The impact of Game Reserve policy on the river BaSarwa/Bushmen of Botswana

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a background discussion on the impact of game reserve policy on Bugakhwe, “River BaSarwa” (Bushmen/San people) in Eastern Ngamiland. The issues of local community ownership and its relationship to perceptions of what constitutes a rural development, and the problems of land rights, wildlife management and settlement, are important in the booming industry of the Okavango region. When the Moremi Game Reserve was created in 1963, the San of Khwaai were moved out and relocated in their present position, at the north gate of the Moremi Game Reserve. The question of access to traditional land and its resources has characterized the BaSarwa’s response to the government’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) initiative of 1995.