28 Aug 2022

Scores of people are expected to descend in Maun over the Independence holidays for the Maun Carnival 2022.

Maun Carnival, a celebration of Botswana culture, song and dance, food, people and lifestyle will be held at Boro Fish Farm, 15 kilometres from Maun.

Speaking at the stakeholders  engagement meeting on Thursday in Maun, event coordinator, Emang Mutapati said the three -day carnival was billed for Maun as a prime destination of tourism.

She said Maun was pinned as number one tourist destination due to the fact that it was the gateway to Okavango Delta, a World Heritage site.

However, she stated that most of the time some tourists did not stay over in Maun as they bypassed to the Delta, hence denying opportunities for Maun indigenous people a chance to benefit from business spill overs that may accrue from their visits.

Mutapati said of recent, government decided that tourism should be all encompassing and benefit locals, hence promoted small scale tourism through cultural tourism, music, food to cater for tourists who were not attracted to wildlife.

This, she said proved to be a success because the marketing startegies were zeroed in to African tourists including SADC and most importantly Batswana, who enjoyed traversing their own country.

The coordinator stated that the carnival was not new to Maun.

“We are just reviving the carnival after many years of its hiatus and we believe it would resuscitate tourism after the COVID-19 pinch as many lost their jobs.’’

She said on September 29 there would be a cultural display on the streets of Maun to showcase the uniqueness and richness of Botswana cultures, song and dance, attires, food and crafts whereas the music festival would follow on Independence day at Boro farm.

Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) tourism development manager, Thatayaone Mmapatsi said the organisation saw it fit to partner with Okavango Cultural Productions to stage this carnival because it promoted tourism and Maun as a tourism destination that needed to be promoted extensively.

He said Botswana Tourism Organisation’s aim was to see tourism grow in Ngamiland for the region was a vast district with rich and unique cultures and tourist attraction sites.

“We want to see tourists spending at least three nights in Maun to boost the transport sector, air travel, food retailers and accommodation businesses.’’

Mmapatsi said food tourism was one of the key points that should not be left behind during this carnival because there was an array of Ngamiland cuisine that visitors should enjoy.

He stated that as Botswana Tourism Organisation they re- startegised from high value, low volume tourism to an all-inclusive approach deemed to re-discover Botswana so that Batswana could access tourist attractions at a low rate.

This, he said, had proved successful as they had witnessed a rapid growth in tourism as Batswana travelled a lot, hence injecting money into local businesses.

Music promoter, Gilbert Keoagile said the carnival was a massive festival that would attract thousands of people from Botswana and neighbouring countries.

He said festivals of this magnitude had proved successful in neighbouring countries, citing Macufe in South Africa, which he said attracted close to 50 000 revellers from as far as Europe.

He highlighted that it was imperative to merge tourism with entertainment so that tourists could have fun while they also explored Botswana’s offering.

Keoagile said the music festival lineup was unique and attractive with South Africa’s Mafikizolo, legendary Stiga Sola, Dj Big Pun and other artistes in the Ngamiland District. ENDS