A traditional Zululand community has dedicated 750 hectares of its land to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.
|||In a bid to embrace eco-tourism and conservation, a traditional community in Zululand has dedicated 750 hectares of its land to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.
Inkosi Daniel Hlabisa of the Mpembeni Community Traditional Authority last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ezemvelo to fuse the land with the park.
This was an expression of support from the 22 000-strong Mpembeni community as part of its dedication to conservation and eco-tourism development.
As part of the memorandum, fences between the Hluhluwe Game Reserve and Mpembeni would be removed, meaning animals would have more land to roam, and visitors would be able to enter the park either through Mpembeni or the main Hluhluwe gate.
Until now, the Mpembeni Traditional Authority had been sustained by a hunting concession which had kept the community borehole running, paid for four field rangers, and funded a clinic.
“My love for nature needed more than this,” said Hlabisa. “I didn’t want to keep our land just for hunting. But now I will be able to offer a complete conservation-based tourist experience for my people.”
Hlabisa attributed his donation to Ezemvelo’s chief exective officer Dr Bandile Mkhize, saying that he had showed support and interest.
“He told me how committed he was to helping local communities establish businesses through conservation, and he has been the driver behind the memorandum,” he said.
In addition to the extra land, an Mpembeni eco-tourism lodge will also be built, after investors financed R20 million for the project.
“This is a dramatic advance in moving Mpembeni forward,” said project chairman, councillor Mbuyeseni. Construction of the lodge is ready to begin and should be completed in September.
Last year, the Miya and Hlongwane communities in upper Tugela dedicated 45 000ha of the Amazisi and Ama-Ngwane land to join the uKhuhlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site. - Daily News