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The national park and reserve system in Botswana
The National Park and Reserve System in Botswana A. C. CAMPBELL Director o f Wildlife and National Parks, P.O. Box 131, Gaborone, Botswana
ABSTRACT
was calculated to interfere with the existing settlement of as few people as possible. A short history o f the development o f the National Parks It was not until 1956 that a specific Game Department and Game Reserves in Botswana is given. The majority o f the sanctuaries are not the result o f careful ecological planning was created to administer wildlife conservation, and but o f history and circumstances at the time o f their inception. even then it consisted of one officer and a few game Fortunately, however, the conservation areas cover all major scouts primarily involved with elephant control. wildlife habitats, although the need for extension o f some o f Previously, little thought had been given to wildlife the National Parks and Game Reserves is o f great importance apart from the limited protection of certain species to give more sophisticated protection to particular species and and hunting laws for non-indigenous people, and it their habitats. The paper outlines the obstacles encountered in the development o f the sanctuaries due to prevailing was not until 1966 that a modern conservation policy traditional attitudes and the division o f the country into was introduced. Even so, the Officer running the state- and tribally-owned areas. However, the fact that the Department (which in 1967 was restyled that of majority o f the populace has a long history o f hunting makes Wildlife and National Parks) had succeeded during them understand and appreciate the concept o f wildlife conservation and utilization. The future development o f the those ten years in up-dating the Fauna Law, establishpark system has to be carefully integrated with agricultural ing two game reserves, and bringing the value of wilddevelopment and has to be based on ecological research. As life to the attention of the Government. Yet no agriculture increases, the need for more and sophisticated systematic wildlife research had been carried out and management o f the protected areas also increases, Constant it was not until 1965 that the first wildlife ecologist review must also be given to the conservation status outside was appointed--at the time when nearly 80,000 sq km protected areas--particularly those that are less suited for had already been protected as game reserve. cattle production--and should take the form o f a multidisciplinary approach. The Government has created a Natural Resources Coordinating Committee, a part o f which is a Technical Committee comprised o f representatives o f all departments involved with natural resources development. Thus there is already a multidisciplinary approach to the problem o f land-use and a desire to ensure that the land is used to the greatest advantage without damage to the habitat. In the future there will also be a shift away from an almost entire reliance on recreational hunting to non-hunting tourism in the development policies o f the Department.
THE C O U N T R Y
The environment of Botswana has been described by Child (1970); suffice it now to say that it covers 569,800 sq km (roughly the size of France, cf. Fig. 1), is almost totally fiat, has a population of about one person per square kilometre, and lies at a height of about 1,000 metres in the centre of the Southern African plateau. Two-thirds of the country are covered by Kalahari sands, and the rainfall varies from less than 100 mm in the south-west to about 800 mm in the north-east. Two major wetland intrusions are the Kwando/Linyanti river system*, with its lake and papyrus swamps, and the Okavango Delta, situated on 200 metres-deep sand which fills the extremity of the Great Rift Valley. A further wetland area is the huge complex of saltpans forming the Makgadikgadi and Soa Lakes. once
INTRODUCTION
The majority of National Parks and Game Reserves in the Republic of Botswana (Fig. 1) have come into being, not as the result of careful planning, nor on the basis of ecological research, but from the accidents of history and circumstances obtaining at the time of their inception. In many cases their boundaries were, and still are, arbitrary lines drawn on the map, parallels of latitude, rivers, existing tracks and roads, or administrative boundaries. Generally, their shape
* In the extreme north.--Ed. 7
Biological Conservation, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 1973--~ Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1973--Printed in Great Britain
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Biological Conservation
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Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
20 metres deep, but now dry for much of the time except after heavy local rains which fill them to a depth of a few centimetres. This lake system forms the base of a huge shallow basin covering nearly half the country and tilted slightly to the north-east. Reaching towards it through the Kalahari from all angles except the east are dead river-beds interspersed with complexes of pans varying in size from less than a hectare to more than 200 sq km.
HISTORY
The very nature of the country, with vast areas covered by Kalahari sands, the lack of permanent surface water, the spread of tsetse fly across those better-watered areas, and the sparse rainfall, has combined in the past to impede Man and his stock from penetrating in any numbers into the interior.
Fig. 2.
Bushmen hunters on a typical Kalahari pan, Khutse Game Reserve.
Until the 17th century, the greater part of the country had been inhabited only by mobile bands of Bushmen (Fig. 2), living entirely on veldkos* supplemented by snaring small game and hunting larger mammals with bow and poisoned arrow. The newcomers, bringing with them domestic stock and the hoe, settled first in the better-watered areas of the east. Already accustomed to hunting, they found a country teeming with wildlife and, as they pushed westwards, they hunted prodigiously, trading skins and furs eastwards. During the 1820s, three waves of invaders swept over the territories of the settlers, destroying their homes, stealing their stock, forcing them westwards into the Kalahari, and making them rely for subsistence almost entirely on wildlife. During the 1890s, after the settlers had rebuilt their herds, rinderpest
9
decimated their stock, turning them once again to wildlife. Again in 1958, foot-and-mouth disease closed the country to the sale of cattle--yet again making settlers place their reliance on hunting. The social system of the settlers was such that cattle were prestige possessions, owned by only a few; yet their culture was a pastoral one, ensuring that, even though a man owned no stock, he still had access to all the benefits derived from them. Even today the vast majority of the stock is owned by only 7 per cent of the population, and with the introduction of a cash economy and the slow but inevitable eroding of traditional economic ties, many people, particularly in the more arid areas, are left with little support other than the traditional subsistence on wildlife. So it is that hunting remains of major importance in remoter areas; but the steadily increasing value of wildlife trophies has prompted many people, the rich as well as the poor, to hunt not only for subsistence, but also for commercial gain. Those areas which have supported agricultural Man in the past have been heavily utilized and are downgrading rapidly, while the population doubles every 24 years. In the past, Man was confined to the wellwatered areas in the east and to the pans and dead river-beds in the Kalahari where he could sink wells by hand. But today, with greater finances and drilling equipment capable of sinking boreholes 200 metres below the surface of the sand, he can spread across the more arid regions that were previously denied to him. The need for new agricultural land is becoming more critical, and the great bulk of this lies in the sensitive and brittle habitats of the Kalahari--those habitats that are vital for the sustenance of desert game.
THE WILDLIFE RESOURCE
Large mammals in varying numbers still inhabit the whole country. Before agricultural Man made his impact felt, many species which are now confined to the north were spread much more widely. A rolling sandplain lightly covered with grass and stands of bush occupied two-thirds of the country, and to the eastwards was more rocky country broken by 'sand rivers' with permanent waterholes and larger stands of timber. From this stretched, and still stretch, the dead riverbeds and pan complexes--fertile fingers reaching out into the semi-arid plains. These plains were the home of numerous herds of Gemsbok (Fig. 3), Giraffe (Fig. 4), Hartebeest, Springbok, and Eland, which sub* Wild food from the bush, including edible plants, birds sisted for the greater part of the year on succulent eggs, insects, and anything else edible which can be col- plants and without water. Wildebeest (Fig. 5) also lected by hand. made use of the plains, but were more dependent on
10
Biological Conservation
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Fig. 3.
Gemsbok on the side o f a lightly vegetated dune, Gemsbok National Park.
water, frequently moving vast distances to permanent rivers. But none of these animals could exist on the plains alone, and all made use, and still make use, of the more fertile pan and 'dead river' areas. Surrounding the plain, the areas of permanent surface water were the home of a vast spectrum of wildlife, including all the major Southern African species. During the rainy season these animals penetrated far into the plains, following the fertile dead river-beds. The wetlands in the north formed a natural habitat for Sitatunga, Lechwe, Hippopotamus, Otter, Crocodile, and a wide range of other waterloving species. The arrival of Man with his stock, first settling in the best-watered areas, then moving along the fertile fingers into the desert, steadily downgraded the veld, changed the composition of the grasses, encouraged bush-encroachment, and eliminated much of the
surface water. Grasslands suitable for such sensitive grazers as Sable, Roan, and Tsessebe Antelopes soon changed and the surface water so necessary for Buffalo, Rhinoceros, and Zebra, vanished with the resultant elimination of these species from such areas. Visiting sportsmen during the latter half of the 19th century were also responsible for terrible destruction, wiping out the Rhinoceros throughout the entire country and reducing other species in certain areas to a level above which they could never rise naturally. Even in such areas as the Botletle River, Man has steadily eroded the marshlands, wiping out Lechwe, Sitatunga, Reedbuck, Waterbuck and, in the north, Puku. Vast areas have changed in a century, open grassland has become thicket, forests have given way to scrub, and surface water has vanished (Campbell & Child, 1971). Even so, huge numbers of wild animals remain--some in increasing quantities.
Fig. 5.
Blue Wildebeest in a 'dead river' valley, Central Kalahari. PROMULGATION OF RESERVES, PRE-1966
Gemsbok Game Reserve
The country's first area to be protected was a 40-kmwide strip of land along the southwestern border in the early 1930s. This involved the resettlement of about three hundred persons from their homes along the Nosop River and was set aside at the request of the Government of South Africa which had recently created the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in an area of the Northern Cape Province immediately adjoining the strip. The South African Park is based upon the dead river-beds of the Aup and Nosop Rivers, where large herds of desert game spend the dry season. During the rains, these herds often move into Botswana, and it was for this reason that South Africa requested protection on the Botswana side. Forty kilometres was considered adequate at the time, as the interior was not populated and it was believed that neither animal nor person would move far from the more fertile river-bed. Figure 3 shows Gemsbok in this area. Chobe Game Reserve
Fig. 4.
Giraffe standing on a salt-lick, Moremi Wildlife Reserve.
As early as the 1930s, consideration was given to the establishment of a major game reserve in the north
Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
of the country. But for one reason or another nothing was done until 1961, when the Chobe Game Reserve was established, and then it was only half the size originally intended. The reason for its establishment was 'on account of the great variety of game there', and its boundaries were arbitrarily fixed at the
Fig. 6. Buffalo on the edge of the Savuti Marsh, part of a much larger dead lake-bed in the Chobe National Park.
international boundary in the north, an enclave being excised on account of several small villages, the Tawana Tribal border in the west, and Latitude 19°S in the south. Figure 6 shows a herd of Buffalo in this area and Fig. 7 is of some Elephants on the floodplain of the Chobe River.
Fig. 7.
Elephant on the floodplain of the Chobe River.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve As a result of two expeditions that were mounted to visit the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Desert in 1957-58, there was an outcry in the national papers of Britain and America demanding to know what was being done to protect the oldest race on Earth, the Bushmen, whose hunting grounds were threatened by ranchers and sportsmen. The result was a survey of the Bushmen, and the first recommendation: that an extensive area of State Land on which they lived should be protected for them. This was effected by creating the whole o f the Ghanzi District east of Sonop Kopjes, an area some 55,000 sq kin, as a game reserve (cf. Fig. 1), but providing that Bushmen resident in the area should retain their traditional hunting rights (cf. Fig. 2). Moremi Wildlife Reserve During the 1950s, some of the finest hunting country extended along the Khwai River, a distributary of the
11
Okavango Delta flowing into the Mababe Depression. A group of persons living in Ngamiland, encouraged by two private persons, the Kays, persuaded the baTawana* Tribe, on whose land it was, that the area be protected. After considerable discussion it was agreed to make the area lying between the Khwai and Mogogelo Rivers (about 1,800 sq kin) into a game reserve, and the Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland was created to administer it. Here again no research had been carried out and the area chosen was gazetted on account of convenient river boundaries (el. Fig. 1). Thus it was that, by 1966, approximately 80,000 sq km of land had been protected as game reserve without any research having been carried out and with no ecological understanding of the areas concerned.
THE POSITION IN 1966
Although certain species had been eliminated from certain areas, and the mobility of others had been curbed by agricultural expansion, lack of surface water, and cordon fences for the prevention of the movement of foot-and-mouth disease, great numbers o f animals still existed. However, veld fires and deprivation of more fertile areas appear to have modified the ranges of many species--particularly those existing in the plains, but not fully adapted to arid conditions. Changes in environment, providing short-term ideal conditions, have resulted in rapid growth of Wildebeest herds, which reached a peak in 1961 ; this was followed by a crash, when 300,000 animals are known to have died in the Soa area in 1963. Currently, Hartebeest appear to be following a similar pattern; but this is not confined to desert species, for there is a rapid increase in the north of Elephant and also Buffalo, which are being seen in certain areas for the first time in 40 years. There is little industry, mining is in its infancy, and the economy of the country still depends largely upon cattle; so also does the well-being of the vast majority of the population. With existing grazing lands seriously downgraded, there is constant pressure for expansion into the Kalahari--for more water and better access to remoter areas. Outside the main towns in the east there is virtually no employment, and 40,000 persons still seek work annually beyond Botswana's borders. Two pasture research stations provide a little information, but only one of these has been established for any length of time, and this is not on Kalahari sands. Apart from these and an ecological examination of the * The Bantu way of indicating a plural personal suffix.--Ed.
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Biological Conservation
Northern State Lands in 1965, no real research has been carried out. Thus can be seen the picture: on the one hand we have a country depending mainly on cattle, with the more fertile areas downgraded and a need for expansion into the wide but little-known and delicate areas of the Kalahari; on the other hand we have 80,000 sq kin, mostly on Kalahari sands, already protected as reserve. But little is known about these areas, or about the wildlife resource or the local use that is made of it. Against this must be seen huge areas that are more or less unoccupied, but supporting large herds of wildlife. It might be supposed that the old dilemma of cattle versus wildlife would have arisen at this stage; but the Government created a Natural Resources Coordinating Committee, a part of which is a Technical Committee comprised of representatives of all departments involved with natural resource development. Thus there is a multidisciplinary approach to the problem and a desire to ensure that the land is used to its greatest advantage without damage to the habitat. In a country as poor as Botswana, political and economic pressures constantly demand the expansion of the cattle industry. If huge tracts of land are to be protected for wildlife development, then wildlife must show an economic return which can bear some comparison with that of the cattle industry. Child (1970) has shown the value of hunting in Botswana: in 1968, the industries based on wildlife were worth a minimum of R2-0 millions (1 South African Rand = 1.2 US$) or about 5.2 per cent of the Gross National Product, of which R187,000 was direct revenue, mostly from the sale of sport hunting licences. By 1971, direct revenue had been increased to R360,000 for fewer animals actually hunted. At the same time the number of non-hunting tourists had been nearly doubled. With the steady expansion of the cattle industry and the concomitant decrease in wildlife areas, it is obvious that the economic return from wildlife cannot continue indefinitely to be based on hunting, and that the emphasis must be changed to game-viewing.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONPOLICY
2. provision had to be made for regular cheap subsistence hunting for local populations on a sustained yield basis for so long as it should be needed; 3. creation of large areas to form wildlife reservoirs providing an annual spill-over into surrounding areas for all forms of hunting, such areas needing to be protected from agricultural expansion; 4. across-section of all habitats and ecosystems, and examples of all geological formations, should receive complete protection; 5. protection of suitably large areas with necessary types of habitat for the preservation of all existing wildlife species; 6. the development of the areas listed above under 3, 4, and 5, to take into account the need not only to conserve wildlife but also to provide facilities both for inviolate wilderness preservation and for all forms of tourism; and 7. preservation of areas of historic or cultural value. The first requirement was enabling legislation for national parks, and in 1967 the National Parks Act came into force. It then remained to secure an adequate cross-section of the varying habitats and ecosystems while, at the same time, protecting areas that were necessary for the continued viability of wildlife breeding herds. By the end of 1967, three research projects were well under way: the Botswana Mammal Survey, an Ecological Survey of the Chobe National Park and surrounding areas, and a survey of the Migratory Herds of the Nxai Pan and western Makgadikgadi Pans areas. These were to be followed by a survey of the hides and skins industry in western Botswana, an ecological survey of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve (Figs. 8 and 9), an analysis of hunter and trophy dealer returns, an examination of the importance of pans for desert game, a wildfowl survey of Lake Ngami, study of the importance of mineralized waters in stabilizing desert game, and many lesser surveys. Owing to the shortage of both time and staff, rapid techniques are employed in examining and relating the broad trends in wildlife populations to the status of
In 1966, when a conservation policy for the country was being prepared and the need to develop wildlife-not only for its own aesthetic value but also as a commodity of economic return--was appreciated, the following criteria were laid down: 1. The return from wildlife had to be dramatically increased (it was then about R100,000 annually), initially through sport hunting, but later through more conventional forms of tourism;
Fig. 8. A floodplain in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve with Wattled Cranes, Zebra, and Tsessebc Antelopes.
Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
13
overflow of wildlife in Botswana for tourist and subsistence hunting.
Chobe National Park As a result of the ecological survey of the Chobe Game Reserve, it was decided to excise from the Reserve certain areas which were considered more suitable for Fig. 9. A herd of Zebra in the riparian strip, Moremi logging than for wildlife. In 1968 the Reserve was Wildlife Reserve. granted National Park status (cf. Fig. 1) excluding the areas reserved for logging, which were declared Forest vegetation and to trends in essential conservation Reserve, but which still retained game reserve status. values (Child, 1970). Although valuable information At the time it was recognized that the area did not is being gained, it is still not secured fast enough, and form an ecological unit and that future areas should the promulgation of parks and reserves has continued be added as and when possible. without the backing of sufficient, or in some cases any, Nxai Pan National Park research. The need for protection around Nxai Pan and the Makgadikgadi Pans had been shown by the survey PARKS AND RESERVES, POST-1966 carried out in 1967. In 1970 a National Park was established around Nxai Pan (cf. Fig. 1), but once A further complication is that, while half the country again its boundaries were not based on ecological is State-owned, the other half is tribally-owned, and study, but on a road, a sand ridge, and a district any utilization of the land in tribal areas requires the boundary. The Pan itself is a dead lake-bed now sanction of the local Land Board and District Council, covered lightly with grass in the northern savanna representing the tribe. Descending from a traditionally area of the country. It serves a treble purpose, propastoral people and administering areas which are viding (1) protection for the northern extremity of the orientated entirely towards agriculture and in par- migration route from the Makgadikgadi, (2) protection ticular towards the raising of cattle, these institutions for the dead lake-bed, and (3) a breeding ground for are beset by both economic and political pressures. It large herds of mobile Zebra, Wildebeest, Gemsbok, would, therefore, appear surprising that any advances Springbok, and Eland. It also protects stands of have been made at all, if it were not also for the fact Baobab (Adansonia digitata) and palm trees (Hyphaene that, with a long history of hunting behind them, they spp.). The new Park extends over about 2,000 sq km. have an understanding and regard for wildlife. Even so, the vast preponderance of protected area lies on Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve The same survey prompted the creation of the State land, and this is not really surprising as the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve (cf. Fig. 1), being tribal areas are the most densely populated. the dry-season grazing ranges for the herds from Nxai Gemsbok National Park Pan. Once again the boundaries were not dictated by In 1967 it had become apparent that extensive use ecological values, but by lack of human occupation, a was being made of desert species by Kalahari dwellers tribal border, and a cattle trekking route. The new who were almost as mobile as the herds themselves. An reserve (of about 5,000 sq km) affords protection to examination of trophy dealer returns indicated that a the salt-pans forming the northwestern part of minimum of 20,000 Springbok were being cropped Makgadikgadi, to open grass plains between it and annually in the western Kalahari. It was also appre- the Botletle River, and to some fine stands of palm ciated that the mobility of desert species was far trees. This reserve and Nxai Pan are complementary, greater than had hitherto been realized, and that the giving protection to a range of habitats and geological herds wintering in the South African park might well features ranging over the border between Kalahari and travel more than 250 km into Botswana. In 1971 the savanna veld, and providing a vast reservoir of wildlife Gemsbok Game Reserve was increased to approxi- for sport and subsistence hunting in surrounding areas. mately 25,000 sq km and elevated to National Park status (of. Fig. 1). The boundaries were not based on Mabuasehube and Khutse Game Reserves In the south, two areas have been established to any ecological reconnaissance or definite knowledge of the migration patterns, but positioned so as not to protect Kalahari pans and dead drainage systems. affect existing agricultural land-use. It is nevertheless Mabuasehube Game Reserve is about 1,500 sq km in believed that the result will give added protection to extent (cf. Fig. 1) and protects a variety of Kalahari the South African park's herds and supply a continuing pans--including those with a clay surface, those
14
Biological Conservation
covered with grass, and those covered with bush. The Lake Ngami--often dry for years, but, when full, the area is also the dry-season home of considerable home and breeding ground for pelicans and countless numbers of desert game, and is well placed for tourist waterfowl, and a terminal in the migration of many exploitation. Khutse Game Reserve, one of the two European species including flamingo--must receive conventional reserves established on tribally-owned protection (Fig. 10). Three nesting sites of Cape land, is of somewhat greater extent (cf. Fig. 1). It Vultures in the south-east are within a few kilometres protects the upper reaches of a dead river system which of the capital, but at present are unprotected. eventually empties through the Central Kalahari to the Makgadikgadl. From July to October, large herds of migratory desert species pass through or remain on its pans. It is strategically situated between three hunting areas, and provides respite for wildlife during the hunting season. Maun Game Sanctuary Maun Village, probably the future centre for the country's tourism, is situated on the Thamalakane River, a distributary from the Okavango Delta, which rises and falls with the Delta flood. An area of about 400 sq km along the River, taking in Maun Village, was protected in 1970. During low water the River is the feeding area of large numbers of waterfowl. THE FUTURE
Fig. 10. Greater and Lesser Flamingo on Lake Ngami.
It is appreciated that tourism cannot depend on wildlife alone, and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks is about to take over the protection, upkeep, and reconstruction, of the country's National Monuments--which include Stone- and Iron-age sites, Boer War battlefields, rock paintings and engravings, mission history, prehistoric stone-wall villages, a vast limestone cavern, and a petrified forest. Because much that is of paramount importance is on tribally-owned land, the law must be altered to provide similar protection to such areas as is currently supplied to national parks. As agriculture expands, so the need to manage the protected areas will increase and their sensitive habitats will require extra care. Constant review must also be given to the status of habitats lying outside protected areas, and particularly to those less suited for cattle production than for more diversified use. At the same time the tourist industry will be expanding constantly, thrusting new pressures on parks and reserves. Although protection of vast areas has been accomplished, and the basis for a viable park and reserve system has been established without the benefit of research, the future, with agricultural expansion on one hand and, on the other, the need for wildlife areas to show an economic return, will require extremely careful management--management that can only be based on sound ecological research.
Taking into account the size of the areas involved, it is not surprising that a wide range of habitats and geological features should have been protected, albeit unintentionally. It was, however, fortuitous that, in establishing the Central Kalahari Game Reserve* and Gemsbok National Park, two huge tracts of land nearly 300 kilometres apart (ef. Fig. 1), the terminal areas of the main Kalahari migratory routes, should also be protected. Perhaps it was fortuitous also that the establishment of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve should protect areas of unique inland delta, swamp, and riparian strip, and that the Chobe should protect areas of floodplain, dead river- and lake-beds, hills with prehistoric rock paintings, and Stone- and Ironage sites. Future expansion cannot be fortuitous and must be carefully integrated with agricultural development. Further, the development of the park and reserve system should be based on careful ecological research. While protection now provides for nearly all major ecosystems and habitats, further protection is still required in many areas. The Chobe National Park must be extended along the Linyanti River to take in essential Sitatunga and Lechwe habitat that is currently lacking in the Park. The Moremi Wildlife References Reserve must be extended into the Okavango Delta, so as to secure for all time some more permanently CAMPBELL,A. C. & CHILD,G. (1971). The impact of Man flooded areas which the Reserve at present lacks. on his environment in Botswana. Botswana Notes & Records, 3, pp. 91-110. * Not open to the public on account of its complete lack of CHmD, G. (1970). Wildlife utilization and management in Botswana. Biological Conservation, 3, pp. 18-22, map. water and roads.
ABSTRACT
was calculated to interfere with the existing settlement of as few people as possible. A short history o f the development o f the National Parks It was not until 1956 that a specific Game Department and Game Reserves in Botswana is given. The majority o f the sanctuaries are not the result o f careful ecological planning was created to administer wildlife conservation, and but o f history and circumstances at the time o f their inception. even then it consisted of one officer and a few game Fortunately, however, the conservation areas cover all major scouts primarily involved with elephant control. wildlife habitats, although the need for extension o f some o f Previously, little thought had been given to wildlife the National Parks and Game Reserves is o f great importance apart from the limited protection of certain species to give more sophisticated protection to particular species and and hunting laws for non-indigenous people, and it their habitats. The paper outlines the obstacles encountered in the development o f the sanctuaries due to prevailing was not until 1966 that a modern conservation policy traditional attitudes and the division o f the country into was introduced. Even so, the Officer running the state- and tribally-owned areas. However, the fact that the Department (which in 1967 was restyled that of majority o f the populace has a long history o f hunting makes Wildlife and National Parks) had succeeded during them understand and appreciate the concept o f wildlife conservation and utilization. The future development o f the those ten years in up-dating the Fauna Law, establishpark system has to be carefully integrated with agricultural ing two game reserves, and bringing the value of wilddevelopment and has to be based on ecological research. As life to the attention of the Government. Yet no agriculture increases, the need for more and sophisticated systematic wildlife research had been carried out and management o f the protected areas also increases, Constant it was not until 1965 that the first wildlife ecologist review must also be given to the conservation status outside was appointed--at the time when nearly 80,000 sq km protected areas--particularly those that are less suited for had already been protected as game reserve. cattle production--and should take the form o f a multidisciplinary approach. The Government has created a Natural Resources Coordinating Committee, a part o f which is a Technical Committee comprised o f representatives o f all departments involved with natural resources development. Thus there is already a multidisciplinary approach to the problem o f land-use and a desire to ensure that the land is used to the greatest advantage without damage to the habitat. In the future there will also be a shift away from an almost entire reliance on recreational hunting to non-hunting tourism in the development policies o f the Department.
THE C O U N T R Y
The environment of Botswana has been described by Child (1970); suffice it now to say that it covers 569,800 sq km (roughly the size of France, cf. Fig. 1), is almost totally fiat, has a population of about one person per square kilometre, and lies at a height of about 1,000 metres in the centre of the Southern African plateau. Two-thirds of the country are covered by Kalahari sands, and the rainfall varies from less than 100 mm in the south-west to about 800 mm in the north-east. Two major wetland intrusions are the Kwando/Linyanti river system*, with its lake and papyrus swamps, and the Okavango Delta, situated on 200 metres-deep sand which fills the extremity of the Great Rift Valley. A further wetland area is the huge complex of saltpans forming the Makgadikgadi and Soa Lakes. once
INTRODUCTION
The majority of National Parks and Game Reserves in the Republic of Botswana (Fig. 1) have come into being, not as the result of careful planning, nor on the basis of ecological research, but from the accidents of history and circumstances obtaining at the time of their inception. In many cases their boundaries were, and still are, arbitrary lines drawn on the map, parallels of latitude, rivers, existing tracks and roads, or administrative boundaries. Generally, their shape
* In the extreme north.--Ed. 7
Biological Conservation, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 1973--~ Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1973--Printed in Great Britain
8
Biological Conservation
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Fig. 1. Sketch-map of Botswana indicating National Parks and Game Reserves, and human population distribution. The country is approximately the size of France.
Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
20 metres deep, but now dry for much of the time except after heavy local rains which fill them to a depth of a few centimetres. This lake system forms the base of a huge shallow basin covering nearly half the country and tilted slightly to the north-east. Reaching towards it through the Kalahari from all angles except the east are dead river-beds interspersed with complexes of pans varying in size from less than a hectare to more than 200 sq km.
HISTORY
The very nature of the country, with vast areas covered by Kalahari sands, the lack of permanent surface water, the spread of tsetse fly across those better-watered areas, and the sparse rainfall, has combined in the past to impede Man and his stock from penetrating in any numbers into the interior.
Fig. 2.
Bushmen hunters on a typical Kalahari pan, Khutse Game Reserve.
Until the 17th century, the greater part of the country had been inhabited only by mobile bands of Bushmen (Fig. 2), living entirely on veldkos* supplemented by snaring small game and hunting larger mammals with bow and poisoned arrow. The newcomers, bringing with them domestic stock and the hoe, settled first in the better-watered areas of the east. Already accustomed to hunting, they found a country teeming with wildlife and, as they pushed westwards, they hunted prodigiously, trading skins and furs eastwards. During the 1820s, three waves of invaders swept over the territories of the settlers, destroying their homes, stealing their stock, forcing them westwards into the Kalahari, and making them rely for subsistence almost entirely on wildlife. During the 1890s, after the settlers had rebuilt their herds, rinderpest
9
decimated their stock, turning them once again to wildlife. Again in 1958, foot-and-mouth disease closed the country to the sale of cattle--yet again making settlers place their reliance on hunting. The social system of the settlers was such that cattle were prestige possessions, owned by only a few; yet their culture was a pastoral one, ensuring that, even though a man owned no stock, he still had access to all the benefits derived from them. Even today the vast majority of the stock is owned by only 7 per cent of the population, and with the introduction of a cash economy and the slow but inevitable eroding of traditional economic ties, many people, particularly in the more arid areas, are left with little support other than the traditional subsistence on wildlife. So it is that hunting remains of major importance in remoter areas; but the steadily increasing value of wildlife trophies has prompted many people, the rich as well as the poor, to hunt not only for subsistence, but also for commercial gain. Those areas which have supported agricultural Man in the past have been heavily utilized and are downgrading rapidly, while the population doubles every 24 years. In the past, Man was confined to the wellwatered areas in the east and to the pans and dead river-beds in the Kalahari where he could sink wells by hand. But today, with greater finances and drilling equipment capable of sinking boreholes 200 metres below the surface of the sand, he can spread across the more arid regions that were previously denied to him. The need for new agricultural land is becoming more critical, and the great bulk of this lies in the sensitive and brittle habitats of the Kalahari--those habitats that are vital for the sustenance of desert game.
THE WILDLIFE RESOURCE
Large mammals in varying numbers still inhabit the whole country. Before agricultural Man made his impact felt, many species which are now confined to the north were spread much more widely. A rolling sandplain lightly covered with grass and stands of bush occupied two-thirds of the country, and to the eastwards was more rocky country broken by 'sand rivers' with permanent waterholes and larger stands of timber. From this stretched, and still stretch, the dead riverbeds and pan complexes--fertile fingers reaching out into the semi-arid plains. These plains were the home of numerous herds of Gemsbok (Fig. 3), Giraffe (Fig. 4), Hartebeest, Springbok, and Eland, which sub* Wild food from the bush, including edible plants, birds sisted for the greater part of the year on succulent eggs, insects, and anything else edible which can be col- plants and without water. Wildebeest (Fig. 5) also lected by hand. made use of the plains, but were more dependent on
10
Biological Conservation
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Fig. 3.
Gemsbok on the side o f a lightly vegetated dune, Gemsbok National Park.
water, frequently moving vast distances to permanent rivers. But none of these animals could exist on the plains alone, and all made use, and still make use, of the more fertile pan and 'dead river' areas. Surrounding the plain, the areas of permanent surface water were the home of a vast spectrum of wildlife, including all the major Southern African species. During the rainy season these animals penetrated far into the plains, following the fertile dead river-beds. The wetlands in the north formed a natural habitat for Sitatunga, Lechwe, Hippopotamus, Otter, Crocodile, and a wide range of other waterloving species. The arrival of Man with his stock, first settling in the best-watered areas, then moving along the fertile fingers into the desert, steadily downgraded the veld, changed the composition of the grasses, encouraged bush-encroachment, and eliminated much of the
surface water. Grasslands suitable for such sensitive grazers as Sable, Roan, and Tsessebe Antelopes soon changed and the surface water so necessary for Buffalo, Rhinoceros, and Zebra, vanished with the resultant elimination of these species from such areas. Visiting sportsmen during the latter half of the 19th century were also responsible for terrible destruction, wiping out the Rhinoceros throughout the entire country and reducing other species in certain areas to a level above which they could never rise naturally. Even in such areas as the Botletle River, Man has steadily eroded the marshlands, wiping out Lechwe, Sitatunga, Reedbuck, Waterbuck and, in the north, Puku. Vast areas have changed in a century, open grassland has become thicket, forests have given way to scrub, and surface water has vanished (Campbell & Child, 1971). Even so, huge numbers of wild animals remain--some in increasing quantities.
Fig. 5.
Blue Wildebeest in a 'dead river' valley, Central Kalahari. PROMULGATION OF RESERVES, PRE-1966
Gemsbok Game Reserve
The country's first area to be protected was a 40-kmwide strip of land along the southwestern border in the early 1930s. This involved the resettlement of about three hundred persons from their homes along the Nosop River and was set aside at the request of the Government of South Africa which had recently created the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in an area of the Northern Cape Province immediately adjoining the strip. The South African Park is based upon the dead river-beds of the Aup and Nosop Rivers, where large herds of desert game spend the dry season. During the rains, these herds often move into Botswana, and it was for this reason that South Africa requested protection on the Botswana side. Forty kilometres was considered adequate at the time, as the interior was not populated and it was believed that neither animal nor person would move far from the more fertile river-bed. Figure 3 shows Gemsbok in this area. Chobe Game Reserve
Fig. 4.
Giraffe standing on a salt-lick, Moremi Wildlife Reserve.
As early as the 1930s, consideration was given to the establishment of a major game reserve in the north
Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
of the country. But for one reason or another nothing was done until 1961, when the Chobe Game Reserve was established, and then it was only half the size originally intended. The reason for its establishment was 'on account of the great variety of game there', and its boundaries were arbitrarily fixed at the
Fig. 6. Buffalo on the edge of the Savuti Marsh, part of a much larger dead lake-bed in the Chobe National Park.
international boundary in the north, an enclave being excised on account of several small villages, the Tawana Tribal border in the west, and Latitude 19°S in the south. Figure 6 shows a herd of Buffalo in this area and Fig. 7 is of some Elephants on the floodplain of the Chobe River.
Fig. 7.
Elephant on the floodplain of the Chobe River.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve As a result of two expeditions that were mounted to visit the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Desert in 1957-58, there was an outcry in the national papers of Britain and America demanding to know what was being done to protect the oldest race on Earth, the Bushmen, whose hunting grounds were threatened by ranchers and sportsmen. The result was a survey of the Bushmen, and the first recommendation: that an extensive area of State Land on which they lived should be protected for them. This was effected by creating the whole o f the Ghanzi District east of Sonop Kopjes, an area some 55,000 sq kin, as a game reserve (cf. Fig. 1), but providing that Bushmen resident in the area should retain their traditional hunting rights (cf. Fig. 2). Moremi Wildlife Reserve During the 1950s, some of the finest hunting country extended along the Khwai River, a distributary of the
11
Okavango Delta flowing into the Mababe Depression. A group of persons living in Ngamiland, encouraged by two private persons, the Kays, persuaded the baTawana* Tribe, on whose land it was, that the area be protected. After considerable discussion it was agreed to make the area lying between the Khwai and Mogogelo Rivers (about 1,800 sq kin) into a game reserve, and the Fauna Conservation Society of Ngamiland was created to administer it. Here again no research had been carried out and the area chosen was gazetted on account of convenient river boundaries (el. Fig. 1). Thus it was that, by 1966, approximately 80,000 sq km of land had been protected as game reserve without any research having been carried out and with no ecological understanding of the areas concerned.
THE POSITION IN 1966
Although certain species had been eliminated from certain areas, and the mobility of others had been curbed by agricultural expansion, lack of surface water, and cordon fences for the prevention of the movement of foot-and-mouth disease, great numbers o f animals still existed. However, veld fires and deprivation of more fertile areas appear to have modified the ranges of many species--particularly those existing in the plains, but not fully adapted to arid conditions. Changes in environment, providing short-term ideal conditions, have resulted in rapid growth of Wildebeest herds, which reached a peak in 1961 ; this was followed by a crash, when 300,000 animals are known to have died in the Soa area in 1963. Currently, Hartebeest appear to be following a similar pattern; but this is not confined to desert species, for there is a rapid increase in the north of Elephant and also Buffalo, which are being seen in certain areas for the first time in 40 years. There is little industry, mining is in its infancy, and the economy of the country still depends largely upon cattle; so also does the well-being of the vast majority of the population. With existing grazing lands seriously downgraded, there is constant pressure for expansion into the Kalahari--for more water and better access to remoter areas. Outside the main towns in the east there is virtually no employment, and 40,000 persons still seek work annually beyond Botswana's borders. Two pasture research stations provide a little information, but only one of these has been established for any length of time, and this is not on Kalahari sands. Apart from these and an ecological examination of the * The Bantu way of indicating a plural personal suffix.--Ed.
12
Biological Conservation
Northern State Lands in 1965, no real research has been carried out. Thus can be seen the picture: on the one hand we have a country depending mainly on cattle, with the more fertile areas downgraded and a need for expansion into the wide but little-known and delicate areas of the Kalahari; on the other hand we have 80,000 sq kin, mostly on Kalahari sands, already protected as reserve. But little is known about these areas, or about the wildlife resource or the local use that is made of it. Against this must be seen huge areas that are more or less unoccupied, but supporting large herds of wildlife. It might be supposed that the old dilemma of cattle versus wildlife would have arisen at this stage; but the Government created a Natural Resources Coordinating Committee, a part of which is a Technical Committee comprised of representatives of all departments involved with natural resource development. Thus there is a multidisciplinary approach to the problem and a desire to ensure that the land is used to its greatest advantage without damage to the habitat. In a country as poor as Botswana, political and economic pressures constantly demand the expansion of the cattle industry. If huge tracts of land are to be protected for wildlife development, then wildlife must show an economic return which can bear some comparison with that of the cattle industry. Child (1970) has shown the value of hunting in Botswana: in 1968, the industries based on wildlife were worth a minimum of R2-0 millions (1 South African Rand = 1.2 US$) or about 5.2 per cent of the Gross National Product, of which R187,000 was direct revenue, mostly from the sale of sport hunting licences. By 1971, direct revenue had been increased to R360,000 for fewer animals actually hunted. At the same time the number of non-hunting tourists had been nearly doubled. With the steady expansion of the cattle industry and the concomitant decrease in wildlife areas, it is obvious that the economic return from wildlife cannot continue indefinitely to be based on hunting, and that the emphasis must be changed to game-viewing.
WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONPOLICY
2. provision had to be made for regular cheap subsistence hunting for local populations on a sustained yield basis for so long as it should be needed; 3. creation of large areas to form wildlife reservoirs providing an annual spill-over into surrounding areas for all forms of hunting, such areas needing to be protected from agricultural expansion; 4. across-section of all habitats and ecosystems, and examples of all geological formations, should receive complete protection; 5. protection of suitably large areas with necessary types of habitat for the preservation of all existing wildlife species; 6. the development of the areas listed above under 3, 4, and 5, to take into account the need not only to conserve wildlife but also to provide facilities both for inviolate wilderness preservation and for all forms of tourism; and 7. preservation of areas of historic or cultural value. The first requirement was enabling legislation for national parks, and in 1967 the National Parks Act came into force. It then remained to secure an adequate cross-section of the varying habitats and ecosystems while, at the same time, protecting areas that were necessary for the continued viability of wildlife breeding herds. By the end of 1967, three research projects were well under way: the Botswana Mammal Survey, an Ecological Survey of the Chobe National Park and surrounding areas, and a survey of the Migratory Herds of the Nxai Pan and western Makgadikgadi Pans areas. These were to be followed by a survey of the hides and skins industry in western Botswana, an ecological survey of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve (Figs. 8 and 9), an analysis of hunter and trophy dealer returns, an examination of the importance of pans for desert game, a wildfowl survey of Lake Ngami, study of the importance of mineralized waters in stabilizing desert game, and many lesser surveys. Owing to the shortage of both time and staff, rapid techniques are employed in examining and relating the broad trends in wildlife populations to the status of
In 1966, when a conservation policy for the country was being prepared and the need to develop wildlife-not only for its own aesthetic value but also as a commodity of economic return--was appreciated, the following criteria were laid down: 1. The return from wildlife had to be dramatically increased (it was then about R100,000 annually), initially through sport hunting, but later through more conventional forms of tourism;
Fig. 8. A floodplain in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve with Wattled Cranes, Zebra, and Tsessebc Antelopes.
Campbell: Park and Reserve System, Botswana
13
overflow of wildlife in Botswana for tourist and subsistence hunting.
Chobe National Park As a result of the ecological survey of the Chobe Game Reserve, it was decided to excise from the Reserve certain areas which were considered more suitable for Fig. 9. A herd of Zebra in the riparian strip, Moremi logging than for wildlife. In 1968 the Reserve was Wildlife Reserve. granted National Park status (cf. Fig. 1) excluding the areas reserved for logging, which were declared Forest vegetation and to trends in essential conservation Reserve, but which still retained game reserve status. values (Child, 1970). Although valuable information At the time it was recognized that the area did not is being gained, it is still not secured fast enough, and form an ecological unit and that future areas should the promulgation of parks and reserves has continued be added as and when possible. without the backing of sufficient, or in some cases any, Nxai Pan National Park research. The need for protection around Nxai Pan and the Makgadikgadi Pans had been shown by the survey PARKS AND RESERVES, POST-1966 carried out in 1967. In 1970 a National Park was established around Nxai Pan (cf. Fig. 1), but once A further complication is that, while half the country again its boundaries were not based on ecological is State-owned, the other half is tribally-owned, and study, but on a road, a sand ridge, and a district any utilization of the land in tribal areas requires the boundary. The Pan itself is a dead lake-bed now sanction of the local Land Board and District Council, covered lightly with grass in the northern savanna representing the tribe. Descending from a traditionally area of the country. It serves a treble purpose, propastoral people and administering areas which are viding (1) protection for the northern extremity of the orientated entirely towards agriculture and in par- migration route from the Makgadikgadi, (2) protection ticular towards the raising of cattle, these institutions for the dead lake-bed, and (3) a breeding ground for are beset by both economic and political pressures. It large herds of mobile Zebra, Wildebeest, Gemsbok, would, therefore, appear surprising that any advances Springbok, and Eland. It also protects stands of have been made at all, if it were not also for the fact Baobab (Adansonia digitata) and palm trees (Hyphaene that, with a long history of hunting behind them, they spp.). The new Park extends over about 2,000 sq km. have an understanding and regard for wildlife. Even so, the vast preponderance of protected area lies on Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve The same survey prompted the creation of the State land, and this is not really surprising as the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve (cf. Fig. 1), being tribal areas are the most densely populated. the dry-season grazing ranges for the herds from Nxai Gemsbok National Park Pan. Once again the boundaries were not dictated by In 1967 it had become apparent that extensive use ecological values, but by lack of human occupation, a was being made of desert species by Kalahari dwellers tribal border, and a cattle trekking route. The new who were almost as mobile as the herds themselves. An reserve (of about 5,000 sq km) affords protection to examination of trophy dealer returns indicated that a the salt-pans forming the northwestern part of minimum of 20,000 Springbok were being cropped Makgadikgadi, to open grass plains between it and annually in the western Kalahari. It was also appre- the Botletle River, and to some fine stands of palm ciated that the mobility of desert species was far trees. This reserve and Nxai Pan are complementary, greater than had hitherto been realized, and that the giving protection to a range of habitats and geological herds wintering in the South African park might well features ranging over the border between Kalahari and travel more than 250 km into Botswana. In 1971 the savanna veld, and providing a vast reservoir of wildlife Gemsbok Game Reserve was increased to approxi- for sport and subsistence hunting in surrounding areas. mately 25,000 sq km and elevated to National Park status (of. Fig. 1). The boundaries were not based on Mabuasehube and Khutse Game Reserves In the south, two areas have been established to any ecological reconnaissance or definite knowledge of the migration patterns, but positioned so as not to protect Kalahari pans and dead drainage systems. affect existing agricultural land-use. It is nevertheless Mabuasehube Game Reserve is about 1,500 sq km in believed that the result will give added protection to extent (cf. Fig. 1) and protects a variety of Kalahari the South African park's herds and supply a continuing pans--including those with a clay surface, those
14
Biological Conservation
covered with grass, and those covered with bush. The Lake Ngami--often dry for years, but, when full, the area is also the dry-season home of considerable home and breeding ground for pelicans and countless numbers of desert game, and is well placed for tourist waterfowl, and a terminal in the migration of many exploitation. Khutse Game Reserve, one of the two European species including flamingo--must receive conventional reserves established on tribally-owned protection (Fig. 10). Three nesting sites of Cape land, is of somewhat greater extent (cf. Fig. 1). It Vultures in the south-east are within a few kilometres protects the upper reaches of a dead river system which of the capital, but at present are unprotected. eventually empties through the Central Kalahari to the Makgadikgadl. From July to October, large herds of migratory desert species pass through or remain on its pans. It is strategically situated between three hunting areas, and provides respite for wildlife during the hunting season. Maun Game Sanctuary Maun Village, probably the future centre for the country's tourism, is situated on the Thamalakane River, a distributary from the Okavango Delta, which rises and falls with the Delta flood. An area of about 400 sq km along the River, taking in Maun Village, was protected in 1970. During low water the River is the feeding area of large numbers of waterfowl. THE FUTURE
Fig. 10. Greater and Lesser Flamingo on Lake Ngami.
It is appreciated that tourism cannot depend on wildlife alone, and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks is about to take over the protection, upkeep, and reconstruction, of the country's National Monuments--which include Stone- and Iron-age sites, Boer War battlefields, rock paintings and engravings, mission history, prehistoric stone-wall villages, a vast limestone cavern, and a petrified forest. Because much that is of paramount importance is on tribally-owned land, the law must be altered to provide similar protection to such areas as is currently supplied to national parks. As agriculture expands, so the need to manage the protected areas will increase and their sensitive habitats will require extra care. Constant review must also be given to the status of habitats lying outside protected areas, and particularly to those less suited for cattle production than for more diversified use. At the same time the tourist industry will be expanding constantly, thrusting new pressures on parks and reserves. Although protection of vast areas has been accomplished, and the basis for a viable park and reserve system has been established without the benefit of research, the future, with agricultural expansion on one hand and, on the other, the need for wildlife areas to show an economic return, will require extremely careful management--management that can only be based on sound ecological research.
Taking into account the size of the areas involved, it is not surprising that a wide range of habitats and geological features should have been protected, albeit unintentionally. It was, however, fortuitous that, in establishing the Central Kalahari Game Reserve* and Gemsbok National Park, two huge tracts of land nearly 300 kilometres apart (ef. Fig. 1), the terminal areas of the main Kalahari migratory routes, should also be protected. Perhaps it was fortuitous also that the establishment of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve should protect areas of unique inland delta, swamp, and riparian strip, and that the Chobe should protect areas of floodplain, dead river- and lake-beds, hills with prehistoric rock paintings, and Stone- and Ironage sites. Future expansion cannot be fortuitous and must be carefully integrated with agricultural development. Further, the development of the park and reserve system should be based on careful ecological research. While protection now provides for nearly all major ecosystems and habitats, further protection is still required in many areas. The Chobe National Park must be extended along the Linyanti River to take in essential Sitatunga and Lechwe habitat that is currently lacking in the Park. The Moremi Wildlife References Reserve must be extended into the Okavango Delta, so as to secure for all time some more permanently CAMPBELL,A. C. & CHILD,G. (1971). The impact of Man flooded areas which the Reserve at present lacks. on his environment in Botswana. Botswana Notes & Records, 3, pp. 91-110. * Not open to the public on account of its complete lack of CHmD, G. (1970). Wildlife utilization and management in Botswana. Biological Conservation, 3, pp. 18-22, map. water and roads.