Species research ongoing
25 February, 2010


GABORONE - There are previous and ongoing research projects on a number of species such as lions, zebras, wildebeest and brown hyenas at Nxai Pan and Makgadikgadi Pans national parks.

Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Kitso Mokaila, told Parliament that the ministry has a database, which contains wildlife numbers and distribution in the two national parks.

He said all the information sources were used to plan for wildlife utilization as well as guide tourism development initiatives.

Mr Mokaila explained that the ministry had a programme of water provision for wildlife, primarily to address basic water needs for survival of water dependent species, congestion in some areas as well as outward migration from the protected areas which could lead to human-wildlife conflict.

He said the first phase of the programme included the drilling and equipping of nine boreholes and five well points in Makgadikgadi National Park, which was completed in the first half of 2008.

The minister noted that the programme has now been extended to other protected areas.

He said in Khutse and CKGR, a total of six boreholes had been drilled since 2009 and in addition seven boreholes had been refurbished and converted from diesel pumps to solar pumping system.

He said work was currently ongoing at Chobe National Park and would be followed by Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. He was responding to a question from Nata/Gweta MP, Mr Rayner Makosha.

The MP had asked the minister whether the ministry had a database containing numbers of wildlife species in Botswana, particularly Nxai and Makgadikgadi Pans National Parks to enable government to plan for their utilization and provide a guide for tourism related projects.

The numbers pertained specifically to lions, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, antelopes, hyena, wilddogs, springboks, giraffe, elands and guinea fowls.

He also wanted to know whether there were plans to provide water for wildlife during the dry season to reduce their mortality rate and damage to peoples properties. BOPA