Good deeds for Kgalagadi Riemvasmaak Tourism Empowerment programme

Good deeds for Kgalagadi

By Genevieve Maasdorp

Kgalagadi team receiving wish list items from Honorary Rangers

The Honorary Rangers gifted Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park this month with much needed items that was on the park’s wish list and through that did just one of their numerous good deeds for the organisation. Among the gifted items were solar pumps, wheelie bins, a compressor for the Nossob 4x4 Eco Route and toolkits for the Wilderness Camps, just to name a few.

The Park Manager, Steven Smith, received these good deeds with a grateful heart and expressed the following words: “These gifts mean the world to us and will definitely assist the organisation in ensuring that we give the best possible experience to our guests. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.”

The Honorary Rangers are a big part of South African National Parks and are always willing to raise funds to purchase items we need to relieve a little bit of the financial strain as well as to ensure that all the parks are managed in an efficient and professional manner.

The total worth of the gifts was R280 000 and was gifted from funds of the Loffiesdraai Bushcamp and the Nossob Eco Route fundraising projects. Each year a wish list is given to the Honorary Rangers that includes items the park desperately needs, but do not have the funding to buy themselves. These wish lists are then approved through a committee consisting of SANParks personnel and the senior management of the Honorary Rangers. This year was the first time in recorded history that all the items listed on the wish list were approved and given in one go to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

The SANParks Honorary Rangers is a non-compulsory organisation that assists the organisation each year to reach its conservation and community targets. During 2020 food parcels to the amount of R60 000 were given to previously disadvantaged communities surrounding Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park together with PPE equipment.

Riemvasmaak Tourism Empowerment programme

By Christine du Plessis

Head of divisions explaining their roles and responsibilities during the Riemvasmaak Tourism empowerment programme

After being postponed in June 2021 due to the rise in the COVID-19 emergency level, the Riemvasmaak Tourism Empowerment programme was finally successfully held in December 2021. Two members of the Riemvasmaak Community Development Trust, in the portfolios of Tourism and Finance, and three tourism staff members from the Riemvasmaak hot spring attended the programme, held in the park. On the first day they were given an overview of park operations, what it entails to run a successful tourism product and how all the divisions work together as a team. This session led to many questions and engaging discussions. To conclude the day’s activities, the participants were shown how tourism activities such as game drives and guided walks are conducted. They were taken on a game drive to Ararat and Oranjekom viewpoints. In the evening they were taken on a guided walk to see the illuminated falls and were introduced to stargazing. They thoroughly enjoyed these activities and were astounded that they could be enjoying such exciting activities in their own local area.

The second day started with a detailed session on the importance of a budget, what a budget entails and how to manage it. The importance of asset management was also explained. The afternoon session for the day involved practical sessions on the intricacies of chalet servicing and how to clean a chalet if there was a COVID-19 case, how the laundry functions, linen management, Reception functions, and finally terrain and maintenance functions.

The two-day programme was concluded with a question and feedback session. The programme proved to be very successful as the participants explained that they had learnt so much and were very appreciative that the park staff willingly shared their experience, expertise and knowledge of the tourism business. They also expressed the hope that more of these sessions would be held in future.