Voices of Botswana: the guide who likes to learn

By Roxanne Reid
Spending a morning poling through the Okavango Delta in a mokoro with guide Spongy Makgetho was one of the best moments of our Botswana safari. From our perch just above the water level we floated among water lilies and watched fish eagles, African jacanas, malachite kingfishers and a long reed frog. We also found out more about the guide who likes to learn.

Although Spongy has only been at Xigera Camp since February 2016, his journey with Wilderness Safaris started long before that. He did his guide training at Vumbura, another Wilderness Safaris camp in the Delta, before moving to Baobab Camp near Ngoma Gate in the Chobe National Park when he qualified. He worked there for five years before coming to Xigera.

‘I want to learn new things and at Baobab they only do game drives,’ he says. Here at Xigera he’s already learnt to drive a motorboat and to pole a mokoro. He laughs when I ask how long it took him to master the difficult art of balance needed to control a mokoro. ‘It took about a week, but I went for a few swims while I learnt,’ he admits.

Spongy has a ready laugh and is happy to joke around, as in the photo below, for instance. But when it comes to the subject of guiding, he quickly turns serious.

As is natural for a guide who works in the bush, he’s had many encounters with animals. But he vows that he’s never felt the situation wasn’t under control, even when he was mock charged by lions. ‘As a guide you’re taught to read an animal and its behaviour,’ he says. It means you can usually back off before there’s any serious trouble. And that instinct is what keeps your guests safe.

His ambition is one day to work at a camp where he can learn to lead bush walks. At Xigera guests can’t explore on foot because it’s right on the border of Moremi National Park, where night drives and bush walks aren’t allowed. At Wilderness Safaris camps that are in private concessions, however, it’s another story.

‘It’s challenging when you get to a new camp because you might have to do some research, read books to learn about things,’ he says. Although Botswana’s professional guiding qualification teaches everything from animals and plants to stars and survival techniques, there’s always something new to learn in a new location or ecosystem. It’s what keeps guides on their toes.