12 Jan 2015

At 70 years old, Ms Heather Carr-Hartley is no ordinary aging woman. Ask her anything about Kasane and you will be amazed at her impeccable knowledge of this famous tourist town.

Together with her husband Pat Carr-Hartley and son John, Ms Carr-Hartley came to Kasane in April 1971. The youngest of the two children, Taryn was born later.

People call her ‘Mayor,’ a name she was given years ago. The name was bestowed upon her because she has been in Kasane for a long time and knew the area well.

Ms Carr-Hartley says people would come to her for advice and she is also able to speak up for what she believes to be right and for the good of others.

For a few years, she was the chairperson of the Kasane Business Council and she emphasised that she is outspoken on matters which she believes to be right and which will benefit the community.

When she arrived in Kasane, there were very little development in the area and they came to manage Hunters Africa.

The Chobe Safari Lodge had just been bought by Perrcival Tours and there was Chobe Trading Store owned by the Du Plessis as well as WENELA under the management of the Ken Mommsen and his wife Marge.

She says the hospital was a two roomed clinic with an orderly, Mr Duncan Mlazie and two other untrained staff and there were no buildings at either Kazungula road or Kazungula Ferry Border on the Botswana side.

Ms Carr-Hartley also says the police station served as an entry and exit point, while the post office had the telephone exchange, which was only open from 8 at to 430 pm Monday to Friday.

When she came to Kasane, nursing was her profession so she requested to work at the hospital. But that was not possible as the requirement was to transfer every six months, which she was not able to do, nor prepared to do.

She was able to register as a Botswana Nurse in the private category and assisted with casualties from road accidents, hunting accidents, and just also gave advice whenever asked to.

One of modern day security concerns, poaching, was not common when she arrived in Kasane, but however the rhinos that had been imported into Botswana were kept within the “Rhino Pens” in the Chobe National Park. This she says was to ensure their safety and she says poaching for the pot was more common than poaching for ivory. 

In comparing the tourism sector, she said the late 1960’s tourism through to the beginning of the 1980’s cannot be compared to tourism today.

The Chobe National Park had only just been opened when she arrived and the main tourist attraction in northern Botswana was related to hunting.

She also says one must also remember that the “Rhodesian Bush War” was at its height and countries such as the United States and Britain discouraged travel to the northern part of Botswana.

Ms Carr-Hartley notes that all their supplies came from Victoria Falls as there was no main road to Francistown, but only Bushman Pits Road and that took three days in a 4x4 vehicle.

She adds that travel within the region was by a private charter company and all flights had to be security checked and registered prior to the aircraft coming to Kasane.

Their airfield was on what is now the Mowana Lodge Golf Course. So they had a ground to air radio and it was their means of contacting the incoming aircraft.

The ‘Mayor’ also says while malaria was known to be in the area, it was not like what it is today because the population was  very small so they were advised to sleep under the mosquito nets.

She also mentions that Tuberculosis was hardly heard of because the population was small, and HIV/AIDS had not yet become a problem in the region, while teenage pregnancy did happen.

But the young girls within their area listened to and obeyed the advice from their grandmothers, there was a respect within the community for others, a respect which has all but disappeared in this day and age.

Furthermore, Ms Carr-Hartley emphasised that the District Commissioner was the head of their community and respected. She says there were government departments such as Wildlife and National Parks being the predominant one and the police, while Customs only came to Kazungula in 1973, and there was no bank.

There was a filling station, which was at the Safari Lodge, and the only one in Kasane and was serviced by BGI Agencies, owned by the late Mr Peter Becker from Francistown.

BGI also supplied the fuel they needed for Hunters Africa, where she was managing and at the end of 1983, Ms Carr-Hartley left Hunters Africa to open Kasane Enterprises, Mr Becker asked her to manage the filling station for him, which she gladly did.

In 1987, Ms Carr-Hartley said she bought the fuel rights to the filling station, which she ran as Kasane Filling Station until it was closed down by Chobe Safari Lodge in 2002 as they did not want a filling station on their hotel property.

After owning the filling station, she ran Kasane Enterprise, which was an office agency, managing businesses such as Manica and others.

She says it had many facets providing communication for travellers through telephone and telex, secretarial agency, meet and greets at the airfield, re-fuelling of the aircraft on the airfield until the Kasane Airport was built.

Ms Carr-Hartley emphasises that her family built the Audi centre on President Avenue, which is where her office is currently located. She says her husband retired in 2003 due to ill health and she continued with Kasane Enterprise and the Audi Centre.

As Christians, they believe that every person has within them their God given gift and potential and her desire has always been to try to encourage people to work to their full potential. She also says that she is a hard task master, and expects those who work for her and with her to do the same.

Some of the people she has worked with here and encouraged to get the results of working hard are the likes of Ms Monica Kgaile, who owns Water Lily Lodge and Janala Tours and Ms Rosinah Mosweu who will be taking over from her as manager of Manica Kazungula.

She said Kasane Enterprise has gone its full circle, and is now no longer a business hub, but has taken on another character name, a Bible shop where people can come and sit and have a cup of coffee and listen to Christian music, read, or just chat.

Her involvement with God and church, bring many across her path and she wants to be available and useful to God, who she serves.

Speaking of the street children roaming Kasane, ‘Mayor’ says it is a sad situation they have and says she is one of the founding members of Noka Ya Botshelo.

It was established for this very reason, the need to provide a good education starting from pre-schoolers, the need to instil in a child the fact that they are of worthy to God and to the community and the need to show them  love.

Ms Carr-Hartley says that she is deeply concerned about drug taking amongst youth in the area, and she said it is common knowledge that schools have been infiltrated by drug dealers.

On speaking about poverty and HIV/AIDS in Kasane, Ms Carr-Hartley says poor people are within every community and whilst she does not wish to belittle the effects of poverty and HIV/AIDS, it has caused families misery, and some left without a bread winner. ENDS