September 27, 2007 Tracing the course of the Boteti
From - The Ngami Times
By Norman Chandler
There has always been a fascination with the flowing rivers and the dried river courses of this arid land. The latest is the Boteti River , a tributary of the Okavango River and closely linked to Maun's Thamalakane River . There has been rumour/speculation for weeks that the waters of the Boteti have finally reached the Motopi bridge, about 823m from Maun.
An expedition to find out the truth spent last Sunday studying and following the course of the river and how far it may have reached. It came across huge stretches of water at places like Samedupi and Chanoga, and noted a very good current pressing on towards the bridge.
Led by safari personality Colin Dandridge, a party of 11 people – Botswana citizens, South Africans, Irish, American and British - eventually found the water was, by last Sunday afternoon, about 4km from the bridge and rising steadily. Speculation now is that the first trickle of water could reach the bridge by this weekend.
The river is fascinating – with so many uses of it being made by local villagers on the remote Makalamabedi to Samedupi road. For instance, there was a lonely water taxi ploughing from one bank to the other against the current followed by a line of six dogs which followed the zig-zag course taken by the boat handler instead of opting for a straight line swim to the other side, cattle wallowing in the mud or drinking, children playing in water that has not been seen in their vicinity for a good 10 years or more, villagers collecting water, fisherman sitting and hoping they could, too, land the biggest tiger fish ever caught in Botswana waters - that record was set a few years ago close to Chanoga.
On the way, the expedition came across a remote building which turned out to be a seismic research station keeping a record of earth tremors deep in the bush. The bush on both sides of the Boteti is devoid of grazing, yet cattle and goats appear to be well-fed. Some of the party couldn't understand the fascination that long-time Maun residents had with the moonscape-type rocks which abound on the river course closer to Motopi.
They didn't realise at first that the mere existence of large surface rocks in Maun (those not dug out of the earth by JCBs) was virtually unknown. The worst of the one-time grazing lands is in the Samedupi area where bare Kalahari sand dotted with trees of all species makes this a landscape devoid of human and animal life. It was not always the case, however, as here and there a remote cattle post was seen. The objective of the expedition was to find out how far the Boteti had flowed, and in that it was successful. It will be interesting to see whether the water finally reaches the Motopi bridge for the first time in many years.
I have been staying in Ngamiland District since 2002 January and since then i have never seen the Boteti River with water, up to Motopi bridge. Go raya gore metsi a boetse gape and people are going to enjoy themselves pliz stop parties near the river, pollution is going to destroy the whole thing. Batswana a re itekeng go somarela ditsa tholego. A re emiseng pollution ko bo Big Tree, Sunset Beach, and everywhere else. Let us be seen as reponsible citizens of this country. I MISS MAUN AND THE PEOPLE THERE. TAKE CARE OF THAT BEAUTIFUL PLACE ITS WEEKEND ENJOY YOURSELVES. CHEERS!
