Seronga: Dr Mokgweetsi E.K Masisi imposed that extractive tourism businesses will not have their license renewed.
The community in Seronga, a village in the Northwest part of Botswana, gathered at the Kgotla to witness this handover ceremony kickstarted by Natural Selection Safaris and their partners two years ago.
When officially handing over the third Elephant Express Bus, a bus that ferries young pupils and Government Officers who take services to the people across the Elephant Corridor areas, President Masisi said tourist companies who invest in the Okavango area should give back to the communities they do business in.
The President welcomed the initiative by commending the private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations in the region, namely Natural Selection, Unchartered Africa, Ecoexist, OCT and others, for their efforts in coming up with innovative ways of developing mitigation strategies for living side by side with elephants.
This Elephant Express bus is the third that will be operating in Seronga and the neighbouring villages, with the two other buses already operating in the area for the past two years.
The introduction of these buses is a welcomed move. The Field Coordinator for Ecoexist, Ohitiseng Mosupi says as a key part of the Kwando Dispersal Wildlife Area and a member of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), one of the world’s leading nature and landscape conservation areas, covering the international boundaries of five Southern African countries including Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Angola, and Zimbabwe, ECOEXIST NGO has been working in the Eastern Okavango Panhandle for over a decade, its mission is to protect the livelihoods of those living in the Elephant corridors.
President Masisi informed the gathering that the Government will not leave anyone behind. He cited the introduction of SmartBots, fast and free WiFi access in Kgotla, as one such example that the Government will continue to place people at the centre of its development.
For her part, Kelebonye Otora, a school teacher in Seronga, said since the introduction of the Elephant Express bus, school attendance has increased, and the results have improved.
Women are no longer afraid of seeking service from the clinics.
The KAZA is home to 277,900 elephants, and of those, 131,909 are in Botswana, making it the country with the highest number of elephants in the KAZA.
President Masisi welcomed the initiative and encouraged those who can give back to the less privileged in society to do so.