R7.6 Million dream for local community

This week the Ngome Community, just north of Greytown, took the first big steps towards the establishment of a 4 300 ha+ community conservation area, 24 room game lodge and 100 room cultural centre and hotel.  The community received the R7.6 million grant through Tourism KZN and the Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. The funds flowed from a business plan completed late in 2006 by the Wildlands Conservation Trust and the Ngome community, with funding from the EU Gijima KZN fund and assistance from Tourism KwaZulu-Natal. Their dreams are finally becoming a reality after the initial scoping began in December last year and a recent stakeholders meeting confirmed the project plans for the reserve development with construction set to begin in March.

The Ngome Community Game Reserve is situated approximately 1½ hours from Pietermaritzburg and will ultimately provide a wonderful getaway for local bush lovers. The 4 300ha of rolling bushveld constitutes the culmination of two land claims made by the Ngome community, who are excited about the potential of the community game reserve.  The Ngome Community Trust was initially formed by the Ngome community to oversee the land claims and is now more focused on ensuring the sustainable development of the area.  “We want to create job opportunities for our youth, our women and our men” said the Trusts chairman Mr Michael Lathe.

Long-time partner of the project, Tourism KZN, was responsible for brokering the agreement for the grant through the KZN Premiers Department and Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. According to Mr James Hlongwa (General Manager Tourism Development at Tourism KZN), “the R7.6million grant will provide the community with the boost they needed to ensure the sustainable management of the land and significant income generation for the community going into the future”.

The majority of funds will be used for the development of the Bambatha Kraal Lodge (including 10 two-bed units and a conference centre), a boundary fence up-grade, road access rehabilitation, land rehabilitation, and landscaping.  There is more planned for the community though.  Final discussions are underway with partners The Elan Group for the development of a 100 room hotel and cultural centre.  Ngome community leader Inkosi Zondi says he is very pleased with the latest developments.  “When [this project] is complete more than 500 of our community members will have employment.”  “Previously a lot of people have survived on Government grants, this is a sustainable solution”, he said.

National consulting engineers, TPA consulting, are the project managers on the ground.  They will be responsible for sourcing contractors and other necessary resources, overseeing the construction to completion and once complete ensuring all the quality standards have been reached.  The company’s main focus is on poverty alleviation and developmental engineering projects such as this one.  “Our aim for Ngome is to try to utilize community resources and to retain as much of the project spend within the community as possible” says Project Manager Steve Bartell.

The Wildlands Conservation Trust is a KwaZulu-Natal based conservation organisation specializing in community conservation.  They have played a vital facilitation role in negotiations and planning the way forward.  CEO Dr Andrew Venter, who has been at the forefront of these negotiations, says: “It has been a privilege working with this community. The commitment of their leadership to developing this project, as a means to creating local employment opportunity, has been an example to all of KwaZulu-Natal’s traditional communities. Furthermore, their commitment to establishing a game reserve and conserving their unique cultural heritage has been inspirational. There is little doubt that Ngome will be a benchmark project.”

Caption:
Ngome Community Game Reserve Site Map
Phase 1 and 2 will be the development of a 10 unit lodge and conference centre (Bambathas Kraal Lodge), the rehabilitation and extension of the boundary fence (red border) and rehabilitation of the land.  Phase three is a proposed 120-bed hotel lodge and cultural centre to be developed in consultation with development giant The Elan Group.

New Community Conservation Area Launched in Northern KZN

A new community conservation area was launched in Northern KZN this week when the Bhekabantu Community held an official “sod-turning” ceremony to celebrate the development.  The 2 000 ha area is the first step in the establishment of a corridor between Ndumo Game Reserve and Tembe Elephant Park, forming part of the tri-national Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area.  Nkosi Tembe, respected leader of the Tembe people, was given the honours, digging the first hole where fencing will begin in the next few weeks.

The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area is one of a growing number of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (or TFCA’s) around the globe.  These are large ecological regions straddling the boundaries of two or more countries and encompassing one or more protected areas, with the aim of allowing wildlife to roam freely and to encourage shared conservation resources between neighboring nations. The Lubombo TFCA extends into Swaziland through the Usuthu Gorge Community Conservation Area (CCA) and into Mozambique through the Futi Corridor.  The establishment of the Bhekabantu CCA will ultimately support the establishment of a corridor between the Ndumo and Tembe Game Reserves, allowing the free movement of game between the two reserves.  The area will be run by the community who will benefit from the eco-tourism initiatives envisioned for the area.

Initiated by the Bhekabantu community leadership, and with initial support from the Umbono Trust, community members expressed their support for the initiative by turning up in their hundreds on Thursday. Vetty Mahamba, Municipal Counselor for the area said, “This project comes from the heart of the people of the Bhekabantu Community.  The ultimate challenge for us now is the development of strategies and plans for us [the community] to become self-employed and self-reliant”.   He assured the community that they would have the municipality’s full support.

The project was made possible by a R1.45 million grant from the Wildlands Conservation Trust for the establishment of the reserve, the training of community game guards, and to cover the initial reserve costs.  The Wildlands Conservation Trust is a KwaZulu-Natal-based non-profit conservation organisation working towards the expansion of land under conservation in the region, and the development of communities surrounding these areas.  “The Trust has looked forward to this day for many years,” said the Trust’s CEO Dr Andrew Venter.  “This is the first step in a long process to help develop the eco-tourism opportunities in the area,” he said.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s General Manager for the Zululand region, Sifiso Kheswa, congratulated the community for their decision, and committed to the donation of game to the area to help its initial establishment.  He also encouraged the community to access the community levies generated by the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife run, Ndumo and Tembe game reserves.  He spoke also to the neighboring communities present and said, “I would like to send an invitation to the Mbangweni and Ndaba communities [to develop their own community conservation areas] – it can only be good for conservation, and for the development of our people.”

Nkosi Tembe spoke of the significant value of the initiative to the community and gave praise and congratulations to the community and its partners.

KZN’s Tree-Preneurs get a Timely Boost – By Stephen Smith

The Wildlands Conservation Trust received a huge boost for their Indigenous Trees for Life project this week, when DaimlerChrysler SA and Inyanga Motors Empangeni presented them with not only a vehicle and a substantial cheque, but also a newly refurbished office!

The Indigenous Trees for Life project is run by the Wildlands Conservation Trust, and focuses on giving underprivileged people, particularly orphaned children, the ability to literally grow their own money, and with it a future.

These “Tree-preneurs” are provided with basic training in the propagation of indigenous trees.  They then collect seeds from their local areas and propagate them, nurturing them until they are large enough to be sold. Wildlands then collects the trees from them, and either pays them cash per tree, or barters the trees for a variety of goods such as food, clothes or even bicycles.

Wildlands has been amazed by the success of this programme, and to date there are over 1,200 “Tree-preneurs” who will grow over a quarter of a million indigenous trees this year. One example is Sibonelo Magwaza, a Grade 7 boy in Zululand, who has grown over 1,000 trees, which equates to over R6,000.

DaimlerChrysler SA heard about the project, and have become a major sponsor, their latest involvement being the donation of a 3-ton Mitsubishi Fuso Canter 4×4 truck that Indigenous Trees for Life will use to transport the trees. In the past this has proved a big expense to the project. At the same time DaimlerChrysler SA donated a cheque to the value of R225,000 to the project, while the local dealer, Inyanga Motors in Empangeni, has donated a fully refurbished office to the programme, and has undertaken to perform all the service and maintenance work on Indigenous Trees for Life’s new vehicle.

Obviously the major benefit of this project is the upliftment of the disadvantaged, who are now able to grow their own future. But, as CEO of Wildlands Dr Andrew Venter said, another important consequence of this project, and others run by the Wildlands Conservation Trust, is that they help to preserve our heritage, which is under constant threat from the realities of poverty.

[Reproduced with kind permission from DieselCar Magazine]