Experiences of camel health management in Botswana
Abstract
In Botswana where camels were apparently brought by Cecil Rhodes from Egypt in 20th century
and although a few still remain with the police at Tsabong the majority were sold or given away at
the turn of the 21st Century with the expectation of using them for eco-tourism. Currently, a total of
134 camels are held by Botswana Tourism Association which contracted Kenya camel Association to
work out a management and health programme for the camels in 2010. Early in 2011, the camels were
evaluated on health and well being. A few Botswana people were also trained on camel management.
The experiences reveal that camels can be exploited for commercial purposes that include tourism
which can raise income of the population is a lesson that can be spread through out the region. People
who had never tasted camel milk were increasing in number and by now about 50 people regularly
take camel milk. One camel was castrated for demonstration purposes. The main health problems
encountered included fractured limbs, skin wounds and eye infections. There were relatively few ticks
considering that the camels were living in the wild probably because of living outside the tropics. The
camel potential in Botswana is high if all production and marketing factors can are considered