Botswana's future environmental stewards

The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, is renowned for many things, including its large zebra migrations, not only from the Chobe down to the Park but also once in the park between the salt pans and the Boteti River. The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans provide the zebras with nutrient rich grasses that grow in that area of the park and thus attract them to this area. 

Our Maps and Migration activity which we recently delivered to the Environmental Education Clubs fits nicely with this phenomenon, bringing science to life in real time as the children can see the zebras from their schools and villages when they visit the river that is the western boundary to the National Parl.

During this session the children learn what a map is and how to interpret it. We also cover how animals may navigate through the environment, such as through the use of stars, the sun, smells and elephant highways. We discuss why migration is so important and what we can do to enable that to continue. We also touch on human migration and why some people choice or have to leave the country of their birth. 

A game of finding the treasure through the use of a local map is a fun way to round of the session and for us to understand what they have grasped.