Flamingos of the Makgadikgadi

PERFORMING AT THE NO.1 LADIES OPERA HOUSE (10-13 MARCH)

This production is a collaboration between internationally-acclaimed Theatre for Africa and a local Botswana company Showtime. It brings you one of Botswana’s greatest wildlife spectacles: the breath-taking flocks of flamingos in the Makgadikgadi. It is told through thrilling physical theatre and inventive design. This production will transport you back into the heart of the African bushveld. The show features Batswana actors who will enrich the story with Botswana’s cultural heritage through song, dance and storytelling. A journey through the Makgadikgadi unfolding without spoken language will move your spirit, tantalise your imagination and make you want to get straight into your car and head into the bushveld! It promises to be a highlight in this year’s cultural calendar and is a must-see for all!

Enquiries can be made to Catja Orford, Manager - No 1 Ladies' Opera House, cell +267 726 86 557. BirdLife Botswana has seen a short excerpt of the flamingo and eagle sequences which are excellent.

2010 membership fees due

To those of you who have not paid your subscriptions and renewed your membership for 2010, we kindly ask you to do so. We depend on having a large membership base as well as using your subscriptions to do work which we think is of value. You are very important to us.

BirdLife Botswana welcomes Japanese volunteer

A new recruit from Japan, Ms Yukiko Murakami will be starting with the BirdLife Botswana office in Gaborone towards the end of April. Her field is Environmental Education, which is where we plan to use her skills. However we will also use her wider mature experience in other fields as well, which will lead to her further career development. This posting has been kindly sponsored by JICA, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, for two years.

Volunteer website manager required

BirdLife Botswana is looking to engage a volunteer IT person to make our website even more attractive than it is at present. We would like to update our website at least twice a week, preferably more often, and to attract advertisers to our site. It is essential that this person should be fluent in written and spoken English, have a knowledge and interest in birds and have website management experience. The successful applicant may well have experience in marketing and in liaising with the press. This person would report to our Board member responsible for our website.

Fund-raiser required

BirdLife Botswana is looking at increasing and improving our fund-raising effort and have some ambitious plans. However we need a volunteer go-getter in Gaborone to be appointed as fund-raiser for the next year. This person will have marketing experience, be dynamic, like working with an ambitious and hard-working team and will be result-oriented. The successful candidate could be male or female and is probably living in Gaborone as the spouse of an expatriate. Nationality is not important; the person could be a Motswana or Mongolian, but should be fluent in English, have a sense of humour and be literate and numerate. There is no salary attached, the successful applicant will be motivated by achieving agreed financial targets. The successful candidate does not have to be a bird lover, but we think at the end of the assignment, he or she probably will be avi-friendly. Subject to satisfactory performance, it is possible that we may appoint the successful candidate to a permanent paid position after a year.

BirdLife Botswana AGM 2010

Please make a note of 15th May as that will be the date for our AGM, which will be held at Harold and Geraldine Hester's residence, Mogorosi, Plot 30a Notwane. The meeting will start at 18:00 and will be followed by a light supper. Closer to that date we will circulate the agenda and other details.