High and mighty: southern Drakensberg to get new high-altitude park

SA could soon have a 20th national park to add to its well-known tourist attractions.

SA National Parks (SANParks) has confirmed that plans to have a new “high-altitude park” in the mountains of the Eastern Cape, close to Lesotho border, which is also known for its abundance of water, are afoot.

The new “park with a difference” will not only give travellers access to one of the most pristine parts of the country, but its abundance of water is hoped to address the country’s water shortage crisis.

Naude’s Neck Pass, where the park will be situated, is one of SA’s highest lying roads at about 2.587m. At the southern end of the Drakensberg, it connects Nqanqarhu to Rhodes.

The 30,000ha new park, which will be known as the North Eastern Grasslands National Park, will take a somewhat different form to traditional parks, as it will allow landowners to incorporate their land, through stewardship, in the park on a voluntary basis.

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Acting SANParks CEO Dr Luthando Dziba said this arrangement would allow communal landowners to benefit from a range of financial incentives for private and communal land that was formally protected.

Dziba said the ultimate objective of the new national park was “to establish an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable consolidated protected area, primarily by working with private and communal landowners”.

“The establishment of this national park will mark a new and innovative approach to protected area expansion as it will be located within a working agricultural landscape.”

The land is expected to be declared a national park by 2025, with authorities working on spatial data and screening process, to be followed by the engagement and consultation process between 2021 and 2023 and then the declaration stage.

The park is expected to significantly improve the protection of the grassland biome in an area that has been identified as a national conservation priority in the 2019 National Biodiversity Assessment. A previous assessment showed the poor levels of protection afforded to the biome, rich in both endemic and endangered species. Its mountains and wetlands are important water sources.

Authorities hope to establish security through integrated management of natural water resources areas and key catchments. Dziba said while strategic water resource areas made up only 10% of SA’s land area, they delivers about 50% of all surface water, supporting half of the country’s population and nearly two thirds of its economy.

Only 12% of these water sources falls within protected areas. The area where this park will be located is a source of the Tena River, which flows into the Umzimvubu River and to the Wild Coast, benefiting people from Mount Fletcher, Qumbu and other coastal regions. It is also a source of the Bell River, which flows into the Kraai River and into the Orange River.

SANParks said the project would also promote investment and provide job opportunities through the expanded public works programme to restore water security. Dziba said significant government funding for the maintenance of landscape, including clearing of alien vegetation and restoration of wetland, would bring jobs in the area.

“Because of its rugged, unspoilt landscape, the area has rich potential for adventure and cultural tourism which could help to build an all-year-round tourism industry, further unlocking potential jobs. The declaration of a national park will also be a motivation for the inclusion of this area into the adjacent Drakensberg World Heritage Site.”

Dr Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF SA, said: “The beauty of this model is that biodiversity conservation and ecological management will be done in partnership with those who live and work in this area, while allowing them to continue deriving benefits from their land through sustainable agriculture and other compatible land uses. Ultimately this is a win-win for nature and for people. We can’t wait to see this project coming to fruition.”