Patricia Maganu
21 April 2008
Francistown — Tachila Nature Reserve representatives say construction of a lodge in the park has begun.
Board and staff members of the nature reserve have been touring villages in the vicinage of the park to consult and tell people about opportunities the project brings along.
Tachila Nature Reserve is located in Francistown's old ranches, Lady Mary and Sam Estates, about five kilometres from downtown. Tati Company has signed a 50-year lease for the benefit of the charitable trust that is developing a nature reserve on the old ranches. The lease agreement has a clause for the renewal of the lease by another 49 years. Tati Company, which owns the land, is represented on the board of Tachila Nature Reserve whose patron is President Ian Khama. A deputation of Tachila Nature Reserve has been touring communities contiguous to the park to win support for the project. The people of Tonota, Patayamatebele, Shashe Bridge, Ditladi and Tati Siding, among others, have been told that the park is a community-based project that will benefit them. Board members, among them Themba Mguni, have been telling the communities that funding of the project will rely on voluntary donations. An immediate benefit for the communities will be jobs: "Your children will be given priority when employment opportunities arise," Mguni has been saying. People have also been urged to view the project with creativity and to use their talents to benefit from it. Mguni has been talking about educational and recreational facilities to be developed, and about the re-introduction of large game in the park which will also have a store, a lodge and hotels accessible to the communities and the general public. These facilities, which carry employment potential for Francistown and the North East District, will provide environmental education, eco-tourism and research opportunities.
"We will have a store where we will sell artifacts like baskets, traditional pots and furniture made in your villages," Mguni said in Shashe Bridge last week. "The whole idea is to preserve things that are in danger of disappearing. It is therefore time you began making these things so we may sell them at the park."
Significantly, people will no longer have to travel to the Okavango or the Chobe just to see animals once the park is operating. There are animals there even at present, but the park is not fenced. It is estimated that fencing, which board members have been telling communities contiguous to the park will begin next month, will cost P4,015,000. An education centre planned for Tachila Nature Reserve will cost approximately P1,457,000, a wildlife orphanage will cost P122,000, a river crossing P19,140 while a watering hole will cost an estimated P10,000. According to these estimates and others, the project must raise P20 million in three years. By the end of last year, the project had already received P1.3 million in pledges. Mguni says the project's patron, President Khama, is one of a number of people who have pledged generous support. "He (President Khama) says as soon as the park is fenced, he will give us some animals," Mgusi says. "Many other people have promised to give us animals and donations have started to come in from different sources."
Tachila aims to be home to harmless animals. Lovers of elephants will be disappointed to know that the world's largest animal on terra firma will not be available in the park. Mguni says Tati Nickel Mining Company is currently paying the salaries of advance staff already working for Tachila Nature Reserve and that the company intends to use the park once it is commissioned. "They are eagerly awaiting the opening of the park because they receive people from all over the world who end up going to Maun and Kasane to see animals," says Mguni. "They say they will use the park for recreation and accommodation for their guests."
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