andOwnership
& the Process of Incorporation
"When people hear about the plans to build a Heritage Park for the first time, they always wonder how the problem of landownership must be solved, because people love their land and can only be removed from their land with great difficulty.
It is therefore very fortunate that the lands of Madikwe and Pilanesberg are so successful in providing popular tourist havens, that the landowners between the two parks have good examples and know beforehand that this success can also come their way.
That helped very much with the making of the plans to build the park,
as all the land owners now know that they will still have their land and
that they will just change their ways of farming to the ways of tourism.
They will also have their fair share in the income that will flow from
the creation of the big park and everybody will look ahead at the dream
of more success and work together in peace and be able to share many nights
around the campfires together."
the fireside storyteller
All types of land ownership can be incorporated into the Heritage Park.
- Incorporation is entirely voluntary.
- Land title remains with the original owner.
- The Heritage Park will not be one homogeneous game reserve. It will be zoned for different conservation and tourism activities.
- Ownership of all game and biodiversity in core zone of the Heritage Park is vested in the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWP&TB).
- Game and ecosystem management will comply with NWP&TB standards and will be conducted in consultation with land owners.
- State land subjected to formal land claims or disputes will not be incorporated.
The Heritage Park runs in a band that stretches north of Pilanesberg towards Dwaalboom before turning west to follow the Dwarsberg mountain range before joining with Madikwe at Molatedi.
The Heritage Park is strategically situated between other Protected Areas in the North West and Limpopo provinces and can become the catalyst in launching an important regional initiative, potentially crossing the border into Botswana.
In the short term (5 years), the focus is to convert some 70,000 hectare from agricultural use to eco-tourism use in the area between Pilanesberg and Madikwe; in the medium term (15 years), to add another 100,000 hectare; and in the long term, to eventually link up with a number of other regional projects to form a significant Conservation Area of some one million hectare.
Based on the research done for the medium-term phase, an area of some 167,000 hectare (275,000 hectare with Pilanesberg and Madikwe included) was identified as the core area for expanding the ecotourism base of the region over the next 15 to 20 years.
... partnerships, wildlife, cultural heritage ...