PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT

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Lisbeth
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PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT

Post by Lisbeth »

Geza wrote:I have long wanted to air my opinions on the development of hotels and or bush lodges in Kruger National Park.

Since I live in a big city (Egoli, which I believe makes me an egoliwog.) I see bright lights and hear traffic noise all day. When I want to escape this reality, I usually head for KNP or what I refer to as paradise. I find the tranquility and open spaces rejuvenating for my soul and feel the presence of my Creator. I'm able to marvel at His works and see nature as it should be.

My last few excursions into paradise have left me with a sense of wrongdoing. Lower Sabie was ne of my favoured camps and the last time I saw it, I was shocked at what has happened to this little gem. There is a large sundeck (albeit with a nice elevated view overlooking the dam) which has taken the place of a once gorgeous lawn with flwers and trees where one could watch sunbirds while sitting on a bench. In my opinion, this is more in keeping with something I might expect at Sun City. Big, gaudy and in my own mind (Small as it may be) a monstrosity.

Skukuza is another of my favoured camps. Big as a small town, yet I have always loved it, especially the museum and the deck overlooking the river. Recent developments have added a whole line of riverside bungalows and for those staying there, they must be great, but it has killed off the old charm of the oldest rest camp in paradise. Same thing at Letaba and Olifants. My most recent visit had me appalled at the hideous thing called a conference center. Man alive, it has to be the single most ugly thing I have ever laid eyes on in a nature reserve. Surely conferences are where one sits in an air conditioned room and listens to others sharing ideas on how to increase sale or profits of a business. What has this to do with nature? Nothing other than the center has very obviously been built in the wrong place. Maybe it should have been on one of the town adjacent to the reserve. Not inside it. Seriously, I think this was the first in a series of really dumb ideas by current management.

Gone are the days when one could not hear ones neighbour. In the evenings, the gentle hubub of distant conversations could be heard without them intruding on the night symphony of nature. Now they have squashed in so many more buidlings that one can almost stand at your own braai and turn your neighbours meat for him without having to move.

Is this what paradise is to become?

The park is getting more and more crowded every time I go there and it is fast losing it's appeal to me as a holiday destination. The result of this is gridlock at cat sightings and more and more people not taking the time or courtesy of knowing the rules. Dumbass people get out of their cars for a better picture of a lion or other dangerous game because of this over crowding. Speeding and road kill is another sign of deterioration of the enforcement of rules (in place for our own stupidity and lack of safety concerns).

Where once animals had right of way, today there are virtually fistfights and people screaming at each other to get a glimpse of lion or leopard. Gridlock increases road rage in an environment that is supposed to be peaceful and tranquil.

And now they want to put more bums in beds by building luxury hotels. 6 or so of them. Each accommodating another 240 families. That's another 240 cars per hotel. It's also increased staffing to provide for the needs of the additional guests and then there is the added issue of having to ferry in the food and drinks needed for the added guests.

At this rate, I dresay, I think that the M1 north at Grayston will be less congested at 7h30 than KNP will be on an average day.

We need to make a concerted effort to fight this and keep Kruger s virginal as envisaged by James Stevenson-Hamilton.

I feel that if we lose this battle, then nature is very much at risk of the profit motive and it will ultimately be lost forever. Think about the legacy we will leave behind for our children and their children.

Kruger (Nature) needs our help to protect it since it cannot speak for itself.

How much more can this small piece of paradise take before it begins to crack and falter under the strain placed on it by mankind?

These are just some of the reasons I think we need to fight this thing and fight it with all our power and purpose.


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Re: PAVED PARADISE AND PUT UP A PARKING LOT

Post by Lisbeth »

serval wrote:HB , this has been my argument since 1991 or so , when I booked a few nights at Shimuwini bushveld camp between wilderness trails .
I was hoping to arrive at a rustic wood & thatch camp , but was somewhat disappointed with what I saw . Soon afterwards sanparks started another trend with their own open safari vehicles and shortly afterwards private operators appeared . Seeing goods on the patio & banners displayed at Afsaal turned me running for space , and when the commercialisation program started in the late 90's with concession lodges and restaurants I knew the thin edge of the wedge was long passed by and we were on the threshold of much more development .

Can we stop it ... ?
Geza wrote:If one drops a frog into boiling water, it will die almost instantly.

However, if one puts the frog into cold water and slowly heats it up, the frog will make no effort to escape until the inevitable happens. It dies anyway.

This is just another way of illustrating what Serval says. The thing edge of the wedge.

First one then another and then another will be build until the whole of paradise id paved like a parking lot.

The thing that scares me most is that the whole idea is put to the public in such a way as to make it seem less benign than drinking a glass of purified water. That building these hotels will be absolutely harmless.

There is no thought that nature will be under increased pressure. Additional demand on water supplies, more lunatic truck drivers in and out delivering all the food and drink requirements. More taxis speeding to drop of additional staff. More road kill, and a bigger carbon footprint made by men.

And we haven't begun to address the issues of how it will affect such animals as are on the endangered list. (I refer to the site planned for Malelane and how it will affect the breeding pair of Pels fishing owls.

So many issues and concerns that SANPARKS management have not addressed to conservationists questions.

T be successful in defeating this madness we have to get enough signatures on a petition to overturn this crazy idea. Of course local population will support this because all they see are potential employment and some benefit. What they fail to see is that current government have been deceiving them for 17 years already and there is no reason why they should be believed now.

We have to drive up visibility of the petition and get the required signatures before it's too late.

Regardsless of these hotels becoming white elephants, it is the building of them that will create huge pressure initially. What will happen to them once they fail. Outsourcing? They will still be there and by then, the damage is done.
Richprins wrote:Well, at least a lot more people are taking notice, and know every move was/is being watched! \O
Geza wrote:I just joined an Anti Rhino poaching group.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/OSCAP/

Invited them to join us and sign the petition. Please support them too.
Lisbeth wrote:
Richprins wrote:Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the hotels and conference centre, BH!

They will be "white elephants" for most of the year, with a few political meetings/parties or small conferences, and that's about it!

Money has already been dealt out to developers and BEE companies, so end of story as far as tenders are concerned.

Most serious enthusiasts, like myself, avoid Skukuza, and have been doing so for many years!
RP, I would not be too sure about this. The Rezidor Group has not become what it is without an intense investigation before an investment and this one even more so as they have to give a commission to Sanparks. Their part in the in the Malelane hotel is rather small, but still.
Actually I do not understand why continuously only Rezidor/Radisson is nominated, having only a minor share :? I suppose it's because they are the ones who will be running the hotel.

The 20% of the communities must be coming from the government and they would not care too much throwing away the money of the tax payers, but the private companies who own the rest?

The fact that you and others are not going to Skukuza does not change the fact that it is becoming a metropolis inside Kruger and a danger for the ecological system of the Park.

*edit* The share of the Rezidor Group is in fact only 14,80% so their risk is very limited!!!!
Geza wrote:Pretty much have to say that I am partly in agreement with Lis.

The damage will mostly be done when they build the hotels. This concern was not addressed in my initial post.

The impact on the reserve with increased heavy duty trucks carting bricks, mortar and other essentials to complete the structures will also be enormous during the building phase.

After the hotels are built, that is when we will most likely have increased noise levels, more people in the reserve and so on.


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