More than 17% of this country the size of Texas is devoted to National Parks or Game Reserves which total in excess of 100,000km2. Surrounding areas are set aside as Wildlife Management Areas where the interests of wildlife take precedent. Over 80% of Botswana is part of the immense former desert known as the Kalahari. It is a semi-arid region of grassland or thorn trees where rainfall is erratic and exceeded by evaporation in every month of the year. The Okavango Delta aside, there is no permanent standing water.

Game has been attracting foreign interest for more than 150 years: first trophy hunters, then, increasingly, those who hunted for gain. A potent mix of politics, power, fear and greed fuelled the unscrupulous slaughter of game by locals and Europeans alike, so that by 1890 animal populations had reached an all-time low. Remaining large mammals were mostly wiped out by a rinderpest epidemic in 1895-6. Relatively little game survived into the 20th century. However populations did recover, although elephant numbers failed to reach former levels until about 1968.

Botswana's first modern controls on game appeared in 1900, when foreigners in the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland were required to obtain a licence to kill elephant (local Batswana people still needed permission from their Chief). Conservation development in Protectorate times was exceedingly slow and seems, in retrospect, to have been the result more of individual initiative than any over-reaching plan. For example, in the 1930s the eccentric colonial administrator Colonel Charles Rey saw Chobe's potential and wanted to preserve it. However, the area was not finally protected until the 1960s, and declared a National Park only in 1968.

Today National Parks and Game Reserves are run by the Government through the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) which employs more than 1200 people in five divisions: Parks, Research, Conservation Education, Management and Utilisation, and Community Services.

National Conservation Policies were formulated in the 1980s, spawning the philosophy of "Low Volume, High Returns". This stood on critical fundamentals: a desire to avoid mass tourism and to maintain an exclusive, quality product; and a recognition that, at the time, the country lacked the human and system resources to manage the rapidly growing visitor numbers and thus would not be able to protect the resource. "Raise the price, reduce the numbers," went the thinking. This philosophy still holds.

Forty years ago conservationists first called out "Use it or lose it". Certainly Botswana's wildlife is now beginning to make money for the exchequer and there seems little doubt that revenues will grow steadily. Revenues all accrue to central government, which funds an operating budget of over US$1 million. In addition, donors support some research and development initiatives. The European Union, Norway, Holland and the United States are all generous contributors. Revenues have expanded dramatically in the last decade and are now in the region of US$2 million a year, with around 170,000 visitors annually.

While the desire to maintain the quality of the wildlife experience remains, human resources have improved dramatically and systems are more robust and dependable. Many graduates are now employed and innovation is taking place. Examples of this include the extremely popular 4x4 trails, the Transfrontier Park (see pages 68 and 69), the anti-poaching activities of the Botswana Defence Force and carefully regulated private sector involvement both in and outside National Parks. Privatisation of DWNP itself is probably accepted in principle, but how much and when remain to be decided.

Botswana earns itself a certain amount of regional opprobrium for what some see as unreasonably high Park entry fees. For one night in a Park, an independent South African family of four will spend close to R900. Officials in Botswana acknowledge the cost but point out that to a similar group of visitors from the UK or USA such experiences, costing something less than £100, seem good value.

Botswana is one of the world's leading diamond producers and one of Africa's wealthiest countries. However, over-dependence on a single commodity is economically unsound and Botswana knows it must take every opportunity to diversify its economy. Wildlife is such an opportunity: diamonds may not be forever.

By Mike Main

Mention Botswana and most people think of the Okavango Delta. This seemingly limitless wilderness of flood plains and papyrus-flanked channels justly attracts many visitors. For birdlife and predators it is unparalleled. I have photographed leopard, lion, cheetah and wild dogs, all in a single morning. I especially like the northern area of Chief's Island, which is a private concession area where you can observe the game undisturbed by other people.

Chobe National Park witnesses staggering concentrations of up to 50,000 elephant. The flood plain of the Chobe River provides a stunning backdrop for these vast herds and in the hills overlooking the plains, there are other treats such as roan, sable and one of the highest concentrations of Greater kudu in Africa.

But it is the wilder, less visited parts of Botswana that I find the most exciting. Nothing can rival the shimmering image of an elephant, plastered ghostly white in Kalahari dust, emerging from the heat haze at Nxai Pan; or the play of golden light on a herd of springbok skittering away into the desert; or the startling pink flower of a Brunsvigia lily in an area that appears to defy any life or colour. The discovery of a solitary gemsbok lost amidst the empty waste of the Kalahari feels far more rewarding than an easy view of a lion in a game-rich area. To reach the Kalahari's soul, head for the Tsodilo Hills and search for 1000-year-old bushman paintings on the remote rock walls.

John Warburton-Lee

Moremi (and the Okavango Delta)

Established 1963. 3900km2; the first sanctuary in Southern Africa created on its own land by an indigenous tribe. Combined with the Okavango Delta, the wildlife area now covers about 22,000km2.

Part of the Kalahari; an extension of the Great Rift Valley. Geological faults cause regular tremors. The Okavango Delta becomes flooded from summer rains in Angola, which form a mosaic of channels, lagoons and lakes. Waterways, grasslands and woodlands support a great diversity of fauna and flora. 32 tree species include mopane, mangosteen, rain and sausage trees, varieties of acacia and fig. Over 1000 types of plant - more than any other similarly sized park in Africa. Reed beds and large stands of Phoenix palms are particularly characteristic.

36 species of larger mammals include carnivores, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hippo and various antelope (notablylechwe and sitatunga). Over 80 species of fish and 400 different birds - raptors, waterbirds, bush and tree dwellers and breeding colonies of Goliath heron.

Game viewing and bird watching by Mokoro (dugout canoe) or boat is unbeatable. Game drives on dry land Moremi and flights over the Delta. Wilderness trails and viewing from hides possible at certain camps.

Maun, gateway to the Delta, has two hotels and four lodges (two with camp sites). Spread throughout the Okavango are about 40 camps and lodges, each individual in character, some extremely upmarket, others catering for backpackers. Many are accessed by air.

Chobe

Proclaimed 1968; 11,700km2, situated in the far north-east of Botswana, bordered to the north by the Chobe River.

The Chobe's perennial waters rise in the northern Angolan highlands. Four physically and vegetationally distinctive areas- the barely discernible dry Savuti Channel, Linyati, Serondella and Nogatsaa. These include patches of scrub, grassy savannah plains and woodlands, including three forest reserves.

Each area known for concentrations of specific game. Savuti famous for lion and hyaena, Linyati for hippo and crocodile, and Nogatsaa and Serondella for elephant. Savuti's carnivores follow large herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and impala that move through the area. Many types of animals seen including the fairly rare puku and Chobe bushbuck. 460 bird species, including raptors, vultures and inland waterbirds.

Chobe is game-viewing country, particularly in winter (March - July). November - December sees the migration of herbivores between the Chobe River and Savuti Marsh (and back between February and April). Game-viewing and bird-watching cruises on the Chobe River. Horse-riding at Kasane.

Several upmarket camps in Savuti, Linyati, Serondella and Nogatsaa. Camp sites also available. Kasane boasts a couple of top-flight lodges and a popular mid-range motel/lodge - all riverside.

Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan

Combining the 39,000km2 Makgadikgadi and 21,000km2 Nxai pan reserves has created a vast, unfenced park about the size of Portugal. It's 4x4 country that requires cautious driving.

The Makgadikgadi Pans are flat, featureless salt and clay depressions interspersed with sand dunes, islands of rock, grassy plains and patches of Kalahari desert. Good rains cover the pans with shallow waters.

The two main pans of Nxai are large, open grass-covered stretches studded with mopane, acacia and baobab trees (notably the seven known as Baines' Baobabs, first painted by the explorer Thomas Baines in 1862). The whole area was once part of an ancient superlake.

Herds of migratory zebra and wildebeest increase predator numbers (lion, cheetah and hyaena). Giraffe, buffalo, elephant and various antelope, including desert-adapted Gemsbok and Springbok. December - February, the rain-filled pans host thousands of migrant flamingos and other waterbirds, such as pelicans, spoonbills, waders and storks.

The sensation of vast open space, timelessness and complete nothingness. Flamingos on Sowa and other pans, and the variety of easily seen wildlife.

Lodges and camp sites at Nata and in Makgadikgadi and Nxai pans, a rest camp/motel and camping ground at Gweta.

Published in Travel Africa Edition Fifteen: Spring 2001 Text is subject to Worldwide Copyright (c)