From fairy tale to tourism

| Friday January 23, 2009 00:00

 

Tales abound about one of Kanye's richest resources, the Mmakgodumo Dam. The resource is beginning to fascinate tourists with its wonders - the ever green forest of eucalyptus, the mystery-laden Kgaring Gorge overlooking the dam, a rare species of fish, and more.

Legend has it that Mmakgodumo Dam was once colonised by a giant monster that had the face and torso of a woman of great beauty and the tail of a serpent. Those who came near the dam were held spellbound and drawn into the water by the woman's amazing smile, never to be seen.  The result was that only the daring watered their livestock there, turning the myth of Mmakgodumo on its head and her waters into a source of life, which was befitting: Kgodumo is the noun form of goduma, which means to have a draught or gulp of something, usually water, agreeable soup, or of good beer. The country around Mmakgodumo near Kanye was a moraka or cattlepost of old, with dozens of wells dug by farmers for watering their livestock. But with the urging of the late Kgosi Bathoen II, BaNgwaketse built a huge dam in the early 1940s. Mmakgodumo Dam is now becoming one of Botswana's major tourist attractions.

The popularity of Mmakgodumo is now being fuelled by news of the discovery of a unique fish in the waters recently. Anthony McKeedy and his friends spent a day there catching the bass fish this week, their second sojourn. McKeedy says when he heard about this type of fish being at Mmakgodumo, he could not believe it because the fish is common enough in South Africa but unknown in Botswana. 'I caught the fish, it was this big,' he says, stretching out his hands in front of himself over his fishing rod. We are sitting at the waters edge of Mmakgodumo from where McKeedy hopes to bring out more bass.

'The size means the bass fish has been in this water for generations,' he says. 'It is not found anywhere else in Botswana. The closest place we can find the bass fish is Zeerust in South Africa.

The discovery of the fish here has obviously caused a lot of excitement.' The Chairman of the Kanye-based Bathoen Sanctuary Trust, Basiamang Ramokone, says they asked the fisheries department to carry out a study to determine the types and quantities of fish in the dam a few years ago. 'They subsequently told us that the dam has three types of fish - barber, brim and the bass, which they said was an exotic breed possibly physically introduced by someone to Mmakgodumo,' Ramokone says. The bass fish is described as a predatory creature that feeds on other fish. 'So the barber and the bass feed on the brim,' he explains. 'We are told brim also breed heavily.' Ramokone is hoping that the excitement created by the presence of the bass fish in Mmakgodumo will have a positive impact on the tourism potential of Kanye and its environs, now that the fabled dam is not only about the serpentine beauty.

Surrounded by eucalyptus, the dam sits at the foot of a hill cut in two by the Pharing Gorge, which acts as a natural conduit of water from an underground stream to feed the magnificence of Mmakgodumo below.

The Pharing Gorge has its own myths, not least of the gorge being a source of supernatural fires. Stumps of candles and hearths on rocks above the gorge are telltales of frequent visits here by spirit mediums and the holding of sances to bring benevolence to some and untold harm to others.  During the Mmegi tour of the gorge people could be seen drawing water from the deep source, probably for cleansing.  There are still no tour guides here, and people can be seen drawing the waters of Mmakgodumo and Pharing, which they must believe to hold therapeutic properties. On the day Mmegi went on a tour of the splendid sites, the delight staff of the museum in Kanye acted as guides, a service they do not charge for. Ramokone says the Bathoen Sanctuary is thinking about introducing boats or canoes for rides in the dam and to add variety to the activities tourists may engage in at Mmakgodumo. The Trust has yet to reap rewards from tourists who come to here for fishing, picnicking or to simply take in the uplifting sights.

So far, commercialisation is limited to charging a fee on civil construction companies drawing water from Mmakgodumo. One such company was charged P5,000 a month for the water, while another was charged P9,000 a month the year before.

Interestingly, when the late Kgosi Bathoen II first had the dam built, t the idea of tourism was far from his mind. Foremost was the prospect of transforming Kanye into the breadbasket of the then British protectorate by means of irrigated farming.

Decades after the passing of the BaNgwaketse monarch, the production of wheat and a cornucopia other crops once produced at Mmakgodumo is giving way to tourism. The wisdom of that managed evolution will be determined by history, but for now, conservationists - especially ornithologists - are delighted that an area of 1.6-kilometre radius around Mmakgodumo Dam has been declared a bird sanctuary.  And true to form, the place once held as the abode of strange creatures is now teeming with hundreds of bird species.