Pan View Tours promotes stargazing tourism
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Sunday July 23, 2023 06:00
Like many people across the globe, Africans including Batswana have for many generations been awed by the night skies. Using their natural astronomic instrument, the eye, they observed, commented on and named celestial objects of interest to them. For the sky and stars, the Setswana astronomical terminology has a deep meaning.
That is why Pan View Tours has seem it vital to close the local astronomy gap and teach tourists including Batswana about stars and what they meant to Batswana in the past. In an interview with the 'Stargazing' Moeteledi Chabaya from Pan View Tours, said they chose to specialise in astronomy where they describe stars both in Setswana or African point of view.
He explained that they chose stargazing tourism to remind the public that before colonisation and other developments brought by it, there was a way people lived adding that before Batswana were taught how to use watches, they used stars to tell time. “As you know, in the past we Batswana did not have calendars, watches and campuses but we were able to know which season we were in. We knew when it was time to plough and harvest. We also knew time for letlhafula, go for initiation schools such as bogwera and bojale.
The stars controlled all of these. We knew that when a star called kopa dilalelo appeared, it was time late in the evening they knew that they had to do their evening chores before eating their supper,” he proudly explained. He further explained that the kgogamasigo star was used to keep time as it gave them the sense of time at night. He said those who travelled at night would follow it to track the amount of time they travelled. He added that mphatlhalatsane star was used to determine that indeed the end of winter.
He said it did not matter how cold it was but once that star was out, they knew that it was the end of winter.
Chabaya also explained that there were many stars where some were secretive and only known by the elders. He added that as a company, they realised that the main reason people travelled was to experience other people’s cultures. He said Europeans and Africans travel because they wanted to learn more about other people’s culture. However, he pointed out that stargazing was one of the tourism attractions unnoticed in Africa. They therefore decided to research and teach people about stars.
He said so far they managed to get 40 stars among the estimated 60 Setswana stars available. He also said they were still struggling to get more information and knowledge about the rain making stars and those used by traditional healers. “We are not only focused on stars. We are a mobile tourism entity. We take tourists to the wilderness. We decided to add stargazing into our packages because some areas like Makgadikgadi do not have animals to show to our people. That is where guiding without wildlife starts. It encompasses trees, hills and mountains together with stargazing tourism,” he said.
He added that their customers had therefore always asked what different stars meant and that was when they saw there was a huge gap left in stargazing. He added that the reception was very good as many Batswana more especially the elders preferred Setswana interpretation while the youth preferred the scientific side of it. He, however, said they offer the scientific side to satisfy their clientele but called on the youth to appreciate their culture. Chabaya called on the public to at least know five stars. He explained that they could be booked for any night events including family gatherings where there are no street lights or the sky was clear. He said they could be contacted at Pan View Tours on Facebook and other mediums.