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AWF Working Papers

August 2005

African Wildlife Foundation

Community Owned and Run: A Case Study ofSantawani Lodge, Ngamiland, Botswana

AWF Working PapersJuly 2005

AWF Working Papers - July 2005

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Table of Contents

Summary

Introduction

Background

The Sankuyo Community

Santawani Lodge

Wildlife Management Areas

Risks and Threats

Lessons learned

The African Wildlife Foundation,

together with the people of Africa,

works to ensure the wildlife and

wild lands of Africa will

endure forever.

www.awf.org

Arusha Center (Tanzania)African Wildlife FoundationPlot 27, Old Moshi RoadP.O. Box 2658ARUSHA, TANZANIATel: +255 27 2509616Fax: +255 27 2544453email: [email protected]

Nairobi Center (Kenya)African Wildlife FoundationBritak CentreMara Ragati RoadP.O. Box 48177, 00100NAIROBI, KENYATel: +254 20 2710367Fax: +254 20 2710372email: [email protected]

Kampala Center (Uganda)African Wildlife FoundationRuth Towers15A Clement Hill RoadP.O. Box 28217KAMPALA, UGANDATel: +256 41 344 510Fax: +256 41 235 824email: [email protected]

Washington D.C. Center (U.S.A.)African Wildlife Foundation1400 Sixteenth Street, N.W.Suite 120WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036, U.S.A.Tel: +1 202 939 3333Fax: +1 202 939 3332email: [email protected]

White River Center (South Africa)African Wildlife FoundationP.O. Box 2977WHITE RIVER 1240,SOUTH AFRICATel: +27 13 751 2483Fax: +27 13 751 3258email: [email protected]

Zambezi Center (Zambia)African Wildlife Foundation50 Independence AvenueP.O. Box 50844RidgewayLUSAKA, ZAMBIATel: + 260 1 257074Fax: + 260 1 257098email: [email protected]

About this paper series

The AWF Working Paper Series has been designed to disseminate to partners and the conservation community,aspects of AWF current work from its flagship African Heartlands Program. This series aims to share currentwork in order not only to share work experiences but also to provoke discussions on whats working or not andhow best conservation action can be undertaken to ensure that Africas wildlife and wildlands are conservedforever.

This paper was edited by Dr. Keith Sones and the editorial team comprising of Dr. Helen Gichohi; Dr. PhilipMuruthi, Prof. James Kiyiapi, Dr. Patrick Bergin, Joanna Elliott and Daudi Sumba.

Copyright: This publication is copyrighted to AWF. It may be produced in whole or part and in any form foreducation and non-profit purposes without any special permission from the copyright holder provided that thesource is appropriately acknowledged. This publication should not be used for resale or commecial purposeswithout prior written permission of AWF. The views expressed in this publication are the authors and they donot necessarily reflect those of AWF or the sponsor of this publication.

This working paper series is coordinated by Daudi Sumba. He can be reached for more information at - [email protected].

Cover photo credit: Santawani Lodge (credit:


Community Owned and Run: Case Study of Santawani Lodge, Botswana

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Summary

Most lodges on land owned or leased by local communities are sub-leased to established private sector safaricompanies. But the community that owns Santawani Lodge, located at the eastern edge of the OkavangoDelta, took the unusual decision to manage and run their lodge themselves. The African Wildlife Foundationworked closely with the community and provided co-funding and a suite of business support services. Can theSantawani Lodge business model be replicated elsewhere in Africa and what lessons that can be learned fromthis unusual community-based natural resource management enterprise?

Introduction

Santawani Lodge, situated in Ngamiland district,Botswana, on the eastern fringes of the world-famousOkavango Delta, is an unusual example of a community-based conservation-oriented business. In the past mostsuch enterprises have been leased to established, privatesector operators, often with minimal benefits accruingto the community partners. In contrast, Santawani isboth owned and managed entirely by and for the benefitof the local community.

Since the late 1980s, the African Wildlife Foundation(AWF) has worked closely with communities living nearnational parks and other protected areas. More recentlyan important focus has been on helping suchcommunities develop conservation business enterprises.The Foundation believes that in this way wildlifeconservation can become a commercially viable landuse, providing more space for wildlife at the same timeas improving the livelihoods of local people. With thiswin-win goal in mind, AWF supported the localcommunity to renovate the once derelict SantawaniLodge.This paper explores the regional, national and localcircumstances, institutional arrangements and policiesthat enabled Santawani Lodge to re-open under localmanagement. It goes on to consider the threats and risksthat may affect the long-term success of the Lodge, beforeteasing out lessons learned that might usefully beapplied in the development of similar wildlife-tourismbased enterprises in other parts of Africa.

Background

Since the 1980s there has been considerable interestand investment in community based natural resourcemanagement (CBNRM) programmes in variouscountries in southern Africa, including the Communal

Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources(CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe, AdministrativeManagement Design for Game Management Areas(ADMADE) in Zambia, Natural Resources ManagementProject (NRMP) in Botswana and Living in a FiniteEnvironment (LIFE) in Namibia. However, by the late1990s it was becoming increasingly apparent that manyof the resources being managed under CBNRMprogrammes were transboundary in nature – such aswildlife, habitats, river systems and fresh water resourcesthat moved or extended across national boundaries. Thisconcern led to the establishment, in 2001, of the UnitedStates Agency for International Development (USAID)funded Four Corners Transboundary Natural ResourceManagement Area (TBNRMA) Initiative, coveringportions of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabweand encompassing around 220,000 square kilometresof land, 40% of it made up of protected areas. AWFwas contracted to implement the three-year, US$4million Four Corners Initiative, which was based ontwo of AWF’s key strategic approaches: its AfricanHeartlands approach, which promotes landscape levelconservation management, and its ConservationBusiness Venture approach, in which business supportservices and funding are provided to local communitiesto enable them to establish and run viable conservation-based enterprises. The latter are envisioned as a meansof providing incentives for communities to engage inbetter natural resource management. Santawani Lodgewas one of ten Community Business Ventures supportedby AWF as part of Four Corners Initiative, selected onthe basis of their good prospects for commercial successand of making positive impacts on livelihoods andconservation goals.

In Botswana in the early 1980s, the Government becameincreasingly concerned by the reduction in populationsof many species of wildlife in the country. More recentdata for the northern system, centred on Okavango,



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demonstrated further pronounced declines of buffaloand zebra by 1994, although during the same periodelephant and lechwe numbers increased significantly.Many blame the decline in most species of wildlife inBotswana on the game-proof fences erected throughoutthe country to protect the countries large beef exporttrade to the EU. This trade is predicated on thedemonstrable absence of various diseases in the exportzone, especially foot and mouth disease which is endemicin the country’s wild buffalo. While protectingBotswana’s valuable beef herds from diseases associatedwith wildlife, the fences also curtail the traditionalmigration of many species of wildlife and their accessto key resources. Many wild animals are also directlykilled when they become entangled in the fences.

In 1992, the Government introduced the WildlifeConservation and National Parks Act, which includeda policy of moving control of wildlife and other naturalresources away from government, towards givingcommunities living in or adjacent to wildlife areas agreater role in their management. As a result of thispolicy change several previously undeveloped areassurrounding the Okavango Delta were designated as‘community areas’ and communities within them wereencouraged to apply to the local tribal Land Board tolease blocks of land. The communities would then beable to exploit their land allocations, for example byselling the associated hunting quotas to a licensedhunting company or entering into joint venturepartnerships with commercial operators on wildlifetourism enterprises.

Tourism is the second highest foreign exchange earnerin Botswana. The tourism policy in Botswana targetsthe ‘low volume-high value’ end of the market with aview to maximising income from a minimum numberof visitors. This policy is designed to minimise the threatto the country’s fragile ecosystems and increase valueby imposing scarcity of supply. The policy isimplemented through high daily entrance charges fornational parks (approximately US$33 per person perday) and imposing an upper limit of 24 beds in all lodgesin game reserves or national parks. The result of thispolicy is that accommodation in protected areas is fullybooked year round, which provides an opportunity forcommunity-based tourism ventures outside these areas.

An outbreak of the cattle disease contagious bovineplueropleumonia (CBPP, also known as cattle lungdisease) in February 1995 had a profound impact on

Ngamiland, the district in which Santawani Lodge issituated. Prior to this outbreak, Botswana had been freeof the disease for the previous 50 years. After variousapproaches to containing and controlling the diseasefailed, the Government took the decision to destroy allcattle in the district. In all over 300,000 cattle weredestroyed and most of their owners opted to receivecompensation in cash rather than to be restocked withdisease-free animals. The result was that manyhouseholds in Ngamiland ceased keeping cattle, whichhad significant implications for their livelihoods andnutritional security. The erection of a buffalo fence inthe district in 1996, and the subsequent banning ofcattle keeping in areas designated for wildlife to the northof the fence, further restricted cattle rearing as alivelihood option.

The Sankuyo CommunityThe community that lives at Sankuyo village is, in themain, ethnically Bayei although other minority groupsare also represented. The Bayei (or BaYei), who are Bantuspeakers, migrated to the Okavango Delta in around1750 to escape tribal aggression from the Lozi in presentday Zambia. They were primarily riverine people -credited with introducing a traditional dug-out canoe,the makaroo, to the Delta - who at that time relied onfishing, agriculture and, to a lesser extent, livestock fortheir livelihoods.

Today Sankuyo village, situated at the extreme easternfringe of the Okavango Delta some 80 km from thetown of Maun and close to Moremi Wildlife Reserve,is home to around 400 people. In addition to severalCBNRM projects detailed below, the residents also nowrely for their livelihoods on formal employment,especially in tourist facilities, basket making, agricultureand small livestock. Previously cattle keeping was ofmajor importance but this is now banned under zoningand disease-control regulations as the village lies to thenorth of the Southern Buffalo Fence, erected to separatebuffalo and other wildlife from cattle herds to the south.Growing crops in this area is made difficult due to thethreat of crop-raiding elephants.

In the early 1990s, the Sankuyo community was selectedfor support by a USAID-funded CBNRM programme.The community was initially facilitated to carryout aparticipatory process that resulted in the drafting of adeed of trust – laying the foundation for theestablishment of the Sankuyo TshwaranganoManagement Trust (STMT) in 1995 – and in the



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development of a strategic plan and 5-year managementplan. The first objectives of the Trust were to obtain aconcession of land from the Tawana Land Board and toestablish community-based enterprises. In 1996, theTrust was awarded the concession for some 8,600hectares of land adjacent to the village, known as NG34– only the second community to be awarded such aconcession. Under the terms of the 15-year lease fromthe Land Board, the area was sub-leased and its huntingquota sold to commercial safari and hunting operators,which provided the Trust with a source of income.Between March 1996 and December 1998, directbenefits to the community derived from thesearrangements netted around US$600,000 – equivalentto around US$2,700 per year for every household inthe Sankuyo community.

In 1996, a Botswanan NGO, the People and NatureTrust, started working with STMT and facilitated a newstrategic planning process. This led to the establishmentof four community-based economic initiatives, forwhich STMT provided 50% of the start-up capital, theremainder coming from a grant. The enterprises werevegetable gardens, grass and reed harvesting and thedevelopment of two tourist facilities. The latter consistedof Shandreka and Kaziikini. Shandreka is a culturalvillage where visitors can experience traditional dancing,basket making, hunting with traps and bow and arrows,and have a consultation with a fortune-telling traditionalhealer. Kaziikini is a campsite which also has fourrondavels, a bar and restaurant, targeted at self-drivetourists and mobile safari operators. Both these facilitieswere managed and run entirely by the Sankuyocommunity through the STMT. In the case of thecampsite, the income was allocated as follows: afterdeduction of operating expenses, 20% of the gross profitwas retained in a capital reinvestment fund controlledby STMT. The balance was divided in two, with oneportion being split equally amongst the 15 communitymembers who ran the facility and the other portiongoing to STMT. The latter was spent on projects thatwould benefit the wider Sankuyo community, forexample building a school and clinic, buying a maizegrinder and sinking a borehole.

In 2001, STMT was awarded the concession to anadditional, adjoining, smaller block of land, NG33. Thiswas a former hunting block that used to be leased by acommercial safari hunting operator. The allocationincluded a run-down safari lodge, previously used toaccommodate hunting clients. The land use of NG33

was also changed at this time, and it was now designatedas a photographic safari area.

The two land blocks, NG 33 and 34, are situated onthe wildlife corridor between Moreni Game Reserve andChobe National Park. The area was considered to be aprime candidate for developing as a conservation-oriented business venture because of its significantconservation value. Developing a successful conservationbusiness in the area offered the potential forconservation gains including: securing the movementpatterns of elephants and other species; conserving thekeystone species – the elephant; securing not only thecorridor but also associated natural resources andhabitats; checking subsistence poaching of plains gameand occasional poaching of large herbivores, such asbuffaloes; increasing knowledge of the key biologicalresources; and increasing the skills, changing the attitudeand increasing the communities stake in regard tosustainable and profitable management of the area’snatural resources.

Santawani LodgeIn view of their previous experience of managing theirown tourist enterprises and, in many cases, of workingin the tourist sector in Botswana, the community tookthe unusual decision to manage and run the lodgethemselves rather than simply lease it out to anestablished safari operator. So, on being allocated NG33and the lodge, STMT approached AWF for support. Aformal Memorandum of Understanding was enteredinto by the two parties in July 2003, which covered thefinancing of the renovation and refurbishment of thelodge together with marketing the business and buildingthe capacity of the community. Under the agreementAWF, as the implementer of the USAID-funded FourCorners Initiative, provided a grant of US$60,000

Figure 1: Photo of new chalets at Santawani



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towards the total cost of phase one reconstruction. Thisamounted to US$110,000, with STMT providing thebalance of US$50,000 from their capital reinvestmentfund. An additional sum of around US$20,000 wasprovided as a grant from the Four Corners Initiative tocover items such as fees for a quantity surveyor andenvironmental impact assessment, and capacity buildingfor community members to strengthen their businessplanning and management skills. Prior to reopening,twenty community members who would eventually runthe lodge, together with the existing staff from the already

established Kaziikini Campsite, were trained in variousaspects of lodge and campsite management

The lodge, situated near the southern gate to MoremiGame Reserve (see figure 2), reopened under communitymanagement in June 2004 at a ceremony attended bythe Assistant Minister for Labour and Home Affairs.Under phase one, six two-bedded chalets have beenrestored together with a reception area. Local materialssuch as lava rock, grass thatch and timber have beenextensively used in the renovation. Pricing is initiallypitched slightly below the industry standard with

chalets costing US$56 per night on a self-catering basis.Full-time employment has been created for 12community members, eight of whom are women, whowill enjoy a salary plus a profit-related bonus. It isenvisaged that the lodge will be expanded in a secondphase of reconstruction which will see theaccommodation increase to 12 chalets supporting theemployment of 23 community members. The area hastwo tourist seasons, with the peak season running fromMarch to July and the low season running from Augustto February.

To strengthen the marketing of thelodge, AWF assisted STMT to train amarketing officer, also a member of theSankuyo community, based in astrategically positioned office near toMaun airport. The business planforecast that the lodge would operateat 40% occupancy in its first year ofoperation, increasing to 70% by yearthree. In fact in the months after theofficial opening in June 2004occupancy was better than anticipatedat 60%. The forecast for first year netprofits, after tax, of US$65,000 lookedset to be bettered.

With the eventual expansion of thelodge under phase two to 12 chalets,the projected net profit is predicted togrow to close to $110,000 per year.Community benefits are in fact higherand could amount to more thanUS$160,000 a year – worth, onaverage, around $2,000 per householdper year (Botswana is a middle-incomecountry with a per capita GDP of US$9,200, largely due to the export ofdiamonds, tourism and beef 1). This

includes allowance for some members of the communityenjoying salaries and bonuses, while the STMT willreceive a management fee equivalent to 10% of the grossprofit and also receive the full net profit. The latter twoamounts will be spent on community-level benefits. Todate these have included building environmentally-friendly toilets for all households, building a socialcentre, sponsoring student from the village for tourism-related courses and supporting HIV/Aids orphans.Botswana has amongst the highest HIV/Aids prevalencerates in the world; an estimated 37.3% of the populationis HIV-positive, life expectancy has dropped in recent

Figure 2: Locational Map of Santawani Lodge



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years from 72 to less than 34 years and there is estimatedto be close to 80,000 Aids orphans in a total populationof 1.7 million (more than one orphan for every 22people). In recognition of this, STMT has alsocontributed US$11,000 to tackling HIV/Aids in theirlocal area.

The lodge complements STMT’s other two communitymanaged tourist enterprises, the cultural village andcampsite, as well as the hunting camp and twophotographic camps operated by private sector partnerson land sub-leased from the Trust.

Wildlife Management Areas - NG 33 and 34Sankoyo village is situated in a parcel of land known asNG 34. In addition, this 8,600 hectare block of land isthe site of Shandareka Cultural Village and KaziikiniCampsite, both run by STMT, a photographic lodge,Starlings Camp, and a hunting safari lodge, the lattertwo run by STMT’s joint venture partners. Althoughthere are no settlements in NG33, this block is the siteof Santawani Lodge and also a camp for a wild dogresearch project.NG 33 and 34 lies to the extreme eastern end of theOkovango Delta. The terrain includes dryland and oldf loodplain, mostly mixed scrub with some brokenmopane woodland (Colophospermum mopane). There areno wetland areas and flooding, though once common,now occurs less frequently. The formerly flooded areastogether with relic riverine woodlands are undergoingrapid change, with encroachment of acacia on the floodplains and change in species composition in the riverinewoodland. The area has a high density of large mammalsincluding elephants, zebra, giraffe, a wide range ofantelopes including sable and red lechwe, leopards andlions. Elephants and zebra utilise the area as a corridorbetween Moreni Game Reserve and Chobe NationalPark. Threatened species occurring in the area includethe giant bullfrog, lappet-faced vulture and African wilddogs. Being outside of protected areas and therefore notsubject to their regulations, tourists can enjoy both dayand night game drives, offering them the opportunityto view seldom seen nocturnal species such as aardvarks,serval cats and leopards, as well as trekking on foot.

Risks and ThreatsThe long-term viability of enterprises based on wildlifetourism is obviously dependent on the continuingpresence of large numbers of wild animals, in this caseelephants, plains game and predators. Significantdeclines in the country’s wildlife populations have been

blamed on the veterinary cordon fences that criss-crossthe country, with one – the Southern Buffalo Fence(designed to keep potentially foot and mouth infectedbuffalo from coming into contact with cattle in thecountry’s beef export zone) – passing just to the southof the land concessions awarded to the Sankuyocommunity. Critics of the fences point out that manywere erected without prior environmental, social oreconomic impact assessments – although this is nowbeing done. Government policy in Botswana appearsto be somewhat contradictory with policies andmeasures, such as the game-proof fences, put in place tofacilitate and protect the beef export trade to the EU,apparently adversely affecting the country’s morevaluable international tourism business. Recognisingthese potential conflicts of interest, an inter-ministerialcommittee on fences has been formed to address theseissues but critics suggest that to date no mitigating actionhas been taken to relieve or reverse critical impacts onwildlife. These are said to include: disruption of seasonalmovement of wildlife; death of animals due toentanglement; group fragmentation and isolation; denialof access to water and seasonal habitats; improved accessfor poachers due to construction of service roads;increased disturbance of wildlife by vehicles;concentration of animals and resultant destruction ofhabitat; and direct habitat loss from fence construction.Significantly, a recent independent report on theBotswana beef export has suggested that the ‘industryis in crisis... A trade that was once profitable is nowmarginal.’2 It goes on to point out that the BotswanaMeat Commission has run at a loss in all but one yearsince 1998/99, suggesting that this is due to decreasingprices for beef exports, increasing costs and decreasingefficiency of production.

The unusual feature of the Santawani Lodge model isthat it is owned, managed and run entirely by the localcommunity – an arrangement said to be is viewed withscepticism in many quarters. Most tourist facilities inBotswana are managed by established safari companiesand the industry is second only to diamonds in themagnitude of its contribution to the GDP. However,much of the industries’ earnings are lost to the countrythrough payments to external agents and because manylarge tourism companies are foreign-owned. In addition,even though local communities have been awarded landconcessions, in the past these have mostly been sub-leased to commercial safari and hunting operators whohave enjoyed the majority of the benefits.



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With Botswana’s focus on the ‘low volume –high value’segment of the global tourist market, expectations ofclients is likely to be high and the level of managementof tourist facilities needs to be equally high to matchthis. The risk is that community management may fallshort of the required standard, with the risk perhapsbeing higher as external project-based support, such asprovided by AWF, is eventually wound-down orremoved. Although the community appears to beconfident of its capabilities in this area, citing theirexperience in managing other community owned touristfacilities and considerable experience of the broaderhospitality industry through working in other lodgesand hotels in the Okavango area, external assessmentshave been less positive. At the outset, the People andNature Trust highlighted lack of management capacitywithin the community as a serious constraint. To addressthis weakness, AWF provided considerable investmentin training to equip community members with thenecessary management and marketing skills and assignedan experienced enterprise specialist to the project underthe overall direction of the Conservation Services Centrein AWF’s office at Kasane. Arrangements have been madefor AWF to continue providing business support servicesbeyond the lifetime of the Four Corners Initiative.However, the proceedings of the Fourth NationalCBNRM Forum meeting, held in in Gaborone,Botswana in June 2003, states that: ‘CBNRM inBotswana is characterised more by failures than successes’and goes on to suggest reasons for the failures: ‘Theconcept of community managed enterprise projects isquestionable; capacity building support (time andresources) is underestimated; programme scope andcoverage have been over-ambitious and community“ownership” of projects is insufficient. Furthermore,business advisory services have been inadequate. Thussupport for project identification, formulation andimplementation have been inadequate. Also LocalGovernment structures (including TAC, DistrictCouncils & traditional authorities) were largely ignored/bypassed/ sidelined.’ And, further challenging thevalidity of community managed business it states: ‘Thenewly proposed strategy is to ensure viability of business-related projects by shifting emphasis away fromapproach that CBOs should become entrepreneurstowards an approach where CBOs create anenvironment that encourages entrepreneurs to investwith confidence by providing infrastructure, security oftenure and a regulatory framework’.

The true test of the success of the Santwani model willbe how well the lodge performs in the coming years; isit a successful, profitable, viable business? Earlyindications were, however, encouraging with occupancylevels and profitability exceeding that forecast in thebusiness plan. An additional factor operating in thecommunity’s favour is that the lodge is mainly targeting‘medium-level’ self-drive tourists from South Africa, whoare perhaps less demanding than high-end visitors fromoverseas.

Effective marketing of the lodge is a prerequisite forsuccess; without adequate marketing the lodge willinevitably fail, as have many previous communitydevelopment projects in Africa. The success rate for smallbusiness start-ups in the tourism sector in Africa is aslow as one in eight. In recognition of this, AWF hasprovided support in this important area. Initially, in2003, AWF assisted the community with logistics for abooking office in Maun, the nearest main town andhub for tourism in northern Botswana, located some80 kilometres from the lodge. The booking office wasmoved in 2004 to a more strategic location, near to theairport in Maun, with a view to capturing more clientele.Help was also provided to identify a suitable communitymember and train him to serve as the lodge’s marketingofficer. However the marketing officer, Dux Mareja,reports that marketing is still a challenge as most touristsarriving at the airport already have their itinerariesbooked. Marketing efforts are therefore now targetingself-drive tourists from South Africa coming to visitnearby Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park.In addition, AWF has partnered with the RegionalTourism Association of Southern Africa (RETOSA),which markets tourist destinations within the SouthernAfrica Development Community (SADC). Furtherafield, AWF has assisted with marketing the lodge inUSA, as well as at South Africa’s premier tourist fairand the African Tourism Association conference heldin Lusaka, Zambia in 2003. Within the USA, AWFmarketing personnel in the Washington office arepiloting a marketing approach which targets clients whofavour supporting tourist destinations that reinvestprofits directly into poverty reduction and conservation.A useful advantage enjoyed by the lodge is the fact thatit is already well known by many tourists who previouslystayed there when it was run by the private sector.Currently the lodge has to contend with relatively littlecompetition – there are no other facilities offeringaccommodation to tourist in the immediate vicinity,except for STMT’s own Kaziikini Campsite, which



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targets a different market segment. However, there areother options for tourists a little further afield and newfacilities may open over time, requiring the lodge toremain competitive on price and service and to continueto mount an effective on-going marketing campaign.

Intra-community conflict is a major area of risk for anycommunity-based enterprise. Inevitably not allcommunity members will enjoy the same level ofbenefits and this can result in dissatisfaction andjealousy. In the case of Santawani Lodge, some membersenjoy private benefits from salaries and profit-relatedbonuses whilst others enjoy only community levelbenefits. Critical in this regard is how transparent andopen the staff recruitment process is: are the communitymembers selected for direct employment in the lodgethose with the best qualifications, experience and skills?In the case of community level benefits, are thesedistributed in a fair and transparent manner? Somebenefits have been provided to all households, such asprovision of environmentally friendly toilets, others areaccessible to the entire community, such as the schooland clinic, but others are more selective, such assponsorship for tourism related training courses. Themain factor behind all these issues is the governance ofSTMT; how democratic is the selection of the variousTrust management committees, how responsive are thecommittees to the opinions and needs of the ordinarymembers, and crucially, how transparent, open andhonest is the financial reporting – overall is the Trustaccountable and responsive to its membership. In thepast there have been problems with the governance ofthe Trust. The performance of the first representativecommittee did not satisfy all community members andthere were reportedly allegations of theft and corruption.However, encouragingly the members were able to electa new committee.

There has also been controversy surrounding theselection of the Trust’s joint venture partners and inthis regard the institutional arrangements for sub-leasingconcessions to commercial partners brings it ownproblems. The communities are awarded landconcessions by the Land Board on the basis of 15-yearleases. Where these are sub-leased, for example tolicensed safari hunting operators, this is done on thebasis of a one year probationary period followed byperiods covered by sub-leases for consecutive periods ofone, three, five and a further five years, respectively. Thisarrangement is designed to protect the communitiesfrom mismanagement, corruption or maltreatment,giving them ample opportunity to opt to change their

joint venture partners. An unintended consequence,however, has been that this system has served toencourage extortion and bribery. In relation to STMT,controversy has arisen where the joint venture partnersselected by the Trust management have not been theones who tendered the highest sub-lease payments,raising unanswered questions about how and why thejoint venture partners were chosen.

Although community level benefits are undoubtedlyvalued by residents of Sankuyo, experience elsewherehas shown that household and individual benefits, suchas direct employment, are more highly valued.Community level benefits, such as schools and clinics,do not provide people with their daily needs. InSankuyo, where cattle rearing, formerly an importantcomponent of livelihoods, is now banned underBotswana’s veterinary zoning regulations, employmentis likely to be even more important. Although SantawaniLodge is only creating 12 full-time jobs in phase one,eventually this is anticipated to increase to 23 as phasetwo comes on stream. In total the Trust’s conservationbased enterprises directly employ around 70 people,including 40 women. The total population of Sankuyois around 400 and on average in Botswana family size is4.85 people. So, in Sankuyo there is likely to be around80 households supported by 70 full-time jobs in theconservation based enterprises owned and managed bythe Trust. However, the salaries, even including profit-related bonuses, appear to be very low; at the lodge onaverage these are around US$70 per month. This is lowby African standards but even lower when related toBotswana’s per capita GDP of US$9,200.

The justification for investing public money in theSantawani Lodge project was the promise of combiningpoverty alleviation with achieving conservationobjectives. The conservation goals included securing themigration corridor between the two nearby protectedareas, conserving elephants and controlling poaching.It was envisaged that the conservation goals would beachieved by providing tangible incentives for the localcommunity to engage in sustainable natural resourcemanagement practices, for example by securing criticalland in the migration corridor and through theimplementation of anti-poaching measures. In this wayit was anticipated, in the words of the original projectdocument, that the benefits would ‘increase humantolerance to key species of wildlife such as elephants,baboons, giraffe, buffaloes, and zebra’.



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To fund specific conservation activities it is intendedthat 5% of the gross operating profit from the lodgewill be ploughed back into activities such as provisionof more waterholes, reforestation and others asdetermined by the area-wide conservation plan forSankuyo. There are two types of risk associated withthis approach. Firstly, funds intended for theconservation fee may be channelled to other purposes,such as providing individual or community levelbenefits. Secondly, activities to be supported by the fundrequire careful evaluation and vetting. TheEnvironmental Impact Assessment Report for SantawaniLodge, commissioned by the Four Corners Initiative,highlights the possible adverse affects of providingartificial water holes in the area. It points out thatproviding water points in hitherto waterless areas tendsto attract water dependent species such as impala andwildebeest, which can modify the habitat to thedetriment of rarer species such as sable antelope. None-the-less provision of water holes is amongst the proposed‘conservation’ activities.

Lessons LearnedFor the Santawani Lodge project to be a success,justifying the investment of public money, it needs tomeet both poverty alleviation and conservationobjectives. In fact, in the long-term both are intimatelyconnected – if the wildlife resource diminishes the raisond’être for the lodge will be lost. It is too soon to judgewhether the project has been successful in terms of thesetwo objectives. Early indications are that the communitylodge is operating successfully and that benefits havebeen distributed widely in the community but neitherdetailed financial information nor feedback fromcommunity members is yet available. One area ofpotentials concern is that there appears to be no formalagreement committing the community to abide by theproposal to channel 5% of gross profits to conservationactivities. A lesson for future projects is that theconservation logic of the enterprise should be an explicitpart of the formal financing agreement between thedonor and beneficiary community.

The business model implemented for the SantawaniLodge is unusual in that the community opted to manageand run the facility themselves rather than followingthe more usual route of sub-leasing to establishedcommercial operators. This model has the advantage ofchannelling far more of the benefits to communitymembers but also has considerably greater risk attached.Unless the community can effectively market, manageand maintain the lodge and the associated land

allocations then little or no benefits will accrue. In thisregard the Santawani Lodge project and the Sankuyocommunity possess a number of qualities and featuresthat can perhaps be considered as essential, or at leasthighly desirable, for the success of similar communitymanaged project. These include: the product offeredsatisfies consumer requirements and meets a real andgrowing demand; established institutional capacity inthe form of STDT, which has been in existence for 10years; prior experience of managing community ownedenterprises, specifically those in the tourism sector;experience within the community of working in otherlodges and hotels within the Okavango region and inSantawani Lodge when it was under private sectormanagement; existence of complementary tourisminfrastructure such as airstrips and tour vehicles;availability of very significant community owned savings(US$50,000 derived from sales of the community’shunting quota) allowing the community to matchdonor investment; low density population level andrelatively small number of beneficiaries; located close-by a world famous wildlife tourism attractions(Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site)and also within easy reach of the regional tourism hubat Maun; residual goodwill resulting from 25 yearsoperation under the previous lodge operators; access tobusiness advisory services and training through the FourCorners Initiative and AWF’S Conservation ServicesCentre in Kasane, Botswana; strong incentive to engagein wildlife-based enterprises due to being located withina newly created cattle-free zone; and an enabling andsupportive policy and institutional environment. Inaddition Santawani Lodge complements thecommunity’s other conservation based enterprises.

(Endnotes)

1 Although Botswana has a relatively high per capitaGDP – almost 80 times that of the poorest Africancountries – wealth distribution in the country is veryskewed: 47% of the population live below thepoverty line and unemployment is 23.8%. Source:CIA, The World Factbook, 2005.

2 C. Stevens and J. Kennan (2005) Botswana BeefExports and Trade Policy. Institute of DevelopmentStudies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

This Pub-licationis fundedby theNether-landsMinistryof For-eign Af-fairs/Di-rectorateGeneralfor Inter-nationalCoopera-tion(DGIS).

This Pub-licationis fundedby theNether-landsMinistryof For-eign Af-fairs/Di-rectorateGeneralfor Inter-nationalCoopera-tion(DGIS).

This Publication is funded by the NetherlandsMinistry of Foreign Affairs/Directorate Generalfor International Cooperation (DGIS).

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© 2005 African Wildlife Foundation

This document was produced by AWF’s Program teamFor more information, please contact [email protected]

The project work in the Four Corners Heartland was

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