Page 21 - Discover Botswana 25th Edition - 2025

DISCOVER BOTSWANA 25TH EDITION 21
OKAVANGO
This would lead to professional hunters in that part of Africa seeking
new frontiers. Botswana fitted the bill perfectly and trophy hunting gained
a foothold as a means to making the wild lands commercially viable. These
hardy folk would be issued with large concessions of land to undertake
commercial trophy hunting. Over time, however, and with both air travel
and cameras becoming more available to many tourists, photographic
safaris started to become more popular, giving way to a new era of land
management and visitors wanting to capture wildlife on film.
The safari as it is known today has evolved significantly, particularly
in Botswana, where its roots can be traced back to the era of hunting
expeditions. The safari industry, pre-1990’s, was dominated by professional
hunters and only a handful of photographic safari lodges existed. Most
visitors at this point would either be engaged in an overland camping
safari or traveling under their own steam. However, the landscape now
began to change as more photographic safari operators emerged and a
Facing page: Standing tall against a magnificent cloudscape, a Greater Kudu
arrives at a remote waterhole in Mashatu in eastern Botswana.
Above: Red Lechwe, described as a semi aquatic antelope, thrive in the
Okavango environment where the shallow floodplains are perfect habitat for
them. As a near endemic to the region, the delta remains critical to their long-
term survival.