Aus der Ngami times:
www.ngamitimes.com/index.html
Deplorable service' at private safari camps
The director of Wildlife and National Parks, Trevor Mmopelwa, told the annual meeting held in Maun at the weekend of the Hotel and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) about “deplorable service” offered at private camps which from April 2009 had been leased by the department to private companies. He noted that the main motive of the leasing was to bring more quality service as there were complaints that his department was not providing such service.
He observed that feedback from camps as far as Khutse in the central Kalahari is that the standard of service is poor while the companies charge exorbitant prices.
Members of the tourism industry also came under heavy criticism for not following the right channels in reporting incidents of poaching to relevant authorities.
Mmopelwa hailed the Maun Neighbourhood Watch 911 anti-poaching call centre as yielding positive results but pointed a finger at some members of the public for calling his ministry headquarters instead of filing reports with the centre.
Recently, some tourism industry operators reported incidents in which vultures were poisoned and others of poaching to the Minister in the Wildlife ministry instead of reporting to the call centre or the department offices in Maun.
