Guardians of the Okavango | National Geographic

I'm a guardian of the guardians. I feel a duty to protect these guardians from what is the outside world, encroaching. I work within the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project as the community liaison with the people living in these Angolan highlands.

Through Okavango Eternal, National Geographic and De Beers are working to secure permanent, sustainable protection for the greater Okavango watershed, from Angola all the way to the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The upliftment and empowerment of these communities will be the key to preserve this landscape. A landscape that supplies water for millions of people downstream – in Botswana, in Namibia, in Zambia.

I’m one of many in the partnership working to create sustainable livelihoods by collaborating with community leaders, helping them to grow economically and prosper while preserving their traditional ways of living. Communities here use their understanding of African bees to create delicious wild honey. But traditional harvesting techniques don’t meet trade certification requirements, which means locals can’t export their honey to wider markets.

After discussions with the elders, the project provided modern beehives as a solution – able to be traditionally placed in trees, but also on the ground. With continued training and collaboration, these new hives should produce certified honey that can be sold to benefit both the men and women of the community. These communities are guiding us on how they see their future. That itself is special and it’s our biggest progress.

Most people in Botswana don’t know that the waterways come from Angola. The Okavango Delta has been uplifted by the tourism industry for many, many years. People who are living in the Delta – many of them have been left behind. I am hellbent on securing the future of the Delta through the future leaders of the Delta.

The funding that the Okavango Eternal partnership has afforded us is to help us unroll the livelihoods and the development of people. I essentially manage the operations, recruitment, and field expedition and science expeditions. And of recent, we have also included an education expedition which is led by myself.

The teachers can see what there already is in their syllabus and curriculum out in nature so they can better explain the syllabus to their kids. Twenty. If it was up to me, every single kid in Botswana would get the same quality of education that my child is lucky enough to have. The Okavango Delta is the lifeline of this part of the country and it’s in our best interests to manage it well for the next generation to enjoy it.