A Perspective on Community Based Tourism from South Africa: The TRANSFORM Programme, 1996–2007 - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 72

Case 2: A community Public-Private Partnership
model with the Makuleke Community

Background
In 1969 about 3000 people were forced at gunpoint to burn their homes in an
area now known as the Pafuri section of the Kruger National Park (Spenceley,
2003, p85; referring to Elliffe, 1999; Steenkamp and Uhr, 2000, p2). They were
forcibly relocated by the department of Bantu affairs to an area some 60km south
west of the park known as Ntlaveni, and became part of the former Gazankulu
homeland (Reid, 2001, p140; Steenkamp and Uhr, 2000, p2). The displacement
of the Makuleke people from this area is characteristic of a period in the history of
South Africa where many forced removals occurred throughout the country. The
land they were removed from got integrated into the Kruger National Park and
became part of a military buffer zone along the Zimbabwean border (Steenkamp
and Uhr, 2000, p2).
The most northern Pafuri tip of the Kruger borders upon Zimbabwe and
Mozambique and is a core area of the Greater Limpopo transfrontier park. The
area is characterized by a rich combination of wild plants, animals and landscapes
and as such contains a large bulk of the Kruger National Parks biodiversity (Reid,
2001, p140; referring to Pienaar, 1996). At the same time it contains the richest
cultural, historical and anthropological sites of the park. The Makuleke Region of
the Kruger National Park compromises 24,000ha of pristine and remote nature
experience. DEAT's application to have the area declared as a Ramsar site, a
wetland of international importance, has recently successfully been granted.

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Messina

The Makuleke Region of
the Kruger National Park

Sbasa

SOUTPANSBERG

Thohoyandou

Louis Trichardt

Location of the
Makuleke villages

Ellisras

Steenbokoan

Phalaborwa

Pietersburg

Tzaneen

Karongue
Balule
Hoedspruit

Potgietersrus

Timbavati
Thornybush
IdanYeleti
Sabi Sand
Sabi Sabi

Welgevonden

WATERBERG

Naboomsprut

Thabazimbi

Rooiberg

Nylstroom

Warm baths

Skukuza

LIMPOPO
PROVINCE

Figure 4.2 Location of the Makuleke region of the Kruger National Park
and the Makuleke Settlements