DURBAN - SOME of the resorts owned by the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife that are central to its tourism business are in desperate need of repairs.
That is the view of some members of the environmental affairs portfolio committee who said that some resorts were in an acceptable condition, but many were in a poor state.
A report on the state of Ezemvelo that looked at the challenges it faced was released recently.
The challenges ranged from rhino poaching to the state of the reserves.
Compiled six years ago, it found at that time that the standard of tourism facilities then had dropped significantly.
It called on the entity to improve the quality and attractiveness of its accommodation facilities in order to boost tourism numbers and generate the revenue it needed to fund key operations aimed at combating rhino poaching.
Committee members said that while there had been improvements in some of the reserves, there were many others still in need of urgent work.
In response, Ezemvelo spokesperson Musa Mntambo said there had been significant improvements made to its facilities, but he conceded that some still needed work.
Environmental affairs committee member Heinz de Boer, of the DA, described some of the resorts as being in a satisfactory state.
“The Hilltop camp (at HluhluweiMfolozi game reserve) is probably one of our better ones.
“At the Ithala game reserve, there is refurbishing now and it is of an acceptable standard, and the one by Tembe elephant park was recently refurbished.
“But the rest of them are ranging between okay to poor quality,” De Boer said. He said the Mkuze game reserve needed a lot of work, and the smaller game reserves, including the ones on the South Coast and one in the Newcastle area, were in desperate need of repair.
He added that the poor condition of some of the roads in the reserves and those leading to the reserves could be a turn-off for tourists.
One of the roads that has been a source of concern is the R618, which goes to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game reserve, and has been under repair for at least the past two years.
De Boer said that when he visited the parks, there had not been many new tourists, but mostly repeat visitors who had returned to these areas because they had enjoyed them.
IFP committee member Joshua Mazibuko said they visited some of the resorts a few months ago and found them not in a good state.
“The number of tourists was low, and one could understand why when looking at the resorts.”
The chairperson of the environmental affairs committee, Sthe Mshengu, said the entity was making an effort to improve its facilities, and the committee was happy with the progress.
“The entity should aim high. When international tourists come to visit, they expect five-star treatment.
“These are public facilities, but they should be improved so that those with deep pockets can also enjoy them, because at the end of the day the entity has to make a profit to sustain itself,” he said.
Mshengu said the committee was also aware of the challenges posed by the R618 route to Hluhluwe.
“I’ve driven on that road and I’d like to believe that officials are engaging with the Department of Transport to ascertain why it is taking so long to make it user-friendly.”
Mntambo said a lot of work had been done to improve their facilities, and cited the work done on the Midmar facility.
He said there were others that were still a challenge, but there were plans to improve them.
He said they had seen an improvement in the number of tourists visiting their sites.
“If you go to Didima (in the Drakensberg) right now, it’s packed, and on Sunday, it was packed,” he said.
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