Bukakhwe San surviving in a changing world

The Gudigwa project, an eco-tourism camp run by the Bukakhwe San in the Okavango Delta in Botswana's northwest portrays a community's attempts to adjust to changing times. While the San elsewhere in the country are locked in a court battle with the government over allegations of forced relocation from their ancestral home in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the Bukakhwe community is attempting to enlist the help of the tourist industry to preserve its traditions before they vanish. The project aims not only to generate funds for the development of the 700-strong Bukakhwe San, but also to reduce pressure on the Okavango Delta wildlife by providing an alternative source of income for the community. A US-based non-governmental organisation, Conservation International (CI), assisted in conceptualising the project. The camp was opened in 2003 with CI providing ongoing technical assistance. It is a far cry from the lifetsyle of most San, who live on government handouts or work for a pittance as farm labourers. The project is owned by them and employs almost its entire 50-member team from the community. The eco-tourism camp consists of eight grass huts built in the San tradition, but with welcome modern additions: electric lighting, showers and flush toilets. It is marketed as a one-night experience, accessed by air from the nearest major town, Maun, which has an airstrip constructed with the assistance of a South African travel company, Okavango Wilderness Safaris. CI-Botswana's biodiversity manager, Lovemore Sola, said the Gudigwa project went beyond the standard approach of most budget travel companies to indigenous cultures. He described it as a genuine attempt at cultural interaction, which has partially reconstructed a way of life teetering on the edge of extinction. "The Gudigwa camp experience highlights the intimate connection between the Bukakhwe San's cultural heritage and their natural environment," said Sola. "By sharing their culture and knowledge of the bush they should be able to revive a dying culture and pass on their intricate and intimate knowledge of their environment to future generations," he commented. The Bukakhwe trace their roots to Namibia and southern Angola. The community was resettled in Gudigwa in 1985 after the amalgamation of several scattered settlements, turning them into pastoralists who no longer had the right to hunt. Letsedi Tlau, who works as a guide in the camp, recollects his grandparents using bows and arrows to hunt, but is vague about the details. "I did not know how they managed to kill big animals like giraffes until I discovered that the arrows were poisoned." In the cool dawn, San women guide visitors from the camp into the bush. Traditionally, gathering vegetables and making medicines from herbs was their responsibility. The visitors learn that elephant dung, when placed on charcoal, produces smoke that can be used as a mosquito repellent. Visitors are also taught to make bird traps using willow branches and thorns, with a piece of fruit as bait. In the late afternoon, the men take the tourists on game walks and in the evening the community performs stories and songs, seeming to take on the spirits of the animals they portray. "Some of the older men were not happy about the game hunting licences being removed," said Theora Bengu, another guide. CI's community development officer, Chillie Motshusi, commented, "The ban was like a death knell ... yet it would be misleading to say that the majority of the Bukakhwe San wish to readopt their forefathers' arduous lifestyle." The traditional leader of the Bukakhwe San, Deviro Ndando, said the eco-tourism camp has eradicated the belief that his community was a threat to the conservation of wildlife. "We have turned from poachers to game protectors," he observed. "But the priority remains conserving wildlife and preserving our culture."