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

villages have become easy to visit. Tourists, merchants, and truckers all use these
roads, and some of them bring HIV. In addition, the improved transportation network
means that people travel from remote villages to large towns, such as the capital city
Gaborone and even Johannesburg, to work, attend school, or to purchase consumer
goods, and once again, this can provide a means of rapid increase in HIV/AIDS
infection in the area (Bock and Johnson, 2002).
The development of the tourism industry in the Okavango Delta since the 1980s has
also helped increase the spread of HIV/AIDS. Previously inaccessible parts now
have thousands of tourists visiting them each year, and small planes constantly
travel between bush camps and the town of Maun providing another vector for HIV.
Although the Botswana government has an extensive AIDS education and health
care plan in place, it has not been able to keep up with the dramatic increase in the
rate of infection in the Okavango Delta due to the improved transportation network
(Bock and Johnson, 2002).
The Okavango Delta is one of the most remote and least developed areas of
Botswana and is perhaps least able to handle the AIDS disaster. Among the people
of the Delta, traditional ways of life and extended families are already under great
pressure and the HIV/AIDS epidemic adds a further burden (Bock and Johnson,
2002).
5.3.6 Agriculture in the Okavango Delta Region
There are two distinct crop production systems practised by the inhabitants of the
Okavango Delta region. These are the dryland and Molapo cropping systems. The
Molapo system involves planting crops within the moist Okavango Delta river beds
and flood plains during the drier months and utilises the sediment deposited during
the wet season. The dryland system involves planting crops further inland and is
solely dependent upon rainfall. Within the Molapo system, ploughing and planting
are generally undertaken between August and October, and are usually done by
hand. Within the dryland system, ploughing and planting are generally undertaken
between November and January and are usually done by using a team of four to six
donkeys, or sometimes oxen. The most common planting method used by both
cropping systems is the broadcasting system. Other planting methods include hilling,
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