Take a Steam Train to Nature. (5 October, 1996)

R190-m Development Planned for Mpumalanga.

The Barberton area of Mpumalanga is set to become the scene of one of the most innovative tourist wildlife attractions. In an ambitious deal between the Mpumalanga Parks Board and the private sector, plans have been announced for a R190-million 'themed' series of lodges, safari camps and resort hotels. The area concerned is the 49 000 ha Songimvelo Game Reserve, south of Barberton on the South Africa/Swaziland border. It boasts spectacular mountain scenery, ancient geology, a rich archaeological heritage and an extensive diversity of flora and fauna. In short, about everything any other game reserve has to lure foreign - and local - tourists.

The developers are keen to underline that this is not going to be a 'Disneyland in the bush', but their announced development plans for the reserve show strong influences of specialised theme parks which have been developed with great success overseas. The only difference is that whereas overseas theme parks have relied on manmade themes, such as Legoland, the rides of the various Disneyworlds or those found at developments such as Thorpe Park in England, here nature will be the main attraction.

Nature, that is, with a bit of help from the romantic 1920s and 1930s and with a huge slice of ultra-modern facilities offering the ultimate in comfort. The projections are to create an African market alongside a 1930s-style railway station from where guests will be chugged off by steam train. At a siding, guests transfer to period replica vehicles (with modern 4X4 engines underneath) and then into a series of top-of-the-range lodges, ranging form 50-bed luxury lodges, an East African safari lodge, a luxury tented safari camp to a 200 to 300-bed resort lodge and mountain village.

For those with simpler tastes there will be 10-bed special interest camps and, in a 17 300 ha wilderness area, camps offering 4X4 trails, mountain bicycle trails, guided hiking trails and provision for corporate or syndicate-owned stands. The master plan provides for the development of tar road access and a hard-top airstrip. Projections at this stage are for a three-year development phase, followed by construction, with full development in seven years. By Roy Devenish. Courtesy of the Pretoria News.