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Sankuyo Bush Camp

Thursday, 6 August 2009 08:04 by BillGiven

Sankuyo Bush Camp Offers a Classic Safari Experience

Sankuyo Bush Camp is a new camp in Botswana. I am introducing Africa Safari Blog readers to Sankuyo Bush Camp in a multiple part blog post. This is part one of the Sankuyo Bush Camp blog post and it provides an introduction to the camp as well as information about the community owned nature of the camp. For other Sankuyo Bush Camp blog posts, please click on the appropriate link below:

Sankuyo Bush Camp Introduction and Community Ownership

Sankuyo Bush Camp Guiding and Camp Management

Predators Accessible from Sankuyo

Accommodations at Sankuyo Bush Camp

The classic bush camp has become an endangered species across Africa, and in Botswana is almost extinct. Luxurious amenities continue to be added to camps and result in prices spiraling upward. Despite this clear trend, I constantly have clients say they want a great wildlife area and nice comfort but do not want to pay premium prices for a lot of luxuries.

More specifically, most of my clients are most interested in incorporating the following as part of their safari:

Excellent wildlife sightings

Great guiding

Exclusivity of a low traffic private area that permits off road driving for optimal viewing

Comfortable beds and ensuite bathroom facilities

Benefiting local village economies

Minimizing environmental footprints

The new Sankuyo Bush Camp meets these requirements making it a brilliant new safari offering and a great value.

Photo of Sankuyo Bush Camp Tent
The new Sankuyo Bush Camp tents are classic safari accommodation with simple comfort and emphasis on the outdoor environment.
Photo courtesy of Sarah Fazendin

Sankuyo Bush Camp: Community Ownership

Breaking Out of Traditional Botswana Owner/Operator Relationship

Sankuyo Bush Camp is a first of its kind model for community based tourism in Botswana. Traditionally in Botswana local people own land rights for concession areas and they earn an income by leasing their concession to a safari operator who builds and operates a safari camp.

Sankuyo Bush Camp - Profits go directly to the local community

However, Sankuyo Bush Camp has a different setup as the Sankuyo Tshwaragano Management Trust has instead maintained full control over their land and entered a partnership with Lodges of Botswana to develop and manage Sankuyo Bush Camp as a 50/50 venture. The community earns 50% of the actual operating profits. The Sankuyo Tshwaragano Management Trust had a competitive proposal process before selecting this model that is believed to be considerably more beneficial for the community than the traditional leasing set up. A guiding principle for The Wild Source is to support community based projects and I am ecstatic to see the development of this new model and hope that as additional concession leases come up for renewal that other local people will be able to increase their economic benefits as well.

In my next blog post, I'll be discussing the extraordinary guide and management team at Sankuyo Bush Camp.

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Tags:		sankuyo bush camp, botswana
Categories:		Safari Camps & Lodges
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Comments

August 9. 2009 16:52

Hi Bill,

Just to clarify a point on the ownership model.

I think you may have overlooked the 50/50 profit sharing in the Kwedi Concession, which was the first example of this model in Botswana, I believe?

Russell Johnson

August 13. 2009 18:54

Pingback from thewildsource.com

Predators Accessible from Sankuyo Bush Camp

thewildsource.com

August 15. 2009 03:56

Hi Russell,

Thanks for your comment, I am aware that there are community agreements with Wilderness Safaris and 5 local villages who have the rights to the Kwedi Concessions as the Okavango Community Trust. I did not think it was the same kind of agreement though, my understanding is it is a lease (technically a sublease as the Trust leased it to a hunting operator, Michelleti Bates Safaris, who in turn leased it to Wilderness Safaris) though there could be some profit share on top of the lease. The latest financials that I could find were for 2005 and at that time the Okavango Community Trust received 1.8 million Pula, which at the time might have been about 6 Pula to the $1 so a total income of $300,000 for an area that contained Duba Plains, Vumbura, and Little Vumbura camps. If you consider bookings at an average of $500 per person per night it would only take 16 bed nights per camp per month to pay those earnings which is barely more than one tent of 2 people for a month at each camp and definitely far short of 50% of the daily profits, which is the arrangment for the Sankuyo Bush Camp. I got this data from the following report on page 72 http://www.cbnrm.bw/publications/Proceedings%20of%20the%204th%20National%20CBNRM%20Conference%20and%20CBNRM%20Status%20Report.pdf

I also have done searches on the arrangement and on Wilderness Safaris website they claim a partnership but only mention a leased concession, I can't locate anywhere that states a profit share though in their printed brochure it mentions a profit share but does not mention any percentage and I would think they would for certain want to highlight a partnership that of that magnitude. If you know of a source that states its 50/50 please let me know as I'd love to present that fact, especially as Duba Plains is one of my favorite camps but looking at the 2005 financial statement it does not appear that any such sharing is in place.

Thanks -- Bill

BillGiven