Tourism uplifts rural communities

There’s something different about Bongani Lodge, nestled against towering granite outcrops in South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province. Instead of plactic smiles, tourists entering the reserve are greeted by spontaneous cheering and genuine interest from local people on the dirt road to the camp. Part of the reason for the enthusiasm is that local people are seeing their communities grow thanks in part to the thousands of foreigners who flock to places like Bongani to hunt down the big five with their cameras.

Private game lodges throughout South Africa have had an ambiguous relationship with local people. Colonial and apartheid-era land policies left millions of South Africans estranged from the land their ancestors had lived on. Sometimes, the land on which reserves are situated was forcibly taken, leading to generations of resentment. Not only did these communities lose the land as a resource, but their displacement led to a breakdown in kinship, as family and ancesteral ties were severed. With the advent of democracy a decade ago, some groups have laid legal claim to land which they say is rightfully theirs.

Game reserves are often viewed by people living in the vicinity as rich playgrounds amid a sea of poverty. They may provide employment, but traditionally that’s where the relationship and benefits stop. But organisations like CCAfrica and its non-profit making offshoot the Africa Foundation, have shown that with careful management, international tourism can integrate with rural people in a mutually beneficial relationship.

Turning this philosophy into sustainable programmes has not been easy, but it is clear that where it has worked it has brought tangible benefits to many villages inside or next to some of South Africa’s most prestigious wildlife reserves. Near Bongani, the dusty village of Luphisi has new classrooms, a clinic and improved roads as a result of the programme.

School principal Elphus Mhlanga told IRIN that the school has just opened a media centre, complete with computers and a video that he hoped would enable the isolated settlement to connect to the global village. “Some Canadians staying at the lodge visited us, saw the need and went home and fundraised for these computers, it’s going to change our village“ he said. “We’re so lucky to have computers, no other school has anything like this,” one Luphisi pupil told IRIN.

Chief for the area, Chief Sicelo Nkosi, said the school could now be classified as one of the best equipped in the country. “I think more tourists who want this kind of experience also want to see the realities on the ground and in some cases give something back,” visiting African-American Viv Jones told IRIN.

It’s this kind of interaction that has led to more than US $1 million worth of investment in rural communities adjacent to the 17,000 hectare Phinda reserve in neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal. “Communites around Phinda have done very well out the kind of projects started by the Africa Foundation,” Angus Begg, editor of a leading South African travel website told IRIN. He pointed out that one community next to Phinda was about to open it’s own small reserve “with accomodation and game vehicles, now that’s progress”.

The model has been so successful in South Africa that similar projects in Kenya and Tanzania have now been established. Pioneered by CCAfrica founder Dave Varty, he told IRIN that the model has been shown to offer real developmental opportunities in other African countries and beyond. “We started 25 years ago with a belief that twinning hospitality with managed wildlife could lead to significant economic development in rural areas,” he said.

Wealthy foreigners from France, Germany and Sweden rub shoulders with noisy school children at Bongani as the lodge tries to promote environmental awareness among the local community. “We go into local schools and teach the kids about their wildlife heritage,” Gideon Twala, a local game warden told IRIN. Part of the education programme involves regular trips into the reserve for the kids as well as their parents. “Why show them pictures of a lion when they can see these animals for themselves? Then people think about the value of these assets,” he added. The scheme has also helped reduce poaching in and around the reserve.

Varty believes that the success of places like Phinda and Bongani could be replicated elsewhere on the continent, providing the kind of economic sustainability vital to depressed rural areas. “Yes, it can expand, as long as there’s a compelling reason for the discerning traveller to go to the place,” he said. “Africa has a tremendous resource in terms of its wildlife and scenery, managed in a sustainable way it can uplift people”.