botswana/namibia - Cour international de Justice

629. The limits of the Chobe Game Reserve were first defined in the High Commissioner's
Notice No. 65 of 1960, concerning the Establishment of the Chobe Game Reserve, and
repeated almost verbatim in the First Schedule of the Fauna Conservation Proclamation
1961,and included Kasane and the Chobe River Hotel. The statutory limits read:-
"Commencing from a point on the northern boundary of the Bechuanaland Protectorate
approximately two miles west of Kazungula, opposite a beacon marked 'Chobe Game
Reserve' situated on the southern bank of the Chobe River, thence in a south-westerly
direction along the said northern boundary to its point of intersection with the meridian 24_43'
east of Greenwich; thence due south...". (Botswana Memorial, Annex 33)
630. The Chobe Game Reserve Committee established by the Resident Commissioner on 2
January 1962 decided that 'Kasane, Kazungula and the freehold are held by Mr. Trevor on
which the hotel and his trading stores is situated should be excluded from the Game Reserve'
(Letter of District Commissioner, North, Mr. Clark, to the Member for Local Government, 6
Feb, 1962, Annex 29). The definition was accordingly redrafted to read:-
"Commencing at a point at beacon ? being the south eastern beacon of the Chobe River hotel
boundary, thence along the southern and western boundary of the Chobe River Hotel to its
intersection with the Chobe River being the northern boundary of the Bechuanaland
Protectorate; thence in a south westerly direction along the said northern boundary to its point
of intersection with the meridian 24_43' east of Greenwich..."
(Savingram 8 March 1963 from Divisional Commissioner, North to Member of local
Government; Botswana Counter-Memorial, Annex 29).
Plan: Chobe District 1975 Department of Town and Regional Planning, TRP6, T2-1
1:250.000 (Botswana Supplementary Atlas, Map 19)
Chobe National Park Plan 1980 BP 179, 1:250,000. Botswana Supplementary Atlas, Map
20.
Chobe National Park Plan 1983 BP 179-a. 1:250,000. Botswana Supplementary Atlas, Map
21.
631. A series of large scale plans in black and white were prepared by the Surveys and Lands
Departments to accompany the legal description in the statutory orders made under the
National Parks Act 1967 in respect of the Chobe Game Park. The limits of the Park are set out
in words with great particularity. The earliest description appears in the Schedule to the
National Parks Act 1967 No.48 (Cap.38:03), passed by the National Assembly on 31 August
1967, and brought into force on 8 March 1968 by Government Notice No.64 of 1968.21
[21 The schedule to the National Parks Act 1967 (Botswana Memorial, Annex 37) described the Limits of the
Chobe National Park as follows:
CHOBE NATIONAL PARK
The area bounded as follows:-Commencing at a point on the international boundary between the Republic of
Botswana and the Caprivi Zipfel, being a point due north-west of Beacon KH 7, situated approximately three
hundred and seventy five yards south-west of the Chobe Hotel on the southern bank of the Chobe River; the
border runs in a south-westerly direction following the said international boundary between the Republic of