'Southern Africa: One Man's Journey to Save the Okavango', 13 May 2021

The Okavango Basin is an endorheic basin that covers an area of over 2.5 million km2 across Namibia, Angola and Botswana. The basin, which includes the Okavango Delta, is one of Africa's most biodiverse habitats, home to a myriad of birds and megafauna species including the largest African elephant population left on the planet. The delta, a Ramsar and UNESCO World Heritage Site, remains one of the largest intact wetlands. Nearly one million people are dependent on the Okavango basin for their livelihoods. ReconAfrica's license is completely within the Kavango Zambezi Trans frontier area and overlaps with six locally managed wildlife reserves and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. African elephants, African wild dogs, lions, leopards, giraffes, birds and rare flora will be deleteriously affected by the project... Namibian and Botswana environmentalists anticipate the following impacts: The region's ecosystem will be destroyed by a Canadian company that will rake in 90% of the profits... Oil and gas extraction is a menace to wildlife... The region's tourism industry will be shaken and thousands of people might not only lose their jobs, but their investments as well... The project would deplete and pollute the region's aquifer... The project will worsen food insecurity in the region, as water is the life source of communities in the Okavango ecosystem... One of Greenpeace Africa's brave activists Sven Fautley is embarking on a courageous journey cycling from Cape Town to the Okavango Delta in protest of oil drilling in the area. He will cover an estimated 2222,1km and he anticipates that the journey will take him 1 month to complete. He also plans to cycle from Windhoek to Rundu village to meet with the community that is affected by the oil exploration, a further 715,5km away...