riverbed. The conflict between the animals and the 

 cattle farmers before the fence was built had also 

 made things hard for Dugmore's business. "It was 

 very difficult for me to show the wildlife to my 

 guests," he says. "The animals became very nervous 

 and would only come down to drink at night." 



Villagers, too, are evenly divided about the fence. 

 A. Clare Gupta, a specialist in environmental 

 studies, policy and management, surveyed the vil- 

 lagers in 2004. She found roughly equal numbers of 

 those who were happy about the fence — who said it 

 brought benefits such as less predation on livestock — 

 and those who saw no benefits from it. The happy 

 ones said things like, "Before the fence, twenty cows, 

 ten calves, and all my goats were killed. Now, only 

 four cows have been killed." The dissatisfied villagers 

 complained mainly that the fence had come at a high 

 cost, mostly in lost grazing areas for their cattle. Some 

 also said the fence was ineffective at keeping out 

 predators or other wildlife that eat crops. 



Gupta herself is troubled by the fence. In her view, 

 the government's focus on a fence ruled out more 

 long-term alternatives for resolving the conflict be- 

 tween wildlife conservation and the villagers' liveli- 

 hood. "The fence was not the only nor the best so- 

 lution to the problem," she says, "and the proof is 

 that complaints are still coming from both sides." 



Gupta thinks the government should instead have 

 channeled its resources into developing a multiuse 

 zone where villagers could participate in ecotourism 

 campsites around the edges of the park. Local people 

 must benefit directly from wildlife, she argues, if their 

 attitudes toward it are to become more positive. But 

 changing attitudes and integrating villagers into 

 tourism run headlong into tribal culture. The safari 

 is an alien concept to villagers who see the national 

 park as grazing land and wildlife as a source of food 

 and as a threat to their cattle. 



According to environmental experts, the fence has 

 achieved some limited success in separating wildlife 

 from livestock. Chris J. Brooks, a wildlife biologist at 

 the University of Bristol, England, notes that the cat- 

 tle were outcompeting both zebras and wildebeest 

 for grazing lands, forcing the wildebeest population 

 in particular to travel long distances to graze. "By tak- 

 ing cattle out of the system," Brooks says, "you in- 

 crease the available resources substantially. I think the 

 fence is going to be beneficial in the long term." 



At the same time, by building the fence, the 

 Botswana government has placed itself in a difficult 

 position. It must now mediate among various groups 

 with seemingly irreconcilable differences. Yet ac- 

 cording to the department of wildlife, the intensity 

 of the conflict between villagers and wildlife, at least, 



is subsiding. Villager complaints about lions and ele- 

 phants, for instance, have dwindled from hundreds 

 per year to just a handful in the past two years. And 

 the government is making a substantial effort to turn 

 the fence from necessary evil into shared solution. 



From this vantage point, at least, the strategy 

 henceforth seems to be to give something to 

 everyone, without forcing any side to give up ground 

 it has already gained. For example, the government 

 plans to extend the fence to the eastern border of 

 the park. Yet while preparing to extend the fence, 

 the government has also committed $250,000 to dig 

 nine water holes at strategic sites in the park. 



Sibangane Mosojane, the district wildlife coordi- 

 nator of the department of wildlife, says the water 



Plains zebras (Equus burchelli) search for water along the 

 dried up Boteti River during the dry season. The Botswana 

 government plans to dig nine water holes for the wildlife. 



holes will be ready by the time the next dry season 

 begins. The department of wildlife is also planning 

 to collapse part of the fence during the dry season, 

 and so allow animals to cross to water. But, careful 

 not to antagonize the villagers, Mosojane says the 

 fence would be opened for only an hour or two at 

 a time — and never at night, when prowling lions 

 might be able to slip through unnoticed. 



It is not clear, of course, how smoothly the new 

 measures w ill run when the next dry season turns 

 paradise into a desert of gleaming salt. What is clear, 

 amidst all the uncertainty and contradictions, is that 

 the fence is not going away. After putting $6.5 mil- 

 lion into the fence, the government is not about to 

 take it down. □ 



June 2006 NATURA1 HISTORY 



53 



