Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa – Investment and Employment - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 250

The research sample does not incorporate the other direct employment
created in various metropolitan businesses which provide various services to these
lodges (as employees thereof). One such enterprise (a bookings and marketing
agency) employs around 20 people. Another enterprise, an air charter business,
now conveys around 1000 passengers per month to the reserve. NWPTB also
employs a number of people outside of MGR in its administrative offices and
procures various services such as game capture, etc. The total number of jobs and
economic effects are, likewise, not evaluated or incorporated in the total direct
economic effect from an employment perspective but the effect is substantial,
even if not within the geographic area of the MGR cluster.
At June 2007, there were 20 commercial and 14 corporate lodges (in 2003: 12
and 12). Inflation and increased lodge numbers have boosted the employee cash
earnings in the reserve (here we are examining corporate and commercial lodges
as well as SMMEs, NWPTB and private sector lodges outside of but contiguous
with the reserve fences) to nearly $5.3 million/annum of which nearly $2.6 million
accrues to residents defined as 'local' (prior to employment they resided within
+/- 50km of the reserve).
Some adjustments to the $2.6 million figure
In 2003 (Relly 2004a, 2004b) determined from a sample of 192 non-manage-
ment, non-guide staff, that annual gratuities constituted an important cash boost
to staff earnings at lodges within the reserve. It was calculated that around
$857/annum was earned per staff member in the sample. This figure has been
kept at the 2003 level and multiplied by qualifying staff in 2007; total gratuities
amount to $420,000/annum with an estimated $343,000 going to local employ-
ees. Interviews (with new lodge owners) and 2003 data suggest that gratuities
continue to be a significant category of cash earnings! In 2003, gratuities to a sample
of 192 qualifying staff (excluding guides) provided a boost of 22 per cent to cash
earnings for these staff members at commercial lodges (Relly, 2004b, p390).
Guides earn the lion's share of gratuities, sometimes up to and above
$1430/month in high season. In the last study a conservative average of
$429/month per guide was used to estimate their gratuities. For guides, a frustrat-
ing array of qualifications is in place at Madikwe and to date these have been a
barrier to larger scale participation in this employment category by local residents.
The qualifications require tertiary studies in guiding, public driving permits,
medical aid certification, rifle shooting competency and 'jungle lane' training (the
latter two have to be renewed by testing every year). The shooting competency
places far too much emphasis on actual shooting and virtually none on safe
guiding in the bush. In the event that an animal has to be shot by a guide, reports
from around Africa indicate that this has usually been the consequence of the
guide not following correct safety procedures. Besides the high failure rate in the
shooting competency (amongst all guides), local residents face a much longer
learning curve in order to catch up with the pool of trained guides being drawn in
from elsewhere in South Africa. Using a current estimate of gratuity income of
$571,429 per annum for all guides, less than $71,429 (12.5 per cent) ends up in