SOUTHERN AFRICAN PEACE PARKS

Greater Mapungubwe

Park Development

Background

The concept of establishing a transfrontier conservation area around the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers dates back to an initiative by General J C Smuts who decreed in 1922 that some farms along the banks of the Limpopo River be set aside for the Dongola Botanical Reserve. The primary aim of this Reserve was to study the vegetation and assess the agricultural and pastoral potential of the area. This idea was transformed into the Dongola National Park in the 1940s when the results of the study showed that the area was not suitable for human habitation and that it could best be used as a wildlife sanctuary for the recreation of the nation. It was during this time that the idea of linking the sanctuary with similar conservation areas in the then Bechuanaland Protectorate and Southern Rhodesia was first mooted.

In Botswana, land to be committed to the proposed Greater Mapungubwe TFCA would encompass the Northern Tuli Game Reserve (Notugre), an association of private landowners who have agreed to remove the fences that separate their properties and to jointly manage wildlife resources. Notugre presently embraces 36 farms with a combined area of 70 000 hectares. It is renowned for its Tuli elephants, the largest elephant population on private land in Africa. Needless to say, the establishment of this TFCA will considerably expand the range of land available to this population. Notugre is also a conservation success story, given its abundant wildlife today which was virtually non-existent in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

On the South African side, the land to be committed to the TFCA would comprise a complex mosaic of private land, state-owned land and national parks. South African National Parks (SANParks) with the assistance of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd, the National Parks Trust and Peace Parks Foundation, has since 1998 been involved in land purchases to create the Mapungubwe National Park. This park, which was opened in 2004, will form the core area of South Africa's contribution to the TFCA and will include 18 properties of 25 800 hectares in total. A major advance in the consolidation of the core area was made in 2002 when De Beers, a world leader in the diamond trade, and SANParks signed an agreement whereby properties owned by De Beers would be integrated into the core area.

The potential area that Zimbabwe can commit to the proposed TFCA is the Tuli Circle Safari Area covering an area of 41 100 hectares. This area is contiguous with the northern end of Notugre and has no physical barriers to impede the movement of wildlife. There is also potential for incorporating portions of the Maramani Communal Land into the area of the proposed Greater Mapungubwe TFCA.

The proposed TFCA will be developed in phases, as it will not be possible to acquire all the properties simultaneously. The initial phase could link Notugre with the Tuli Circle Safari Area and also with the Mapungubwe National Park. A common characteristic of the areas that will constitute the proposed TFCA is the low and erratic rainfall (an average of 300 mm or 10 inches per annum) which, together with the frequent cycles of drought and poor soils, makes the area extremely marginal for agriculture and ideal for wildlife conservation.

Current Status

Although the idea to establish the TFCA was first mooted in the mid 1990's, a formal planning meeting involving government officials and stakeholders from the three countries was only held in September 2000. The meeting supported the principle of establishing the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA and also agreed that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed by the three countries was to be developed to formalise the negotiations expected to take place.

The draft MoU was approved by a trilateral planning committee on the 31st of August 2001 and forwarded to the respective governments for their consideration.

On 22 June 2006, the MoU signalling the three nations' intent to establish and develop this transfrontier conservation area was signed by Mr Kitso Mokaila, Botswana's Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Mr Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's Minister of Environment and Tourism. This followed years of intricate negotiations.

On 19 June 2009 the interim name Limpopo/Shashe was changed to Greater Mapungubwe TFCA by the Ministers of the three partner countries.

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