the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

diminishing returns of extractive industry and the vulnerability of the cattle industry to
importers' decisions, disease and drought (Lilywhite and Lilywhite, 1991). Economic
diversification is essential to ensure continued prosperity and the government has
been exploring new options which will allow the utilisation of human resources to
support new service-based economic sectors. These include, for example, financial
services, information technology, and of course, tourism (Carbone, 2003). Many
other developing countries, in both sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, see tourism
as a sustainable way to earn foreign exchange and provide large numbers of skilled
and unskilled jobs for the local population (Hitchcock, 1991; Young, 1995).
This chapter comprises three major sections. The first section gives a broad
overview of the country of Botswana as a whole, providing information on the
economy, demographics, resources and tourism. The second section provides an
overview of the study area, the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana, focusing on
general demographics and natural resource utilisation in this region. The final
section provides information on the history of the development of the tourism
industry and natural resource utilisation in the country, and an overview of the
government institutions, policies and issues in Botswana which impact upon tourism
and natural resource utilisation and preservation.
5.2 Botswana - A Country Overview
5.2.1 Geography
Botswana is a landlocked country situated in southern Africa. It lies between 18 to
27 degrees South and 20 to 29 degrees East, with approximately 75 percent of the
country lying in the tropics. However, due to its altitude (an average 1000 meters
above sea level), and distance from the oceans, the climate is temperate rather than
tropical. Rainfall is low, erratic and unevenly distributed, ranging from 650 mm in the
northeast to less than 250 mm in the southwest of the country (MacGregor
Hutcheson, 2002). The country is bordered by Namibia to the west and north,
Zambia to the north, Zimbabwe to the east and South Africa to the south and
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