05 Jun 2022

 The Desert Bush Walk winter 2022 is slated for July 30, with a target of 2 500 participants.

Led by Vice President Slumber Tsogwane, the walk, which will be in two hike walk trails of 30km and 15km into the desert, will start at Jwaneng Rugby Club grounds and also end in Jwaneng.

Briefing the media about preparations for the 6^th edition of the Desert Bushwalk winter 2022, in Gaborone on Thursday, CSI Concepts Board Secretary and Local Organising Committee (LOC) member, Olivia Nthoi said the initiative had raised over P2m since inception in 2014 to assist communities.

Nthoi said they were able to raise the money with the support of partners and sponsors.

“These funds have assisted communities within Jwaneng Mabutsane, Southern, Boteti, Chobe and Northwest districts with the mandate of changing the lives of the less privileged communities,” she said.

She revealed that over 40 000 pupils had benefited from this initiative. Nthoi said the Desert Bush Walk continued to attract local participants as well as those from Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa as well as others from East and West Africa and abroad.

“Our plan is to establish innovative ways to contribute towards driving the national development agenda, which is aimed at turning Botswana into a knowledge-based economy through digitisation and embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),” she said, adding that the event also promotes event and sport tourism.

One of the sponsors, TKM Engineering director, Boipuso Masala said giving back to the community remained a priority and they continue to advocate for community involvement throughout the country.

“Our corporate social responsibility programme aims to uplift the lives of the less privileged members of the communities in which we operate,” said Masala, whose company injected P50 000 into this year’s event.

He said they supported value- adding community projects that were in line with improving human life and expressed excitement that Desert Bush Walk had presented another opportunity for TKM Engineering to continue its support for projects that had downstream economic benefits for communities.

Founder of Desert Bush Walk, Archie Ngakayagae appealed to sponsors for support, revealing that they had reduced the number of participants due to budget constraints. “Every year we start our event on a zero budget, and this year we will be limiting the number of participants in order to meet the budget,” he said.

He said the proceeds made from the walk were channelled towards community projects, adding, therefore with sponsorship and partnership, they would be able to deliver on their mandate.

Registration and ticket sales are ongoing at www.webtickets.co.bw as well as various Spar and selected Pick N Pay outlets across the country.

Tickets are sold at P300 for the 30km walk and P250 for the 15km hike. Registration will close on June 15. ENDS