“Tourism
While this may seem like limitations to some, it is this very fact makes the untamed Ka’Ingo a perfect location for “bushveld survival” team-building sessions where participants are encouraged to live off the offerings of Mother Nature and work together to “stay alive” – supervised by the Reserve’s expert Game Rangers, of course.
The Waterberg Biosphere is characterized by tropical grasslands, wetlands, sandstone escarpments, savannah plains and scenic mountain ranges with passes into the Palala Plateau. Its plant life includes the African Beechwood (Faurea saligna), Common Hookthorn (Acacia caffra), Red Seringa (Burkea africana, Terminalia sericea and Peltophorum africanum), the famed Pear Tree which the Sotho people of the region believe is a rain-maker and the Silver Cluster Leaf tree which contains curing properties for Bilharzia. Most of the plant life species can be found at Ka’Ingo. From East to West, the Waterberg region covers approximately 14 500km2 – almost the size of Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
Very few other areas in South Africa compare to the Waterberg’s unique attributes and conservation potential. Most have the constraints of pollution, forestry, over population and size. Alien vegetation that has ravaged the Waterberg’s eco-system over the last century and posed serious environmental threats to the Biosphere is also currently being eliminated and in addition to current conservation efforts in the region, a series of technical action plans and environmental education programmes are being implemented at institutions such as Waterberg Academy to which Zorgvliet Portfolio has contributed various amenities.
The Waterberg region has an unemployment rate of 61%, showing minimal economic activity. This is primarily because very few people live there, and those that do rely primarily on crop and cattle farming. Despite the current economic statistics, the Waterberg community continues to promote new and more conservation-related tourism activities, such as game farming, to increase investment and work opportunities in the region. Various land plots in the Waterberg are also being re-instated to black communities to ensure the continuation of their ancestral legacies as new land owners and their participation in the economic development of the region.
Research and monitoring activities are consistently conducted in the Waterberg region and include Bi-annual game census; Butterfly surveys; Bird and fish studies; Roan antelope, leopard and black rhinoceros; Stingless bees; insect studies; Tree and plant identification; Rock art; Cultural, historical and archaeological studies; Socio-economic studies; Meteorology; and sustainable utilization of natural resources, among others.
Ka’Ingo’s own conservation efforts are focused on establishing sustainably sound ecological ethics that will ultimately make conservation its core business. To achieve this, wildlife conservation and other tourism-related activities are carried out with the utmost care to ensure the least possible impact on our environment. Each of us is, after all, a custodian of the South African bushveld and, therefore, responsible for the preservation and conservation of our country’s natural heritage.
For more information on Ka’Ingo Private Reserve & Spa, please visit
www.kaingo.co.za.
