ABOUT BLEEPING TIME! BTO WILL NOW PROMOTE HUNTING AT LAST.

Oshinka Tsiang

What a relief it was when the Minister of Environment and Tourism Wynter Mmolotsi boldly declared in Parliament, the government’s position on hunting and Botswana’s determination to grow this sector. In his presentation of the Ministry’s budget estimates, he said “The Ministry attended the JAGD & HUND hunting show in Germany and the Dallas Safari Club hunting show in the USA during the months of January and February 2026. On the basis of that experience, BTO will now start participating at major international hunting fairs to market consumptive component of tourism with the aim to promote and grow this sector.” That’s a huge step by government when you consider that hitherto, the hunting aspect of tourism, while a major source of livelihoods for many Batswana, has been on the back foot. You would almost accuse BTO of pretending it does not exist. The relentless barrage of criticism from the international anti-hunting brigade has created a debilitating trepidation on government to promote this type of tourism although it is a central part of the sustainable use policy. Government has had to treat hunting as the ugly cousin of the tourism family. Which is a tragedy. And so when the Minister announced in Parliament that the Botswana Tourism Organisation has now been given the go ahead to promote hunting tourism, you realized that a huge weight of collective guilt has been lifted. By that statement, the Botswana government is saying to the rest of the world, particularly the international non-state actors and their local cronies, who have been leading the vitriol against hunting, “back off”. And about time too, because the noise against hunting seems to be intensifying since the change of government. It was important that the new government unapologetically make its stance known. Ambivalence only attracts more noise. The government can no longer afford to dither over this. We either promote hunting or we don’t. It is also pleasing to know that the Minister has had time to attend the major hunting events around the world and has appreciated at first hand the tremendous value the hunting industry represents. So he is speaking from a very informed position. It is now up to the BTO to refine its processes to promote this aspect of tourism. It must not allow itself to be derailed by the expected ramping up of vitriol from the anti-hunting brigade. The BTO must embrace the dual nature of Botswana tourism and find a balance in promoting both as efficiently as they can. Anything less than that would be disobedience of policy direction. This will require commitment to defending Botswana’s policy of sustainable use which they have hither to been silent about, choosing only to promote the cushy side in the form of photographic tourism. The BTO must now roll out strategies that create confidence on the clientele on both sides of the tourism spectrum. The BTO must work to dismantle the fallacious narrative that hunting tourism contaminates photo tourism and repels photo tourists from Botswana. The fact is there is space for both sides. The problem is when you try to promote one side by demonizing the other.

 And herein lies the danger. The seemingly growing local conflict between the anti-hunting and hunting communities. I say seemingly because it is clearly foreign manufactured. What is disturbing about it is the widespread misinformation being peddled. There is also a lot of secrecy in terms of the funding of the campaign against hunting. The local NGOs who are making noise about hunting will not declare their funders. They instead try to distract from this question by impugning the motives of hunting organisations that genuinely and transparently work with government to promote conservation, such as Conservation Force International. Not only is it amusing but it is intriguing that an organization such as the Elephant Protection Society, which supposedly promotes the protection of elephants should take issue with CFI’s support of the lion management plan. They would not even say what is wrong with that. Choosing only to post cryptic derogatory messages on their pages with hints of alleged collusion with government officials. Again EPS still won’t say who is giving them money for their costly expeditions, campaigns and curious borehole drilling escapades. I wonder why.

But I digress. The point I want to make is, that BTO now has its work cut out for it to implement government’s commitment to further developing the hunting tourism. It is a minefield that the BTO has to negotiate. But it is worth it. We have only just scratched the surface. There is much more that this industry can offer. So thank you Minister and your team for reclaiming our tourism again. That is decisive leadership. God speed.

BTO WILL NOW PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE USE WHICH INCLUDES HUNTING TOURISM