P40k for Nkashi classic winner
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Wednesday April 12, 2023 15:51
The amount is a big jump and ten times last year’s P4,000 grand prize money.
Nkashi Classic is an annual mokoro race hosted by the Botswana Wild Bird Trust (BWBT) and the Okavango Eternal partnership to create awareness about the importance of the Okavango River System and celebrate the traditional heritage of the indigenous people living along the Okavango Delta.
The inaugural race took place in 2018 while the 2022 event was held in Seronga and was a great success.
According to BWBT managing director, Koketso Mookodi, the P40,000 is part of the P100,000, which is the total take away prize money for this year's overall categories. The organisers have also added a new category for this year’s race called Doubles. Mookodi said the new category, widely known as ‘Four-By-Four’ throughout the Okavango Delta, requires two polers to propel their mekoro. The participants may be male or female.
The organisers also said each poler can only compete in one of the four categories, which include: Male (age 18 - 54), Female (age 18-54), Veteran (age 55 and over, any gender) and Doubles (two polers, any gender aged 18 and older).
The winners from the category age 18-54 (both male and females) stand to win P10,000 each while winners in the veteran categories will get P6,000 each. The fastest individual overall poler will receive P20,000 cash and P10,000 for their nominated VDC or Community Trust to be used towards community upliftment projects. Mookodi further said the search for the Okavango delta’s fastest mokoro poler will begin with the race Heats which will be held between May and June around Ngamiland. “Finalists for the main race in Maun will be selected through a series of race Heats in Seronga, Etsha, Boro, Maun and Khwai areas,” Mookodi said.
The race stages just months after BWBT and National Geographic Society (NGS) premiered the Nkashi: Race for the Okavango, a film made in Setswana in collaboration with Batswana filmmakers, which showcases the wonder and importance of the Okavango Delta and Botswana to the world. The film tells the story of three mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) polers in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Mookodi stated that she is hopeful that the film will generate interest for this year’s race.
“We are also hopeful that it will also generate interest within the Heats stages of this classic as we will be staging them very soon from May to June. Not only will we be doing the heats, but also a Roadshow where we are showing the film in these very far-flung places of the Delta,” she said.
She disclosed that the Nkashi Road Show would also include an educational component for the communities.