Maitseo MM Bolaane, Chiefs, Hunters and San in the Creation of the Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Delta: Multiracial Interactions and Initiatives, 1956-1979.

Abstract

This book is Maitseo Bolaane’s revised doctoral thesis that was submitted at Oxford University in 2004. Bolanne demonstrates the challenges faced in the creation of a game reserve in the Okavango –one of the world’s priced wetlands. She explains that the active involvement of the local African communities in the creation of the Moremi Game Reserve was made possible by the nature of British colonial rule in Botswana which differed from developments in Kenya and South Africa. In Botswana local chiefs were responsible for service delivery in their tribal areas. Bolaane also shows how lack of stringent racial laws and practices enabled the chiefs, white hunters and adventurers as well as international organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) were involved in the establishment of the Moremi Game Reserve.