Tour de Tuli attracts 450 cyclists

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 10, 2010 00:00

The objectives of the mountain bike event are to raise funds for Children in the Wilderness programme and to ensure its sustainability. The event creates awareness of the beautiful areas through which the cyclists travel, the people and the wildlife. Due to the increase in participation, the organisers decided to have two start-offs. The first departure was on August 3 and the second, the following day. The minimum entrance fee is R12,900 per cyclist.

The organisers said that in the past, many cyclists have raised additional funds. It is said that some raised as much as P200, 000 each.

Children in the Wilderness is a non-profit organisation created alongside Wilderness Safaris. The initiative grew out of discussions around a campfire with actor Paul Newman, when he visited Southern Africa in 2001. The programme bridges the divide between communities that live alongside some of Africa's most wonderful wild places and the wildlife within these reserves by focusing on the next generation of rural decision makers. The children that the officials of the programme select for camps come from communities that neighbour protected wilderness areas.

Many of them have had no positive exposure to wildlife or the wilderness areas. In many instances they have had negative experiences - for example, when crops are raided, homes are damaged or lives are threatened by the animals.

For a few weeks every year, Wilderness Safaris closes its camps to paying guests and hosts groups of children for a five-night programme. Through the wonders of the natural world, games and educational fun, each child comes to realise that, like the camp assistants who serve as positive role models, they too can grow up to become very important people - a goal which, when living in extreme poverty, may seem impossible. To date, the programme has hosted 18,989 children in camp bed-nights over seven Southern African countries namely Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Seychelles, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Speaking at the cycling event, Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila said it is a noble effort by the cyclists to participate in what is meant to give children a better life. 'This a noble effort. A programme like this (Children in the Wilderness) shows that one really cares about our climate and the environment,' the minister said.

He said the cyclists are professionals in their own right and therefore would obviously create awareness about the event and Botswana tourism when they return to their countries. 'They would bring their families and friends to the countries as tourists,' he said.