World�s strongest men invade Kasane
Sharon Mathala | Monday August 15, 2016 15:03
The first day kick-started with the qualifiers at Kasane Hot Springs.
The event is scheduled to run for the whole week, and finals will be held next Saturday at the Kasane Airport. Kasane dwellers that were also eager to see for themselves how the men looked and the challenges they are to overcome, came in large numbers. Monitor spoke to the organisers who revealed that the turn out of spectators in Kasane was the biggest they have ever had, as the shooting of the event is not a spectator event, but rather a television show.
The Minister of Wildlife and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama told The Monitor that his ministry decided to partner with the organisers as a way of moving away from the traditional tourism events. He said that they are moving away from the idea of people only coming to the wild to see animal, but also looking into selling Botswana to the world through sport. “Symbolically it depicts the strength of the competitors, which is also in line with the strength of our country, as we celebrate 50 years of independence” Khama said that the theme for the event is “Giants Meeting Giants”.
He said that the giants (competitors) will for the first time also meet the giants of the wild. “Kasane and the Chobe area hosts the biggest population of elephants in Africa. We felt this was the best theme for this events seeing that the giants of the world will be hosted in a place which also houses the giants of the wild,” Khama was also excited about hosting the event saying that over 700,000 people in the world will view the production. He said that Botswana has invested only three million Pula in the project and the rest was entirely covered by the organisers.
“The event has long term benefits. We will be selling Botswana to over 71 countries worldwide just in one production. Botswana has exclusive rights in the event and only Botswana’s name will be mentioned throughout the show, which will be aired in November,”Khama explained. The Minister explained that the sport tourism event is also a way of showing locals other types of sporting event, which are worldwide, so that they too could participate.