Planned Developments in the Kgalagadi - General Discussion

[Lisbeth]

Waste Management Activity: Category A; Activity 11 “The treatment of effluent, wastewater or sewage with an annual throughput capacity of more than 2 000 cubic meters but less than 15 000 cubic meters” (GN No. 718 refers).

The above must have to do with a law. Otherwise the gab from 2 000 to 15 000 cm has no sense.

[iNdlovu]

Those proposed new luxury campsites with individual ablutions aren't going to come cheap, so who are they catering for, certainly not your average South African that Dr Mabunda wants to give the opportunity of enjoying our parks to.

Secondly, how would an 8 chalet camp catering for 16 people remotely be considered a 'wilderness' camp, might as well be in Skuks with all those people around, although this idea is only mentioned in the interview post and not in the EIA.

[Mel]

Now that you mention those plans, Toko - there is also another camp called Gemsbokplein. A very rustic one
which is currently used for the Kids in the park (has a different name in KTP, but can't remember) events or similar.

I wonder, if those gonna come into the equation at some point as well...

[BunnyHugger]

I am going to cut out most of your post Mel, it is there for everyone to see already so duplicating it makes no sense.

As part of his Year in the Wild journey to 31 of South Africa’s most special nature reserves, including all the national parks, Scott Ramsay recently caught up with park manager Nico van der Walt from Kgalagadi.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is one of the most popular among the South African National Parks, and enjoys some of the highest occupancy levels in the country. Nico van der Walt believes that it’s the Kgalagadi’s amazing sense of wilderness which keeps visitors coming back, again and again.

Bingo. This is why we are anti development in Kruger. Then I guess that would make Nico a purist dinosaur as well.

This is a very natural system, perhaps the most natural in Africa” Nico said sitting on his stoep at his home in Twee Rivieren, the entrance to the park. “We’re one of the luckier parks in that the environment manages itself. It’s a huge area, and is disease free, so we can just leave it alone and it takes care of itself. There’s also very little poaching because it’s so remote.”

Careful there Nico, you may be remotely situated and it may be very difficult to get to the animals there, but when they run out of animals in KNP, you may be next on the list.

A winning formula is not to be tampered with, but Nico hints at a few potential tourism developments which will increase capacity in a park that enjoys 88% average occupancy levels. A new private community lodge near Samevloeing (a few kilometres from Twee Rivieren) will be owned by the San and Mier communities, who have lived in the region for centuries. It will be operated as a concession by an independent lodge company.

I agree, if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it.

Finally, the chalets at Nossob will undergo renovation and upgrading, giving extra oomph to a camp which is already very popular with tourists given the traditional abundance of lions in the area.



Why not keep it that way???

If only...

Why not indeed? And why not apply that renovation thing to the crumbling structures already in KNP? Indeed, if you need to up the style of accomodation, then upgrade what you have already when you renovate.....

[Peter Betts]

I have been going to Kalagadi since 1963....It is a pristine wilderness. There is a WATER problem, In the old days the roads were SMOOTH as the traffic densities were low...we often stayed at Nossob for up to 3 weeks at campsite 5 in the corner and were the ONLY guests there for the entire period and that was in prime tourist season...My little boys only had Bushmen kids and Gus Mills 2 little boys to play with. I went in my then current cars VW Beetle and various Toyota Corollas and a ventertjie trailer. These days the roads are so bad that the last time I went (2004) before selling my Landy Defender the rivets came out of the back fender and it was just a piece of metal flapping around. My tyres were let down to 1.5 bar and my Landy had been down Vanzyls Pass and done the whole Zambezi Valley many times. All because of OVERCROWDING that caused this damage.

Now they want to do all this...I cant go at the moment as I dont havea robust vehicle but you can kiss this Park goodbye as a photographic venue which in a twisted way I may feel a bit better as at the moment it burns me up that I havent taken ONE digital image there and I have been 43 times but soon it wont matter anyway ..the playing fields will be level with my Cruiser driving mates as they too will have had their bit of paradise TRASHED.

This is far worse than hotels in Kruger Flutterby and I seriously dont think Guru will have an opinion that will match ours...he needs his job. Its bad enough having hotels in Kruger but THe Kalagadi isa FRAGILE and important 'wilderness' area and it CANT take anymore but at least I saw the real Kalahari decades ago and not VEGAS in the desert


The roads will become trashed entirely and the DUST will kill all vegetation once and for all in the river valleys and so the roads will be tarred (Nice for me LOL) and tour busses will be parked at Nossob, Polentswa, Craig Lockhart and Grootkolk...NICE ONE Mabunda NOW LEAVE and go do something else!!!!

[Mel]

A few weeks ago I received the draft EIA from Delron who are the practitioners for this assessment.
To get you a bit into the loop, I'll post some of the most important facts that are contained in the
132 page long draft assessment, plus the answer to the concerns I raised as an interested / affected party.

Firstly, the KTP zoning map (from 2008)

[Mel]

Secondly, the 'Activity Motivation'

[Mel]

Thirdly, the water use (Thanks for the snippet, Toko! )

[Mel]

Then the increased visitor numbers (Thanks again, Toko! )

[Mel]

My concerns and the answers to them (Once again, thanks Toko for cutting it to size and uploading it!)