Two Okavango villages are paid when cameras record elephants

Two villages on the edge of Botswana's Okavango Delta are being paid for photographs of the wild animals that pass through. Mongabay reported the scheme on November 3, 2026. Gogomoga and Tsutsubega, each with fewer than 500 residents and without paved roads, schools, shops, or electricity, are partners in Harmony with Wildlife, run by the nonprofit Wild Impact and the safari company &Beyond.

Rangers download the camera cards once a week. Different species bring different payments, and an elephant photo pays the most. Every three months the money goes into an account in the communities' names, managed through the local council, and villagers decide together how to use it. This year the program has paid 57,600 pula, about 4,175 U.S. dollars, mostly for elephants and spotted hyenas, with leopards and African wildcats also on the cards. Wild Impact's Andrew Venter said the sums are kept modest on purpose, because the organization pays them itself and wants the payments to continue. Skipper Mareja, the group's regional manager, said the first two quarters of 2026 have already reached the village accounts, and residents have met to talk about spending. The payments acknowledge animals living alongside people. They do not replace compensation when a crop or a borehole is damaged, and they are not a count of the delta's elephants.