|
|
Botswana: Tachila's Life Line
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Voice (Francistown)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Francistown
There is good news for Botswana's northern mines and for other companies that are looking to attract skilled personnel to Francistown.
Things are beginning to fall into place at Tachila Nature Reserve, and activities are already being planned.
There have been several positive developments at the new reserve this year including donations of animals and hard cash, and according to Tachila Manager Dr Graham McCulloch, another event that will allow the project to shift into high gear should take place before the end of the month.
"We don't have a signed agreement between Tati Company and the Tachila Trust yet but everyone agrees it will be a 50-year lease with an option to renew for another 49. The attorneys are working out the final wording in Johannesburg as we speak and we have been assured Tati owner Sam Glazer will sign the document any day now.
"Once we have the lease in our hands we will be able to push the fundraising campaign and start bringing the public into the park so they can see what this reserve is all about."
McCulloch adds that while everyone has been waiting for the lawyers to hammer out the paperwork, the board has managed to secure two major corporate commitments.
"BP Botswana has agreed to give us P350,000 so we can build the entrance gate at the northern end of the reserve, about five kilometres from The Marang Hotel. That money will also allow us to buy a minibus and to develop two camping areas inside the park.
"Debswana, meanwhile, has agreed to capture and relocate 100 animals from their game park in Orapa. Once we have our fence in place, they will be sending us gemsbok, wildebeest, zebra, red hartebeest and kudu."
Eventually Tachila will be home to many more types of animals including high-profile species such as rhino, leopard and giraffe, and possibly roan and sable, so the manager says the priority for the fundraisers right now is to attract money and materials for the 40 kilometre fence that will be built to contain those animals and protect them from poachers.
"We will bring in an expert to supervise the operation but we want to use our own workers to build the fence so they will know how to maintain it properly. We will be looking for material donations from the fencing companies and the building supply wholesalers, but we will also need about P1.5 million to complete the job."
Other major costs will include building an education centre with an environmental education programme for school children in the Francistown area, including accommodation; and developing facilities that will attract visitors to the reserve, including a restaurant, campsite and lodge.
It may take a couple of years for everything to be in place, but in the meantime McCulloch is looking for ways to bring local resident into the park.
"We are setting up an organisations called 'The Friends of Tachila' so local people can begin to feel that this really is their park.
|
"We are also going to open the park to visitors on Saturday mornings in the next two months or so. Y-Care has agreed to hold a fundraising walk in the park sometime in May and we will have other organised walks and possibly driving tours with a limited number of vehicles.
"One of the teachers at John Mackenzie School is also organising a mountain bike race that we plan to hold in late April, and hopefully the races will become regular events in the park."
The Tachila manager says the dates for the first bicycle race and for the Y-Care walk will be announced as soon as the lease is signed.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Voice. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
