SOUTHERN AFRICA TFCAS

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Progress Report

1997 - 2008

• On 7 April 1999 Botswana and South Africa signed an historic bilateral agreement whereby their adjacent national parks, Gemsbok National Park and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, would be managed as a single ecological unit to be known as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

• Africa's first transfrontier park was opened by President Festus Mogae of Botswana and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa on 12 May 2000. Kgalagadi has since become a popular destination for tourists and lovers of its 4×4 wilderness trails wishing to experience the Kalahari's tranquillity.
• The South African government's poverty relief fund was used to upgrade existing accommodation facilities and also to construct three new wilderness camps.
• In October 2002 South Africa restored almost 58 000 ha of land to the Khomani San and Mier communities. The land is managed contractually by South African National Parks (SANParks), while the communities retain commercial benefits and rights, and the use of the land for symbolic and cultural purposes. The !Xaus Lodge, a fully catered luxury lodge, that further benefits the communities opened its doors in 2007.
• To further encourage tourism, the Foundation funded an integrated tourism development plan for the transfrontier park.
• The Foundation supported the development of a joint entrance facility at Twee Rivieren, which has since been constructed by the two governments.
• 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.  View video clip The Namibian government had requested the Foundation's assistance with the funding and construction of the gate at Mata-Mata. This historic access point on the border of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Namibia has boosted cross-border tourism, reunited local communities and enhanced job creation. It has also contributed to socio-economic development, especially in the tourism sectors of the three countries.
  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.
• Visiting Kgalagadi has been made a lot easier for travellers to or from South Africa, as the road between Askam and Twee Rivieren is now asphalt.

• The Joint Access Facility at Twee Rivieren has 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.