GCWIHABA CAVES SET TO BOOST TOURISM Jeremiah Sejabosigo reporting for BOPA Tourism is important to the economy of Botswana and the sector is a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) alongside the mining and beef industries. When one talks about tourism in Botswana, the famous Okavango Delta and the pristine Chobe National Park spring to mind as the destinations of choice. Both offer great opportunities for viewing wide range of wild animals, big rivers and a unique delta nestled inside beautiful thick forests. However, not very far away from the Okavango Delta in the North West District, lies another wonder product of creation called the Gcwihaba caverns. Located underneath a range of hills in the sandveld of Ngamiland close to the border with Namibia, the Gcwihaba caverns have been in existence for over two million years. The caverns include the Gcwihaba Caves located underneath the Gcwihaba Hills, the adjacent !Wa Doum Cave, the Mongongo Cave, Bone Cave, Diviners Cave and Blue Cave which are situated under the Koanaka Hills. Accessing the caves can be a daunting task as one would be required to traverse a tough sand terrain for about 130 kilometres from Tsao village, which is along the Sehitwa-Gumare Highway. Due to their location these underground caves have not been fully exploited as a tourism site and have remained almost docile for a long period of time. But with government aiming to forge ahead with its economic diversification drive, the Gcwihaba caverns have been identified by President Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama as an area that could offer a lot to the tourism sector. Consequently, the Botswana Tourism Organisation and the Xai-Xai-Tlhabololo Trust, which belongs to the nearby community of Xai-Xai village, have partnered to in an ambitious project to develop tourism alongside the Gcwihaba caverns. There has been an ongoing project to make the caves easily accessible to tourists and last week President Khama undertook a three-day visit to the site to appreciate the effort being put in place to develop the caves. Firstly he went inside the main Gcwihaba Cave system which has two main entrances which are about 250 metres apart. The large entrance of the cave which is about five metres wide makes it easy to enter the cave. Upon entering the cave you are greeted by darkness an awful huge number of bats as well as other insects that abode in the cave. The cave has a long tunnel, comprising a series of passages and rooms big enough to accommodate a big truck, which one can easily walk through to experience this amazing work of nature. There are also a lot of cave formations but the rocks are firmly held in place such that there is little risk of them falling. The President also visited the! Wa Doum cave. Its small vertical opening makes it a challenge for one to enter the cave. One has to lower their body feet first in a small hole through rocks, before using a rope ladder to descend into the cave. There was also the Dimapo Caves which can be accessed through a narrow tunnel. A cage is used to lower a person through the tunnel and rocks down the ground. In the cave there is a system of tunnels that lead one through to different areas of the cave which include a spring of water. Speaking during the tour of the caves, President Khama said he was eager to assist in getting the Gcwihaba caves tourism project off the ground as quickly as possible because it could assist in the diversification of the tourism sector. He said at the moment wildlife tourism is the most popular in Botswana with caving experience not familiar. However, he pointed that cave tourism has a lot of potential in Botswana and the country could derive immense benefits from them. Investment Promotion Manager at Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), Mr Tafa Tafa concurred that the area offered a lot of opportunities. Thus, he said BTO started a project to develop tourism in the Gcwihaba caves back in 2009 in order to exploit the potential of those resources. “Botswana tourism came up with the project looking at how best we can exploit the resources within the concession area that was given to the Xai-Xai Tlhabololo Trust in order for the community to gain meaningfully from tourism in this area,” said Mr Tafa. He said the project entails development of accommodation facilities for use by people coming in to experience the caves. He also said the plan involves the development of the tourism product in terms of wildlife experience where the people can come in and experience wildlife in the area. “We are trying to attract wild animals back to the concession after they migrated out due to hunting. So we are trying to develop a product where people can experience wildlife, and also experience the caves and culture of the Xai-Xai community which is mainly a Sesarwa culture.” He said their vision is to develop two lodges and camp sites at the Gcwihaba and Koanaka cave sites. The project would be developed in phases, with phase one encompassing the development of camp sites as well as a borehole to provide water for camp sites. It will also involve the development of water holes to try to attract animals back into the concession. Mr Tafa said the main attraction would be the caves themselves while the Xai-Xai community culture and wildlife would provide secondary sources of interest. He added that they were eager for the project to succeed because it would lead to the Xai-Xai Tlhabololo Trust benefitting directly from tourism in their concession area. “Botswana Tourism Organisation is helping in the development by assisting with resources needed to make this project become marketable and well recognised so that it can attract more people to come and see what we have here,” explained Mr Tafa. He said while people know about the caves because of the history behind them, what makes it difficult for the area to operate a lucrative tourism site is the issue of access and availability of facilities. Therefore, that is the reason why they are looking to build camp sites and lodges. He anticipated that the camp site and borehole would have been erected within two years at a cost of between P500 000 and 1 million, while the lodges would be built later. He also said BTO hopes to impart business skills to ensure that in future the Xai-Xai Tlhabololo Trust can run the project alone. Mr Roger Ellis, a caver who is involved in the Gcwihaba Caves Project, said the caves exist in an area of dynamite which is typical cave rock. He says he has been involved in the project of searching the hill for new caves for many years and rates the Gcwihaba Caves Project as one of the most extraordinary caves project in the world. Mr Ellis said the ancient caves were first discovered by Basarwa of Qung origins, who then showed them to a Ghanzi farmer named Martinus Drosky in 1934, hence they used to be called Drosky’s caverns. They were later renamed the Gcwihaba Caves. He said after the caves were discovered there was a period when there was no one who was really interested in them. But in 1991 a team of British Schools Exploration Society did a research on them and realized that there was a potential for discovery of new caves. The team discovered the entrance to !Wa Doum Cave and in 1993 came back with intention to fully explore the new caves. They searched !Wa Doum and Koanaka Hills and found the Bone Cave and the Blue cave. In 2001 a group of cavers from South Africa were invited by government to explore more new caves but found none. Then there was a survey which discovered a number of new caves that led to discovery of Dimapo caves, and other caves at Koanaka Hills such as the Diviners cave. He said as the caves have now been discovered there has been opportunity to explore, adding that the project rates as the most unusual caving project because of the environment where the caves are and the environment within caves. He said most of the formations in the caves are dead but there are also some active ones as well. Mr Ellis said there is little evidence of the caves having been occupied by human beings in the past.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 09:34:24 +0000
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