Villagers in the Okavango Delta panhandle celebrate new bridge

The bridge promises economic boost with improved access to previously cut off villages

(Andreas Berlin)

By Boniface Keakabetse for Okavango Express

Rejuvenated by the opening of the new iconic Mohembo Bridge, Okavango Community Trust (OCT) has announced plans to build a new hotel in Seronga Village.

OCT is a community trust covering the villages of Seronga, Gunotsoga, Eretsha and Gudigwa located in the Okavango Delta’s eastern panhandle.

The villages have a combined population of about 100,000 people, boasting several animal and plant species, some of which are considered vulnerable and needing conservation.

Communities of the panhandle have since Botswana’s independence in 1966 depended on a ferry to cross the Okavango River to the rest of the country, something that is now history after the 1 billion pula (£70 million) Mohembo Bridge opened to traffic in June this year.

The 1.2 kilometer cable-stayed bridge construction project started in 2016, built over the

Okavango River to connect the villages east of the river. Minister of Transport and Public Works, Eric Molale in June flew from Gaborone to Mohembo to witness the bridge opening to the public for the first time.

Speaking, Molale noted that the project will simplify the access to villages, unlock tourist opportunities in the area and facilitate the transfer of basic economic necessities for theimpoverished communities.

Okavango sub district chairman Lesedi Boy commended the government for the decision to undertake the project citing decades old inconvenience that the communities had suffered.

Boy said: “As the council we experienced challenges that negatively affected service delivery as the ferry sometimes experienced breakdowns rendering movement impossible across the Okavango River.”

The air of jubilation settled as more good news arrived with OCT revelations of big plans to construct the first ever 22-bed hotel in Seronga village, one of the villages in the eastern panhandle whose development has been curtailed by decades old poor accessibility challenges.

OCT holds rights on two tourism concessions: NG 22 and 23. The lucrative tourism concessions were leased to OCT under Botswana’s Community Based Natural Resources Programme (CBNRM). CBNRM is a conservation and rural development initiative aimed at empowering local communities living with the natural resources so they see a need to conserve the resources.

Botshelo Sesinyi is one of university-educated rising community leaders, born and raised in Eretsha and is now tasked with developing OCT where he is employed as the trust manager.

Sesinyi stated: “As a trust we are tasked with developing livelihoods in all the villages under our coverage by utilizing natural resources in our area for rural development. Our mandate is often curtailed by the under-development of this area due to lack of roads and bridges which for a long time posed a challenge for us as the trust and communities.”

He further stated: “Now with the new bridge our work is going to be easier. It means transportation of materials and other goods and services is easy. As a conservation organization this will make it easy to start developmental projects that could empower our communities and job creation, and that way promote conservation of the resources and stopproblems such as poaching and unsustainable use of natural resources.”

Sesinyi revealed that OCT has already floated a tender for the construction of a 22-bed hotel in Seronga whose design is inspired by the sustainable designs of the luxurious tourism bush camps in the Okavango Delta. Construction is anticipated to start at the end of this year.

Sesinyi revealed that they have a plan to diversify their revenue from reliance on lease rentals through diversification into other emerging sectors such as the property market in the eastern panhandle.

“The under-development of this area presents some opportunities which are ready to maximize. With the new bridge more tourists will come to our area and therefore we need to set up requisite infrastructure like accommodation facilities. From these developments we could grow the revenue of the Trust to empower it to participate effectively in conservation and rural development.”

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Read the original story here.