MONDAY, 6 MARCH 2000: Two South African national parks (SANP) have increased in size following the signing over of land from provincial authorities to the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mohammed Valli Moosa, announced today.

Minister Moosa welcomed the signing over of Greefswald farm by the Northern Province to be incorporated into the Vhembe-Dongola National Park and the Woody Cape Nature Reserve by the Eastern Cape for incorporation into the Greater Addo Elephant National Park.

Moosa said that the incorporation of the two provincial parks into the national parks would allow for significant conservation management plans to be implemented in both parks, which would bring much needed resources and jobs to these areas as well as place them on the world map of premier conservation areas.

Greefswald farm joins Vhembe-Dongola Park

The incorporation of Greefswald farm into the Vhembe-Dongola Park is significant for two major reasons:

It houses the world-renowned Mapungubwe and K-2 archaeological sites of an ancient Iron Age civilization more than 800 years old, which is earmarked for upgrading to be listed as a World Heritage Site.
It forms a core for the proposed Vhembe/Dongola and Limpopo transfrontier park, which will create 4 900km² conservation area at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, cutting across the borders of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe (see attached map).

Minister Moosa welcomed the Northern Province decision, as this will open the way for preparing Mapungubwe for listing by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The Department of Arts, Science, Culture and Technology has been scoping a project on the preservation of this valuable site and Director-General Rob Adams will be calling a meeting of all stakeholders this month to map the way forward.

The farm Greefswald was transferred from the SANDF to the Northern Province Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) for its management after the first democratic elections in 1994. Prior to that it was military land and no one knew of the rich archeological treasures at Mapungubwe beyond a handful of academics from the University of Pretoria.

The signing over of the land to national government follows a 1995 agreement between the then Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Premier of the Northern Province for the proclamation of the Vhembe-Dongola National Park.

The Vhembe-Dongola National Park comprises of privately owned land, land owned by De Beers and State land. The consolidation of Vhembe is important for the proposed creation of a Limpopo transfrontier conservation area (TFCA). Other areas earmarked for the TFCA is privately owned land (including the Tuli Block Game Reserve and cattle/game ranches) in Botswana, and a mixture of communal lands, privately owned stock and game farming operations and a government-owned safari area in Zimbabwe.

This TFCA has excellent potential as a "Big Five" conservation area. Viable populations of lions, leopards and cheetahs still occur, and the population of 600 elephants in Botswana is the largest population on private land in Africa. Ungulates already present include eland, impala, blue wildebeest, Burchell's zebra, Sharpe's grysbok and steenbok. Earmarked for incorporation in Botswana is the black and white rhino. The area also has 19 Red Data Book mammals.

No detailed information is available on birds, reptiles and amphibians found specifically within the TFCA, although the area around the confluence of the two rivers is known to have a great diversity of birdlife. The three main vegetation communities are the riparian fringe along the main rivers and their tributaries, the Acacia-Salvadora community on the Limpopo flats and vlei areas, and the mixed western mopane veld on ridges and flats south of the riparian fringe and flood plains. Twenty-six Red Data Book plant species have been recorded in the area.

The proposed TFCA will open up the range for animals in this area. A major constraint to the movement of animals in the area is the presence of the veterinary cordon fence and an electrified military barrier on the South African side of the Limpopo River. Once established, this TFCA has the potential to be a significant sanctuary for wild dog, black rhino and elephant and for the 16 other Red Data Book species.

The Dongola-Limpopo TFCA with its wealth of wildlife and scenery and its cultural and historical assets has the potential to become a major Southern African tourist destination. Existing tourist facilities are mainly restricted to a small number of privately run lodges in Botswana (which already attract about 20 000 visitors each year), and an even smaller number within South Africa. In Zimbabwe, the Tuli Circle Safari Area is used extensively for hunting by permit. The proposed national park on the South African side of the TFCA could attract 30 000 additional visitors per year.

Woody Cape becomes part of Addo Elephant Park

The 24 142ha of the Woody Cape Nature Reserve, presently managed by the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism, will also be incorporated into the Greater Addo Elephant National Park as a Schedule 1 national park, thus awarding it the highest conservation status. This has increased the terrestrial area of Addo Elephant National Park to about 104 000ha.

This follows the signing of an agreement between Minister Moosa and the MEC for Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism Enoch Godongwana.

The incorporation of Woody Cape into Greater Addo will enhance the overall biological and landscape diversity of the park making Addo the most diverse park in South Africa. It will add a unique 120km² large coastal dune-field (South Africa's largest and least degraded) as well as unique Coastal Forest vegetation type, the Sunday's River estuary, and an approximate 570km² marine zone to the park (inclusive of the important St Croix and Bird off-shore islands, home to the largest population of threatened Jackass penguins, and the world's largest gannet colony, respectively).

Together with Addo, representative samples of eight vegetation types, and five biomes (Thicket, Savannah, Fynbos, Nama Karoo, Afromontane Forest) will be conserved, while the Kruger and Kalahari parks conserve elements from only the Savannah biome.

In addition to the biological elements there are also important developmental and economic opportunities the Greater Addo Elephant National Park now offers a unique package of different tourism experiences from the sea (with its islands, historical ship wrecks, penguins, great white sharks and southern right whales), to thicket vegetation (with its elephants and endangered black rhinos), to mountains (with fynbos, forests, and mountain zebra, to the Karoo with its open plains).

With these developments come economic opportunities through the SANP's new out-sourcing policy. At this stage the new Woody Cape section could potentially accommodate two tourist camp developments, which will create jobs in the area.

Furthermore, management of the area will to a large degree be unified, thus reducing duplication and waste of precious financial resources. The incorporation of Woody Cape into the SANP also gives it access to the organisation's self-generated funds, in addition to greater international exposure.