Statistical Analysis of Big-5 Sightings in Okavango Delta

All concessionaires in the Okavango Delta wish to see their enterprises continue to attract tourists despite the ban on hunting, a consumptive wildlife tourism activity. With the recent hunting ban, all concessionaires are... [ view full abstract ]

All concessionaires in the Okavango Delta wish to see their enterprises continue to attract tourists despite the ban on hunting, a consumptive wildlife tourism activity. With the recent hunting ban, all concessionaires are left to compete for the non-consumptive wildlife tourist thus need to develop a new marketing strategy. It has been seen from literature from many studies that most tourists come to Africa to see the ‘Big 5’ charismatic mammals; elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard, but there is none from Botswana, in particular on their sightings.The aim of the study was to compare concession areas in the Okavango Delta in terms of sightings of the Big 5 during game viewing trips. Four concession areas in the Okavango Delta where randomly selected from private and community concessions; 2 private concessions (NG26 & NG27b) and 2 community concessions (NG32 & NG41). During each game viewing trip that took place between the 1^stJanuary till 16^thApril 2015, each randomly selected tour guide recorded data on sightings of Big 5. All trips were taken as 4 hour trips. NG41 had the highest Big 5 sightings per trip of 3.14. NG26, NG27b and NG41 had a truncated Poisson distribution of number of Big 5 sightings per trip whilst NG32 had a Poisson distribution. NG26 had the fastest time to first sighting of Big 5 with an average of 52 minutes. We also found that type of guide license, type of trip and mode of transport have a significant influence on the sightings of Big 5 in the delta. Elephants were the most sighted in all the concession areas but NG41 had the highest cluster abundance probability. Moreover, Big 5 were mostly seen to be engaged in the activity of feeding. In conclusion, tourists can get to witness the occurrence of all Big 5 except for rhino, in all four concession areas understudy but are more likely to see all species in one game viewing trip in NG41 and NG27b.