Riverbed cycle challenge in Kgalagadi

[PRWIN]

As far as I know it,s being moved to Twee Rivieren but who knows ,will phone Tomorrow and find out as there is nothing still on the booking forms for sept stating anything about the event .So who ever goes and will be there at that time is in for a great suprise if they are not aware of it

[General Gump]

I am not for it, BUT..

How much damage will they really do ?

More than a waterhole that brings tons of hungry and thirsty eland down to a riverbed ?
Disturbing a riverbed far more with their hooves breaking the ground surface etc.

A research vehicle leaving roads following hyena etc. will have a greater impact,as it happens more often.

No one complains if a new road is made available in a park for example ?
I will use Tzendze in Kruger as an example , everyone cheered, no one, complained about more bush cleared for camping sites, more water used for toilets, showering etc.
Sometimes the environment is allowed to be developed or used depending on who will be using it ?

I think the cycling more of an invasion , of what we would not like to see in the parks.

[nan]

I don't know if I understood right

Eland's hooves breaking ground surface... is nature, about every 5-6 years, but give plenty meal for Lions
and there is "only" 2 river beds in Kgalagadi... nothing to see with Kruger bush cleared and idem with water, in Kruger there is several big rivers, in Kgalagadi 2 rivers... dry river beds
sorry if I'm beside of the subjet

[Lisbeth]

You are not beside the subject, Nan! No way you can compare Kruger and Kgalagadi. Anyhow, as far as I remember, they have decided to make the challenge on the road not in the riverbed as there was a lot of protests

[General Gump]

We can compare Kruger to Ktp , Kruger was not always as developed, but is now.
No one wants lodges to be built on the Botswana side but will stay in Sanparks accommodation on the South African side. Use overnight facilities,instead of camping... demand will increase... demand will be met with more beds.


We are happy to maintain man made boreholes to attract natural animals in unnatural numbers to a river bed. What about the blue wildebeest and warthog numbers in KTP? they should not be that high, our man made waterholes keep the numbers up.
But we like seeing animals, but we do not like seeing bicycles, so not always an ecological reason, if we had to be consistant.
We support the idea of walking in the wilderness but not cycling ?
What impacts to groups of people have walking on a regular basis, with boots, not soft bare feet ?

[iNdlovu]

Gump, I agree wholeheartedly. My objection is not from an ecological concern, but more of a concern of esthetics.
When the cycle race or challenge was going to be held in the riverbed, I had a problem with 100 or so bicycles cruising along a route in which a visitor to the park would expect to see a pristine landscape, let's not forget the backup vehicles.

Now that it has been changed to using roads, I am a little less concerned, but still feel that visitirs go to the parks to enjoy the peace & quiet, to allow the wild spaces to fill a space that is missing in most of us. If I had saved up for a trip to KTP and had my senses accosted by 100 cyclists with their entourage of backup vehicles, I would not be a very happy person. Our parks are not the place for these mass sporting events purely from the point of view of what people visit our parks for.

One cannot compare 5 or 6 people going on a bush walk with a large group of cyclists.

[General Gump]

finally someone got what I was trying to say.
I am not saying everyone go barefoot on bushwalks etc
but we shopuld not always jump on the ecological bandwagon when opposing something. I do not want to see cyclists, no other reason.

[nan]

you are certainly right... it's your park... and you can do what you want in your park (I am only the visitor/paying, and I am very happy to be this one )

but I'm still thinking that a park with rivers and a park without can't be compared

[H. erectus]

For aesthetics it remains a no no!! And precisely here the money
making racket comes to play,- "To be seen peddling in the wilderness"
a last frontier!!!!

How much money can you set aside to join the sophisticated in pushing
peddle, along the banks off unspoilt nature??? You may even be inspired
to peddle faster by the roar of a lion, maybe the slither of a snake, or
whatever!!

Sanparks, what next??

How much money do you need for simply being conservationists????

[Richprins]

No one complains if a new road is made available in a park for example ?
I will use Tzendze in Kruger as an example , everyone cheered, no one, complained about more bush cleared for camping sites, more water used for toilets, showering etc.
Sometimes the environment is allowed to be developed or used depending on who will be using it ?

Tzendze was actually created after an outcry when Mooiplaas Picnic Spot was selected as the "camping area" for Mopani. A logical development to create a long-term alternative in a relatively "low-use" area? No water problems? It is difficult to compare a camp area to a cycle challenge?

Opposition has surfaced regarding other developments in Kruger, for example!