Zim, SA to open tourism border in Tshikwalakwala

Zim Now Writer

Development players and government must urgently invest in community tourism development initiatives to ensure that the communities have a sense of ownership and benefit economically in some of the programmes they may want to roll out. Beitbridge East’s Chief Matibe has said.

Chief Matibe was speaking during the dry run of the opening of a tourism border post at the Tshikwalakwala area along the Limpopo River to boost tourism activities in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA).

“This is a welcome development we must all embrace and it is very critical for our communities to look at economic development opportunities that come with this package,” he said.

Conceptualised more than a decade ago, South Africa and Zimbabwe have now put plans in motion to open a tourism border

The dry run was successfully held between Monday and yesterday, which saw a group of seven travel reporters entering from the Pafhuri area in South Africa through Tshikwalakwala, some 130km east of the Beitbridge Border Post.

South Africa and Zimbabwe successfully implemented a dry run of an informal tourism crossing point along the Limpopo River in the Tshikwalakwala area on Monday afternoon.

The new entry point will be opened on a set schedule mostly during the dry season when the Limpopo River bed will be dry.

The GLTFCA is made up of national parks from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Currently, South Africa and Zimbabwe share the Beitbridge Port of Entry as the only land port, and occasionally informal borders are opened at Shashe and Tshikwalakwala for seasonal tourism events.

GLTFCA International Co-ordinator, Gwinyai Muti, said they expect the new tourism border to be officially opened around March or April next year.

“The sole purpose of this tour is to test and capture GPS points for the route directly linking Kruger National Park in South Africa and the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe through affected communal land, whilst simultaneously showcasing and marketing community facilities along the route to the mini group of media houses,” he said.

He said this in line with one of the GLTFCA objectives of promoting trans-border ecotourism as a means of fostering regional socio-economic development and integration, adding that they expected the journalists from across Sadc to market GLTFCA as a destination of choice in Africa.

The South African component of the mega-park, according to Muti, was receiving over 1,5 million tourists and that Zimbabwe was targeting at least 10 percent of those to cross over to Zimbabwe.

The officials said the identified crossing point was expected to improve tourism access and beneficiation linked to the wildlife economy between the Great Kruger Protected area network, which includes the Makuleke Contractual National Park, Sengwe Corridor, and the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

They also agreed that the communities across the international border dividing South Africa and Zimbabwe are related, and the success of natural resources conservation and protection initiatives depends on the collective vision and action of these communities in securing and protecting national resources.

“Common challenges such as snaring, illegal bush meat industry, poaching, illegal livestock trade, land transformation, and degradation, negatively impact the conservation economy and livelihoods in the region,” said Muti.

South Africa’s director of the GLTFCA, Aruna Seepersadh said they were looking forward to the successful implementation of the tourism border, adding that South Africa is also expecting to get a spillover of tourists coming in from Zimbabwe through the proposed tourism border.

She said the area had great potential to turn around the lives of many ordinary people living within the mega park in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Chief Makuleke’s aide (South Africa), Humphrey Mugakula said it was critical for traditional leaders from South Africa and Zimbabwe to meet regularly and exchange notes on how best they could derive economic benefits from the opening up of the new tourism route.