Tsetse and trypanosomosis control in the Okavango Delta, 1930s - 1970s

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the historical relationship between tsetse fly control, the cattle industry and game policy in northern Botswana. The article will locate the Botswana case in the context of contemporary tsetse and trypanosomes research in sub-Saharan Africa and illustrate some of the major factors influencing tsetse and trypanosomosis control policy in the Okavango Delta. It will also provide an overview of the development of Western scientific thinking about tsetse control in Botswana. It analyses the complex epistemologies employed in Western scientific accounts of the history of the area and emphasises the exceptionality of the Botswana context where tsetse and trypanosomosis control proceeded down a bumpy road of trial and error until late into the twentieth century. Although there seems to have been little attempt to incorporate indigenous knowledge about tsetse fly on the part of the colonial authorities, it is also interesting to note that, in the Botswana context, Africans also made sustained efforts to observe the fly environment and to experiment with its control.