05 May 2024

Chanoga water channel  which forms part of Boteti River has dried up leaving some wild animals, livestock and the farming community in limbo.

The channel, which used to have abundant water, was also a hive for tourism and recreational activities with crowds thronging the area on weekends and public holidays, for entertainment and leisure activities such as boat cruising and fishing among others.

Boat operators from Maun and surroundings also relocated to the area when water levels in other sources were low.

The area has now turned into a sad story as the channel is dry rendering the tourist destination unattractive.

The situation has shocked residents as the channel was a source of income for many including small businesses.

The channel depended mostly on spill over from Thamalakane River which is fed by inflows from the Okavango Delta that receives water from the Okavango River which has its origin in the highlands of Angola.

“Drought has taken a cruel toll on our area because our channel has never dried for many years and the water was critical to the locals, supporting fishing, livestock farming and tourism. But currently the channel has shifted from being a significant water source with high productivity to being dry grassland,” said Kgosi Oateng Setlhodi of Chanoga in an interview.

The drying of the channel, he said, had halted activities and shortened the season for outdoor recreation.

He said farmers who operated successful horticulture projects along the channel were despondent and pastoralists were experiencing livestock mortality as the animals were trapped in the mud while in search of water.

In addition, he said, scores of wildlife species particularly hippos faced a dire situation due to the drying up of the channel and the situation gave the village leadership sleepless nights.

Kgosi Setlhodi called for government intervention  to save the animals particularly the hippos and livestock which had been trapped in the mud.

Elephants, he said were also drinking from the channel and since its drying, they were now causing damage in horticulture farms along the channel and also intruding into people’s habitats in search of water.

He proposed that government consider drilling more boreholes to help address the situation, saying failure to do so would result in a disaster.  

He appreciated that some individuals from the private sector had offered water from their boreholes to assist the farming community particularly to water livestock.

He said previously they drilled boreholes through the Constituency Community Funding (CCP) programme but it was unfortunate that the funds had been diverted to improving internal roads.

He cited that they had managed to drill and equip boreholes in Chanoga, Tatamoga, Mawana and Xobe among others through CCP funding and wished the government could secure a budget to continue drilling boreholes in the remaining areas to arrest shortage of water and reduce the impact of severe drought on communities.

The current situation calls for a special dispensation to reduce incidents of human-wildlife conflict, he said.

Kgosi Setlhodi further noted that it was disheartening as endangered species were in a compromised situation.

“As leadership we have been running around to lure the private sector to come on board and save the animals and some business owners have agreed to to supply farmers with water from their boreholes,” he added. ENDS