SOUTHERN AFRICA TFCAS

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Park Development

A verbal agreement reached in 1948 is the basis of the de facto existence of the Kalahari Transfrontier Park. In recognition of the arrangement no barrier exists along the international border separating the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa, and the Gemsbok National Park in Botswana. The park warden and some of the rangers of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa have been ex-officio honorary game wardens in Botswana since 1964.

In June 1992 representatives from the South African National Parks (then South African National Parks Board) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Botswana set up a joint management committee (Transfrontier Management Committee). This addressed the formalisation of the verbal agreement, and produced a management plan that set out the framework for the joint management of the area as a single ecological unit. The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Management Plan was reviewed and approved by the two conservation agencies early in 1997.

A bilateral agreement recognising the new Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was signed on 7 April 1999 between Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks and South African National Parks. This agreement established the first formally recognised Transfrontier Park in Southern Africa.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was officially opened by President Festus Mogae of Botswana and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa on 12 May 2000. As Africa's first transfrontier park, it served as a symbol of the long anticipated dawn of transnational interdependence and cooperation in Southern Africa.

Africa's first transfrontier park was given new impetus when the presidents of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa opened the Mata-Mata Tourist Access Facility on 12 October 2007. This historic access point on the border of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Namibia has boosted cross-border tourism, reunite local communities and enhance job creation. It also contributes to socio-economic development, especially in the tourism sectors of the three countries. View video clip

Speaking at the opening, President Festus Mogae of Botswana said "... occasions such as this give our countries the pleasure and pride of presenting the Park to the SADC region, and the African continent, as an example of building blocks for subregional and regional cooperation and integration among the countries of the subcontinent". President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia said the opening was a step towards the removal of barriers and the free movement of people as part of regional integration within the SADC region, while President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa said: "It is a celebration of our shared natural and cultural inheritance and another step towards making our parks more accessible for 2010 and beyond. It is the ever-rhythmic African reality interwoven with infinity. It is conservation for the people with the people."

Landowners on the Namibian side of the border have expressed an interest in joining their land to Kgalagadi and becoming part of this eco-tourist attraction.

Earlier in the year !Xaus, a fully catered luxury lodge owned by the Khomani San and Mier communities, opened its doors.

The Joint Access Facility at Twee Rivieren has now been completed and is awaiting its official opening. It will be the first facility jointly manned by customs officials from both countries. With this, the last vestige of two separate parks will fall away as visitors to Kgalagadi, whether to the Botswana or South African side of the border, will enter Africa's first transfrontier park here.