Botswana feeds on top safaris
WE ARRIVED on the edge of the dry floodplain just in time. It was first light and ours was the only vehicle there. In front of us, the Skimmer pride, a group of four lionesses, two young males and a magnificently maned pride male, stood four-square in front of a herd of about 300 buffalo.
They were looking for a vulnerable animal to kill, but the big buffalo bulls had formed a phalanx around the females and the young calves, and every few minutes a bull would break ranks and charge at the lions, scattering them. Then the lions would regroup, circle and charge back.
After 40 minutes, the lionesses, led by Silver Eye, a brave, strong animal that had lost the sight in one eye in a previous fight, managed to separate a female buffalo from the herd, and leapt on it. Within a finger click two more lions were on the staggering animal. Again the old buffalo bulls charged, and this time succeeded in prising the lions off the bellowing female, which managed to scamper behind the horned barrier to safety.
For the following hour this great theatrical set-piece continued: charges, counter charges, bellowing buffalo, roaring lions. It became clear that the lions had been working to a plan, gradually moving the buffalo herd from the floodplain to the water’s edge. Once there the buffaloes turned en masse and started crossing the water to the safety of the far bank. Just as the lion pride had anticipated, one of the buffaloes became stuck in the mud and separated from the herd. The lions pounced and it was dead within minutes. Mission accomplished.
These lion-buffalo confrontations are guaranteed at Duba Plains camp – in fact, they are the reason most visitors travel to this 31 161ha concession in the north-west of the Okavango Delta. The camp is owned by Great Plains, a company set up by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, Botswana’s award-winning film-makers. As at the other Great Plains camps, and indeed the Wilderness Safaris camps I stayed at, tourism makes a significant financial contribution to the local communities.
The concessionaires are obliged to pay sizeable lease fees – sometimes up to a quarter of a million dollars (R2.6-billion) per concession per annum – to the local communities. They pay a further 4.5% of turnover during the year – which, according to safari insiders, works out at about 25% of the net profits of a well-run safari operation. By contrast, in East Africa, most operators pay a bed-night lease fee, which means only if there is a “head in the bed” will the local community or the park be remunerated. So, in a year like 2008, when tourist numbers dived, the local communities are left questioning the benefits of wildlife tourism and are thus inclined to revert to other land uses, such as livestock and subsistence agriculture.
This trip through the Okavango Delta was to reacquaint myself with what I regard as the best safari country in Africa. It has dramatically divergent terrain: from the Kalahari Desert through great expanses of mopane woodland to the delta itself, gigantic inland waterway, island of green in an arid sea. It has large elephant herds, some of the biggest lions I’ve seen and enough bird variety to turn even the most dedicated big-mammal follower into a twitcher.
It is accessible only by small aircraft on rudimentary landing strips. Along with Namibia, Botswana is one of Africa’s last unpopulated wildernesses. The country’s enviable conservation philosophy, which comes down from President Ian Khama, Africa’s first postcolonial conservation president, endorses low-volume, high-revenue tourism, and significant measurable benefits for local communities who live among the wild animals.
There are about 45 small, fixed, rented camps and a handful of mobile safari camps in the Botswana wilderness. The largest, like Mombo, hold no more than 23 guests, but most take 12. In these remote camps you are unlikely to see many fellow travellers out on game drives or walks. Compare that with Kenya’s Maasai Mara, which in the early eighties had about half a dozen lodges with fewer than 300 beds, and today has more than 25 permanent lodges and about 3 000 beds. In Tanzania’s Ngorangoro Crater, a favourite of British and European safari-goers, every morning squads of vehicles are nose-to-tail along the road leading to the crater’s floor. There are remote camps in East Africa, but in the popular areas you have the sense that you are one of many.
In the seventies, Botswana was one of the world’s poorest countries, with a per capita GDP of less than £130 (R1 377). There was one paved road in the entire country. Today, GDP per capita exceeds £6 000 (R63 564) and there are 6 534km of paved road. Diamonds, discovered in the late sixties, were the catalyst, and have contributed 32% of GDP over the past 20 years. Tourism has grown exponentially and now contributes 20%. Tourism receipts grew from £90-million (R953-million) in 1997 to £240-million (R2.5-billion) in 2004.
Botswana is the most expensive safari destination on the continent: visitors can expect to pay up to £1 600 (R16 950) a night in high season at the top wildlife lodges. I spent a couple of nights at Wilderness Safaris’ famous Mombo Camp; it was full, and all but two guests were extremely wealthy Americans: lawyers, international financiers, business tycoons. One family of six New Yorkers had booked in for almost a week for close to £55 000 (R582 670) – and they didn’t blink.
Renowned delta guide Map Ives says that while the big five are a prerequisite for some visitors, there is much more to a safari. “I want people to appreciate the complexity of ecosystems. “I want travellers to leave Botswana thinking they want more of this on our earth.” – The Telegraph