the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

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Unlike consumptive resource utilisation, non-consumptive tourism does not involve
wildlife off-take. The Okavango Delta is one of the major areas in Botswana where
wildlife resources are important for scientific, educational and recreational purposes.
Apart from hunting, wildlife use in the Okavango Delta is mostly associated with
photographic tourism. This form of tourism involves activities such as photographic
safaris, game drives, boat safaris, walking safaris and elephant and horse riding
safaris through the Delta. Photographic tourism is especially important in the Moremi
Game Reserve, as wildlife-based or eco tourism is the only type of land use allowed
in this area (Mbaiwa, 2002).
The next section provides an overview of the history of, and the institutional and
policy framework in, tourism and natural resource management in the Okavango
Delta Region.
5.4 History of Tourism and Natural Resource Management in
Botswana and the Okavango Delta
The approach to natural resource management and in particular, wildlife
conservation in Botswana, as in many other countries in Africa, was inherited from
colonialists, in which the interests and welfare of local communities living in the
wildlife areas were of no effect or consequence. It is of little surprise, therefore, that
communities living adjacent to conservation areas resented these wildlife institutions
and feel alienated from conservation in general. This conservation trend, following
the publication of the World Conservation Strategy in 1980, has changed, with a
move towards integrating and reconciling local community needs and conservation
practices (http://www.iwmc...htm).
5.4.1 Historical Development of Natural Resource Management in the
Okavango Delta Region
5.4.1.1 Traditional Inhabitants of the Okavango Delta
Until quite recently the whole Okavango River System was isolated, unknown to
most people in the world and also to most citizens of Angola, Namibia and
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