When the Nkashi Classic was announced in 2018,Kedisa, then a young fisherman from Boro, knew that his sport had finally arrived. This would be a competition about his way of life of mokoro poling and because he trusted his endurance to pole faster than any of his peers, Kedisa fancied his chances of winning the race.
On the inaugural race day, October 2018 along the Thamalakane River in Maun, the young man did what he knew best. But his best was not good enough that day as he was beaten by Nkeletsang ‘Ralph’ Moshupa (45) from Jao by a second.
The following year in 2019, Nkashi Classic, which is a brainchild of the Botswana Wild Bird Trust (BWBT) supported by the Okavango Eternal - a partnership between National Geographic and De Beers, did not have races because Thamalakane River was bone dry. So Kedisa could not come and challenge the championship.
Moshupa therefore remained the champion for three more years due to the pandemic hiatus in 2020 and 2021.
When the races eventually returned in 2022 at Seronga, Kedisa arrived determined to dethrone Moshupa. But while his focus was on poling faster than the then reigning champion, a surprise winner beat him by four seconds to keep him second best once again. As Mphetsolang ‘Bokspits’ Kesenoletswe (52) lifted the crown, Kedisa was once again disappointed that he was slower than a man who was double his age. He made a vow that when the race returned this year, he would race to win.
But his successful journey to the 2023 event almost did not happen.
During the Nkashi Classic qualifying heats at Morutsha at NG32, Kedisa was reluctant to participate because he felt unfit. “My body was failing me, I couldn’t breathe properly and so I did not want to race,” recalls Kedisa. But his colleagues at Amber River Camp together with his folks from Boro and Okavango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust (OKMCT) urged him to compete.
Kedisa grew up at Boro, near Maun on NG32. This is the place popularly known as ‘Boro 2’ or ‘DRC’. He was a less privileged child who quit school at Standard Three in Maun and went on to live with his family at Boro. He is the second-born son and was raised by a single mother of 12 children. After quitting school, Kedisa became a fisherman and lived off the river.
It was during the fishing expeditions that he discovered his poling strength. “I used to travel far upstream into the river and fish until late in the day. And just before sunset, I would rush back home racing against the waning daylight,” he remembers.
It was those dusk races against the daylight past the Okavango hippos that transformed him into such a strong poler at a tender age. His tactic has always been to keep the same poling pace without slowing down until he is safe at the mokoro station, a technique that would later prove critical in the competitive mokoro races.
When he reached 18 years, he attained his Specialist Guide licence that permitted him to pole guests into the river. “Poling is a critical life skill at Boro, and if you do not make an effort to get a mokoro licence, you could end up succumbing to doing criminal activities because everyone would be making money except you,” says Kedisa. According to him, as a young man growing up at Boro, life could easily slip away from you. This is because Boro is a unique village. It is Okavango Delta’s mokoro capital offering 100s of tourists mokoro trips into the wilderness.
It is a thriving poling community that heavily relies on tourism.
It is normal to see Boro people trading with each other using US dollars earned from tourists’ tips. But despite thriving tourism commerce, Boro is poorly resourced; without a school, health facility or law enforcement centre. A few years ago, the place was notorious for lawlessness and that is how it got the ‘DRC’ moniker. Looking back, Kedisa is happy that he stayed away from trouble despite quitting school at a young age. Throughout his life, he managed to remain sober and focused despite growing up in a troubled place like DRC with 24-hour shebeens.
It was that focus that helped him to finally emerge victorious at the Nkashi Classic 2023. Just like at the 2018 inaugural race, when he was beaten by one second, Kedisa was this year just a second quicker than his number two Gorata Moagi (36) with a time of 11min 24sec and 11min 25sec, respectively. Maikutlo Boromolang (51) got position three with a time of 11 minutes 26 seconds.
Despite the victory, Kedisa believed that he was not fully fit for the race and intended to defend his title in the next race. He disclosed: “I only trained for a day, and it was just two days before the event”. His main secret, however, was keeping the same pace, just like in the past when he used to race against the daylight from his fishing trips.
Kedisa pocketed the grand prize of P40,000 cash, which includes P10,000 that went to his community trust, OKMCT. The champion, who turned 25 years on Monday and a new father of two, says he intends to use the money to build a house for his mother at Matlapana in Maun. “My mother really struggled to raise us, so I want to use my Nkashi prize money to give her a decent house and home to live in,” says Kedisa.
*Thalefang Charles is a Storytelling Manager at National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project and a National Geographic Explorer.
