The rebirth of lake Ngami

BONIFACE KEAKABETSE
Correspondent | Monday June 11, 2012 00:00

After drying in the 1990's, this mighty lake which is situated 100 km south west of Maun, is a jewel to the communities of Toteng, Sehithwa, Bodibeng and Bothatogo villages.

According to Sehithwa village headman, Domi Kandu, the lake died down for much of the last 20 years but was recently reborn. He told The Monitor that for the past three years there has been an influx of people in to his village due the booming commercial fishing prospects in the area. 'We are not only experiencing a flood of water but fisher people also,' he said.

Kandu said refugees from the Dukwi Refugee Camp have over the past two years migrated to the lake in droves to partake in the commercial fishing. He revealed that villagers are now concerned that the refugees may never go back to the camp given their numbers at the lake. He said many of these refugees bring tents and food which they are supplied with at Dukwi for sustenance while fishing. Kandu expressed worry that the refugees have now turned to committing crime in the village. He said since outsiders started flocking into the village, numbers of theft cases registered at the Kgotla have gone up. He revealed that the government has come to their aide as they plan to move all the refugees to the camp soon.

Kandu, however, said the flooding of the lake is good news due to the abundance of fish that has improved nutrition of the community in general. Fish has become cheaper and easy to find in the village. He said he is however concerned because the residents of the villages of Bothatogo, Sehithwa and Toteng commonly referred to as Boseto, named after the recently commissioned copper mine in the area, are not experienced fisher people.

For this reason, he said, outsiders benefit more from fishing because locals are more in to cattle farming. Lake Ngami is described as an Endorheic Lake meaning that water that flows in to it does not have anywhere to flow out and is lost through evaporation.  For the past two years it flooded to its glory days capacity due to a good supply of water from the Okavango Delta. Water comes from Okavango southwardly via the Kunyere River into the lake.

Apart from being one of the biggest fisheries in the country the lake is also an important bird area in Botswana.

According to information from Bird Botswana when the lake fills to capacity like now, it supports more than 30,000 water birds, such as the red-billed teal.In 1849 renowned missionary and traveler, David Livingstone visited this lake and described it as a 'shimmering lake, some 80 miles long and 20km wide.' In the chapter 26 of his 'missionary travels' Livingstone who was also the first European to visit Victoria Falls wrote about the communities of Lake Ngami and noted that they had a story similar to the biblical Tower of Babel.

It seems after years of drought the lake is back to conquer its place as an important tourism site and more importantly a fishery supporting a big commercial fishing industry. From estimations more than P200,000 may be raked in from fishing monthly since the lake flooded. Some of the people who eke out a living here are women who since the lake was restored have now negated the commonly held perception that fishing is for men only.

Women like Tshepo Garebagae an accounting graduate who hails from Maun have migrated to the lake to start a thriving fishing business. Garebagae told The Monitor that before she learnt how to fish this year she could not find employment and decided to buy her own fishing nets to start commercial fishing. She said she sells her catch in Maun and other places in Botswana.

She said because she cannot afford a motorboat she rents one from a fisherman in the area.'There is plenty of fish. We make more than P5,000 a month,' she said. She said fishing in the lake is not as dangerous as in the rivers as the water is less infested with crocodiles. However, they are aware, she said, that four fishermen have drowned in the lake and they are taking all the precautions. During windy weather, it is dangerous to navigate the outboard motor boat which they use to travel about three kilometers every day to reach their nets in the lake.

Another woman, Nanjamba Sembonje, who said she is a destitute and single mother of six, who was recently stopped from receiving food rations by the council, said ever since the lake flooded she has forgotten her poverty as she survives by cleaning and filleting fish for the commercial fishers who pay her with fish which she sells.

There are other women and men who survive like her she said 'I get about P500 per month which I use to buy food and other necessities,' she said. However it is mostly men who fish the lake waters. Leonard Chitsiku, from Harare, Zimbabwe is one of these men. He told the Monitor that he is a building constructor but left his profession for fishing last year in August.  'With fishing there is a lot of quick money. You don't pay tax all you need is a fishing permit. We get up to P2,000 in a day' he said.

The bad thing about fishing in the area is that it poses pollution to the environment. Most of the fishermens have put up camps lining the lake. From Toteng to Bodibeng there are fishers' tents in the bush nearby and mostly on the lake itself. There are no ablutions. They are also reported to be polluting the water as some wash their catch in the water and dispose of unwanted fish and intestines in the water.

According to Kandu this is a great threat to the lake. He said however, a management plan has been drawn up and they are expecting it to come into effect very soon. The department of environmental affair is also constantly policing the area to guard against pollution. Kandu said the lake has also occupied grazing area for farmers and many ploughing fields have been inundated saying they expect the management plan to solve their problem.