Page 124 - Discover Botswana 25th Edition - 2025

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In the heart of Maun, the town that is the gateway
to the Okavango Delta, at the hustle and bustle of
Old Mall, amidst taxi hooters and loud tourist truck
engines, there are young photographers waiting at
the busy pedestrian intersections. They are there to
capture peoples’ portraits. They are a small enterprising
community of street photographers, mainly out-of-school
young boys, who are striving to earn a quick buck with
their little cameras.
Although they live just three hours away from the
world-famous Moremi Game Reserve, where many nature
photographers from around the world have made their
names with incredible wildlife images, most of these
street photographers have never been to Moremi, let alone
photographed the wildlife.
To most of them, wildlife photography is a field reserved
for the wealthy, with money to have advanced cameras
and the ability to travel to the Okavango Delta camps.
These self-taught photographers usually see tourists in
the game-viewers brandishing their big cameras and can
only wish that they could one day have an opportunity to
be on that level. Even though photographic tourism is the
biggest economic activity in their area, they do not fully
understand the industry. They have few role models to
inspire them to leave the streets for the wild.
It is against this background that the Nkashi Trust
through the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness
Project (NGOWP) and Okavango Eternal (a partnership
between National Geographic and De Beers to catalyse
this work) are hoping to nurture these young street