What is the situation/progress with the proposed hotels in Kruger?

[H. erectus]

Don't know where H. has disappeared to

Busy educating your Rita,.. that's where I was,....

[Richprins]

H.! Nice chatting today!

Anyway, my feeling is SANParks are caught between a rock and a hard place here, entirely due to multi-pronged public pressure which has been steadfastly maintained since May 2009, after the Malelane Hotel idea was approved in 2008 or even earlier. Which makes it 6 years now, not 4!

I for one regard this as a victory for the public, and nothing to be despondent about!

The irksome thing is that SP's justification for this project has now changed from "Black Diamonds" to "local government officials" to "International guests" to "conference goers" and now back to "International Safari Tent enthusiasts" over the years...

This won't hold up very well in a court of law, for example...

More once the details are out!

[H. erectus]

"Black Diamonds" to "local government officials" to "International guests" to "conference goers" and now back to "International Safari Tent enthusiasts

Just call them roughcut diamonds!!!!


Post subject: Re: Safari lodges and future plansPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:52 pm


Junior Virtual Ranger



Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:03 pm
Posts: 1142
Location: On my stoep. Sell by date not expired yet!! Yes Stark this was the reasoning from the outset!!!

All has changed but for one, "that money out there
needs to be harvested" one way or another.

Black diamonds maybe who knows, call them roughcut
for that matter,....Roughnecks fill tents far easier

_________________
It cannot be made more or less for that matter but it can be altered to suit.- The universe.




Who really cares anymore about the outsets of the "Curator of
of national and international heritage"

It begins too look more and more unlike and less curatorship rather
more and most likely "takership"

[Richprins]

Here's a quote from Dr Mabunda in 2012, for example:

Mabunda says, however, it was part of the transition required to make parks fit within the new SA society.

In style, the proposed buildings better fit the description of “lodge”. One is a 119-room complex of single-story chalets and a main lodge set among the trees on about 14ha just inside the park’s boundary near its Malelane entrance gate.

The other is intended to be a relatively low-rise, double-storey building with 125 rooms on a site inside Skukuza camp where the staff quarters used to be. Unlike the existing accommodation, they will offer full hotel services. This should prove attractive to black patrons, whose preference for less rustic facilities is said to have been well illustrated by experience in the Golden Gate National Park. There, black people made up 30 percent of visitors before renovations started on the park’s hotel in 2009. During renovations, their numbers dropped to 10 percent and when the hotel re-opened in 2010, it shot up to 40 percent.



https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 5&start=10


So that has gone out of the window...

[H. erectus]

Window,....

Would you forever believe that Sanparks are into
window dressing????!!!

[H. erectus]

We construct huge empires with many windows,...
A broadminded outlook on life!!!!!

[H. erectus]

“We are of the opinion that some of the alternative development sites are less environmentally sensitive than the preferred site,” Wessa governance programme manager Morgan Griffiths told News24. “We hope that they will be persuaded to pursue one of the appropriate alternatives.”

[H. erectus]

Due to significant design changes in the development plan which will follow the amended 2010 National Environmental Management Act (Nema) regulations, a full EIA will no longer be required, only a basic assessment report.


Geezzz sometimes the bush calls for party time!!!

[Lisbeth]

http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Kruger ... m-20140918

2014-09-18 14:27

Dane McDonald, News24

Cape Town – The proposal for the construction of an upmarket hotel within the boundaries of the Kruger National Park has lapsed, but the developer has re-worked the design for a greener offering.

“There have been significant alterations to the design, including an off-grid power design for what will now be a tented resort,” environmental assessment practitioner for NuLeaf consultants, Dereck Milburn, told News24.

“An international company specialising in alternative energy solutions has been appointed to design solar and other energy sources, which will form a large component of the energy requirement.”

The initial plan was to build a four-star hotel to be operated by the Radisson Blu group near the Malelane gate. It had a target market of the new black middle class and would provide an upmarket alternative to the existing camps and lodges.

According to an earlier AFP report the decision to build a hotel was met with disapproval by staunch nature lovers who argue that the hotel will degrade the reserve's ecology and ambiance.

Milburn says NuLeaf, which is conducting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) on behalf of Malelane Safari Resort Investments (MSRI), was aware that the application would lapse and would like to bring the project in line with recent amendments to EIA regulations.

MSRI CEO Peter Wright and SanParks managing executive Glenn Phillips have both confirmed that the project is going ahead.

Wright told Tourism Update that the company is continuing with all processes necessary to construct and operate the resort.

Biologically sensitive

The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa), which was involved in the application as an interested and affected party, opposed the development and raised a number of "critical environmental risks".

These include the fact that the preferred site is on a biologically sensitive area with a number of red data species, disturbance from the hotel is likely to scare game away from an important drinking access point, and night traffic is likely to heavily impact hippopotamus and crocodile pools in the area.

“We are of the opinion that some of the alternative development sites are less environmentally sensitive than the preferred site,” Wessa governance programme manager Morgan Griffiths told News24. “We hope that they will be persuaded to pursue one of the appropriate alternatives.”

According to Milburn MSRI still prefers the contested site, but adds that development will be less intensive as it is not going to be a "hotel in the bush" but a low profile tented safari camp.

“All species will be identified and protected as far as possible with buffer zones and where absolutely necessary permits will be obtained to remove trees,” he said.

Due to significant design changes in the development plan which will follow the amended 2010 National Environmental Management Act (Nema) regulations, a full EIA will no longer be required, only a basic assessment report.

[H. erectus]

Thanks Lis, for the reminder,...