team operates Eco- Clubs in 15 schools in the communities that we work with in Botswana. The Eco- Clubs, which take place at the rural schools, follow a structured curriculum and give all learners who are interested in the environment a chance to meet, learn, discuss and expand their knowledge of environmental issues.
Our Eco- Mentor Trainings aims to develop local community members by upgrading skills, increasing environmental understanding and enabling them to better implement school and village environmental projects and initiatives. This project assists in addressing the critical teaching skills shortage in environmental education in southern Africa. Once trained, Eco- Mentors are able to host Eco- Clubs in the local village schools and assist the Eco- Club members in implementing environmental projects in their village. The programme has to date trained nearly 170 teachers in Botswana. Our annual camp programme hosts rural children on a three- night environmental and life skills educational programme in Wilderness Safaris and/ or partner camps where we teach children the importance of conservation and strive to instill a passion for the environment. The programme covers topics such as wildlife, conservation, health, HIV/ AIDS awareness, nutrition, life skills, geography, geology, arts, crafts and theatre. Children participating on the Children in the Wilderness annual camps are selected from Eco- Clubs. More than 2 100 children have participated in these camps in Botswana to date.
Overall, CITW aims to develop leadership values amongst the participants, so as to create leaders who are inspired to care for their environment and can show others the way.
CITW Botswana and First National Bank Botswana ( FNBB) Foundation have also just this month joined hands at Parakarungu Primary School, signing a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate a 3- year- long partnership designed to further sensitise children about sustainable environmental conservation through CITW Botswana’s programme.