Camilo. Together we discussed the plans for the trip and the locations we would be visiting.
Got up this morning and hit the road. We were on our way to Ghanzi to visit with Cheetah Conservation Botswana. During a previous trip, I had met with this organization and mentioned Denver Zoo was interested in collaborating in a few of their education and outreach activities with members in the community. This trip was scheduled around a farmer mitigation workshop that was going to be hosted with the Kraguc community, made out of majority of local Sans Bushman. The goal of the workshop was to train local farmers how to live with local wildlife, specifically predators. Many farmers lose their livestock, which consists of goats and cattle, to predators such as cheetahs, brown hyaena, lions and African wild dog. Cheetah Conservation Botswana is working with local farmer’s and teaching them ways to reduce the amount of conflict they have with wildlife, by reducing the opportunity for predators and livestock to come in contact.
The first night we arrived we were greeting by the CCB staff and a few volunteers who had participated in a large spoor survey a week before. The purpose of the spoor survey, which Denver Zoo staff was involved in, was to assess the population of large mammals throughout the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Together we set up our tents, unpacked and all had dinner at a local restaurant where they serve local wild game. Being I am a vegetarian, I stuck to the tomatoes and cheese, while my co-workers indulged in curried warthog, spiced grouse and sautéed kudu!
Before the farmer workshop began, Molly and I had a chance to visit with a few local San, or Bushmen, collectively known as Basarwa in Botswana. In the middle of Botswana lies the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a reserve created to protect the traditional territory of the San, as well as the game they depend on. In the early 1980s, diamonds were discovered in
