BOTSWANAS WILDLIFE RESOURCE - A VETERINARY PERSPECTIVE

The southern African Republic of Botswana, nestled among Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, provides habitats to some of the most extensive, free-ranging wildlife populations left in Africa. This Texas-sized nation faces immense developmental challenges as its population of 1.3 million continues to multiply rapidly. With cattle playing vital cultural and economic roles in daily life, landuse conflicts between livestock and wildlife are intensifying. Ar the same time, safari hunting and photographic tourism are major industries, set up to potentially supplant beef sales in foreign exchange earnings if the wildlife resource is managed sustainably into the next century. Dr. Steven A. Osofsky traveled from Texas to Botswana in November 1991 after hearing through the conservation grapevine that a veterinary post might be available in Botswana's national wildlife department. With seed funding for travel and basic field equipment from his former employers at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Tex, he set off to see whether he could ''make a difference'' in the realm of African wildlife conservation. Some of the experiences he relates here are excerpted from the journal he kept as he lived and worked in the deserts, forests, swamps, and villages of Botswana.