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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
THE government officials from Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa met in Beitbridge yesterday to discuss the progress made towards establishing the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA) as a tourism destination of choice in Southern Africa.
The GMTFCA is made up of three national parks from the three countries and plays host to the annual Tour De Tuli tourism expedition.
Tour de Tuli Mapungubwe is a mountain bike event whose route traverses through the Greater Mapungubwe mega-park.
The mountain biking and safari expedition attracts over 350 cycling tourists from across the globe yearly. The cyclists pass through three countries during the course of the event.
GMTFCA international coordinator Patience Gandiwa said yesterday that the import of the meeting was to discuss issues around environmental conservation, safety and security, tourism and disaster management, operationalising products and services to boost tourism in the GMFTCA community development and heritage.
“This is a routine meeting where technical teams get updates from member countries with regards to the operations of the GMFTCA. After this they will make recommendations to the Trilateral Technical Committee (TTC) for further action.
“The TTC is made up of national coordinators of the GMFCA from the three countries,” she said.
Gandiwa said the country representatives will also take stock of the Tour De Tuli safari and Mapungubwe Heritage Celebrations, which were held in the GMTFCA this year.
It is understood that the safari expedition raised a total of R2, 5 million this year up from the R1, 7 million realised last year.
Gandiwa said after the meeting they would also visit the Zimbabwean component of the mega park where they will assess progress towards the development of a campsite in Maramani Communal lands.
She said Zimbabwean authorities were in the midst of courting investors to speed up the development of the Maramani camp.
Gandiwa added that they would look into other issues relating to community beneficiation strategies and development and community monitoring systems to combat poaching and illegal cross-border crime.
“Other talking points will be based on current conservation threats, trans-boundary ecosystem monitoring activities and the identifying programmes for nurturing ecosystem resilience and adaptation strategies,” she said.
Gandiwa added that they would come up with priority outlines and an action plan and a budget for 2015.
Online Reporter