Mokolodi Nature Reserve

Background
The Republic of Botswana covers an area the size of France in the heart of Southern Africa and is home to some of the world’s remaining wild and unspoilt areas – the inland delta of the Okavango, the Kalahari Desert, the palm-studded Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, and the pristine bush areas of the north, that is teeming with wildlife including elephant, lion and buffalo amongst others.

With independence and the discovery of diamonds in the sixties the country saw rapid growth in terms of business, infrastructure and population. By the early nineties, some 80% of the population was living in the east of the country, with many children growing up never having seen an impala or having any idea of the beauty and value of wild things – and these children, Botswana’s future administrators, politicians and captains of industry, would one day be charged with preserving the country’s priceless natural treasures, including its wildlife.

It was against this background the Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation was formed, with the aim of promoting a love of nature in Botswana’s youth, through environmental education. The Mokolodi Nature Reserve was created on 4,500ha of donated land near Gaborone on the premise that tourism would subsidise environmental education for the country’s youth and provide a living example of how wild birds and animals could pay their way in modern Botswana.

The Mokolodi Education Centre and Nature Reserve
Previously as a cattle ranch, the land employed only nine people. Now seventy people work at the reserve, the majority of which are residents of the neighbouring Mokolodi village. As a result of this intimate relationship with the village, the local community has a strong sense of ownership over the reserve. The reserve is home to indigenous species such as warthogs, steenbok, kudu and a variety of snakes. Several species have been re-introduced e.g. zebra, giraffe, eland, ostrich, and hippopotamus. The reserve holds over a third of Botswana’s white rhino and the scarce brown hyena and mountain reedbuck are also thriving there. With the financial and moral support of the local and international business community, the reserve has become a nationally recognised education and conservation facility.

More importantly, the Education Centre, with accommodation for forty boys and forty girls, now hosts over 12,000 Botswanan children each year from primary and secondary schools, for day visits, or three-day stay-overs, where they learn to love and appreciate their environment in the ‘outdoor classroom’ of the reserve. A full in-service training programme has enabled the reserve to fulfil a secondary objective of empowering young environmental educators, so that “graduates” of Mokolodi are now to be found in many tourism and other establishments throughout Botswana. Students at the country’s teacher training colleges also visit Mokolodi for short courses, in the expectation that in due course they will bring their classes to the Centre. Environmental studies is, at last, a prescribed component of the national curriculum.

Tusk Trust has been a long-term supporter of Mokolodi since the nineties, providing a vehicle for use by the rangers around the reserve; emergency funding to repair flood damage in the reserve; refurbishment of the dormitory accommodation and equipment for the school rooms. Recently Tusk has funded Mokolodi’s annual Boitumelo Mo Nageng (Joy in the Bush) camps for AIDS orphans and street children. After five days at Mokolodi, having fun and interacting with the animals, each of the four hundred children leave Mokolodi invigorated and better able to face the challenges of a difficult life. In addition the charity has been able to fund a new twenty five-seater vehicle for the children.

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