Botswana
Ecotourism: A Tale of Two Deltas
In northern Botswana we found areas like the Okavango Delta and the Chobe teeming with wildlife, and ecotourism making a major contribution to the economy.
In northern Botswana we found areas like the Okavango Delta and the Chobe teeming with wildlife, and ecotourism making a major contribution to the economy. Yet just to the north, across the rivers in Namibia's Caprivi region we hardly saw a single animal or bird… not even the ubiquitous monkeys. We began to ask why the contrast should be so stark.As we have travelled through Africa, we have seen the potential of ecotourism to preserve wildlife and tackle poverty. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in northern Botswana. The north of the country is almost entirely reserved for wildlife, and is famous for its predators and home to over 120,000 elephants. In particular, the Okavango River fans into the Kalahari desert, creating a vast region of rivers, islands and waterways. This delta was referred to dismissively as 'the swamps' at the time of independence, of no economic value. Today it has become the premier wildlife area in southern Africa, with lodges charging as much as $1,000 per person/ night. Tourism recently became the No.2 earner for Botswana (after diamonds) overtaking its strong cattle industry. But over the border, in the Caprivi region of Namibia, the contrast is striking.
Authenticity is the highest compliment
At the time of writing he is embarking on an expedition across southern Africa (‘Tracks of Giants’), from the Skeleton Coast to KwaZulu on foot, bicycle and by canoe. For 6 months he will experience and reflect on wilderness, and promote safe migration corridors for wildlife, especially elephants. Such an ambitious project reveals much of his approach to life: to question, to go further, to engage wholeheartedly. Ian suggests that the highest compliment is to be called an authentic person. He admires the authenticity of wild animals, they are ‘unutterably themselves –‘a lion does not want to be an eagle. It is what it is’. Wild creatures do not suffer the restlessness of humanity, that is both our genius and torment.
Understanding who we truly are requires an acknowledgment that, at our core, we are wild. Wild in the sense that we are connected to every living thing, as DNA studies have so clearly shown, and also wild in our deep seated emotions and desires. As unfamiliar as wild places are for many people today, they are our ‘home’. The human animal, he says, needs to ‘re-member’: Because we are an expression of nature, we cannot disconnect ourselves from the natural world, not only for our planet’s sake, but for the health of our own psyche.
Ian was ‘the golden boot’ of South African rugby in the early 1970s (he helped secure victory against the All Blacks in 1970 and scored 84 points in the Springbok tour of Australia in 1971). He remains passionate about sport, and could have rested on his laurels as a successful international rugby player. But he trained as a doctor, and then a psychiatrist, and rose to be the head of department in a major hospital. He also trained as an analytical psychologist. Experiences on walking trails in wild areas, including ones led by the famous conservationist Ian Player, prompted him to reflect on the sense of authenticity one has in the wild, and the way that being in nature so often ‘speaks’ to us about our lives. It is like dreaming, but we are not asleep. The metaphors that strike us come in a sunset, a fire, the movement of animals, the patterns in the stars. Being in wilderness is ‘a living dream’. The smells, the sights, the silence, somehow give us insight into ourselves.
Kicker and full back for the Springboks
Ecological intelligence, discovering a language of wilderness
Ian emphasises that being in wilderness is ‘utterly different’ to watching it on TV. Television can inform and impress, but it is sitting alone on an island in the Okavango, or watching the approach of an elephant that changes one’s perception of the world and of oneself. It became clear to Ian early on, that trying to express this sense of wilderness could only be done through poetry. Science gives us a wonderful appreciation of the complex relationships in nature; but to go further, to describe how nature ‘speaks’ to us in metaphor leads us into the realm of poetry. Ian explores his reflective experience of nature in his highly successful book ‘Ecological Intelligence’, he has also published a book of poetry, Wild Gifts, and a novel Thorns to Kilimanjaro
Ian works with the Wilderness Leadership School in South Africa, training guides and promoting trails in wild places. For many, his profound appreciation of the vital importance and value of wild places is a timely message to engage, appreciate and protect wild places and wild animals.
