Boundless Southern Africa

source: Republic of Botswana (22/8/09): TAUTONA TIMES no 22 of 2009
The Electronic Press Circular of the Office of the President
"Democracy, Development, Dignity and Discipline"


C2) 20/8/09: H.E. the President joins regional Leaders in promoting the "Boundless Southern Africa" Route Brand Yesterday, H.E. the President, Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, joined other regional leaders in the Namibian mining town of Oranjemund to give his support to the branding launch of the Boundless Southern Africa Route.

The other regional heads who attended the event were its host, President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia, along with President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Barnabas Dlhamini of Swaziland and Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho. The leaders were further joined by regional Ministers responsible for environment, wildlife and tourism, along with some 3,000 other visitors, in the normally quiet mining town of 8,000.

The Boundless Southern Africa Route passes through nine Southern African countries, running from Durban on the Indian Ocean to Oranjemund on the Atlantic. Along the way it connects a total of 7 Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas and 30 National Parks and Reserves, as well as adjacent communities.

In addition to Botswana, the nine participating countries in the branding campaign are Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Yesterday's Brand launch coincided with the final leg of the three month long "Boundless Southern Africa Expedition" across the entire route, which was led by famed National Geographic "explorer" and conservation advocate Kingsley Holgate.

The Boundless Southern African Route and branding campaign was originally conceived as a way of marketing the SADC region's conservation areas as favourable destinations for tourism and investment ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Speaking at yesterday's event, President Pohamba congratulated Holgate's team for promoting the route, which includes 51 packaged investment opportunities in the seven Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas, ranging from small and medium lodge type developments to larger development projects.

It is anticipated that the branding campaign will further organize an international investor conference and introduce additional marketing campaigns to sell the pre-packaged investments.

At yesterday's event the regional leaders collectively endorsed the Boundless Southern Africa brand as having enormous potential to market the SADC region as a single destination offering a wide array of tourism products.

While the region is endowed with numerous tourist attractions, the Boundless Southern Africa Brand will be focusing on Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas. These include the Kavango Zambezi Conservation Area between Botswana, Angola, Namibia South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe and the Greater Limpopo Trans Frontier Conservation Area between Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

According to its promoters the Boundless Southern African campaign will highlight three components, namely nature, culture and community.

Among the campaign's associated initiatives are invitations to various football teams to camp in their respective countries before World Cup 2010.