Academic literature on the topic 'South african lodges'

During the late nineteenth century, James Walker Hood was bishop of the North Carolina Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and grand master of the North Carolina Grand Lodge of Prince Hall Masons. In his forty-four years as bishop, half of that time as senior bishop of the denomination, Reverend Hood was instrumental in planting and nurturing his denomination's churches throughout the Carolinas and Virginia. Founder of North Carolina's denominational newspaper and college, author of five books including two histories of the AMEZ Church, appointed assistant superintendent of public instruction and magistrate in his adopted state, Hood's career represented the broad mainstream of black denominational leaders who came to the South from the North during and after the Civil War. Concurrently, Grand Master Hood superintended the southern jurisdiction of the Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge of New York and acted as a moving force behind the creation of the region's black Masonic lodges—often founding these secret male societies in the same places as his fledgling churches. At his death in 1918, the Masonic Quarterly Review hailed Hood as “one of the strong pillars of our foundation.” If Bishop Hood's life was indeed, according to his recent biographer, “a prism through which to understand black denominational leadership in the South during the period 1860–1920,” then what does his leadership of both the Prince Hall Lodge and the AMEZ Church tell us about the nexus of fraternal lodges and African American Christianity at the turn of the twentieth century?

The potential contribution of tourism to the wellbeing of rural communities is impacted by the development of local economic linkages. For development practitioners and policy makers the importance of evolving linkages between tourism and agriculture demands attention. This article provides an examination of the state of linkages in South Africa’s luxury safari lodge tourism sector. The results reveal the existence of only limited linkages between safari lodge accommodation providers and local agriculture. Current supply chains are mainly organised by intermediary supplier enterprises which source required food mainly from urban markets with only minimal local impacts. Linkages represent a vital potential mechanism through which to achieve the objectives of pro-poor tourism and a first step to maximise pro-poor impacts and avert polarization is to understand why such linkages rarely materialize and to identify the necessary conditions necessary for them to do so. South African policy frameworks for strengthening linkages must be informed by local evidence and draw from international experience.

Recent commercialisation of property in the Kruger National Park was achieved by the tendering of various concession rights. South African National Parks generated scenarios of possible future cash flows for private lodges on the concession sites and identified what rental incomes they expected to receive from the different concessions. Following the public tender of the concessions, they found that they had grossly underestimated the value of the concession rights as the actual tender values of the winning bidders far exceeded their mean concession fee valuations.Through the use of random stochastic modelling and Monte Carlo simulation this research shows that real option valuation accounts for the positive difference between the winning bids and the mean concession fee values for each of the concessions investigated.

In the new South Africa, the promise of land restitution raised millennial-style expectations amongst dispossessed and dispersed former landholders. Partly prompted by emerging policy discourses, iconic tropes of localized cultural experience such as grave sites, initiation lodges and cattle byres acquired new significance. Because they proved what the Land Claims Commission calls ‘informal rights’ to land, they became verifiable evidence of effective possession, and thus grounds on which to claim the restoration of such land. The meaning of land, the nature of ownership and the legitimacy of its restoration were all matters contested between claimants, policy makers and human rights lawyers. They were also contested by those at different levels in the hierarchical social order of the new South Africa. Members of the African nationalist political elite, in dialogue with lawyers, cherished one set of understandings, while ordinary migrant/country-dwellers tended to hold to another. Both, however, were mediated through the new discourse on informal rights. It is neither purely through the activities of cosmopolitan elites with their ‘political demand for land’ nor through the unmediated localist experience of less sophisticated country-dwellers with more practical orientations that the significance of land becomes evident, but in the interaction between the two. Based on local understandings, transformed in the course of thirty years of ‘land back’ struggles, and finally negotiated over the course of the last ten years, a new diasporic consensus on what ‘the land’ signifies has been established.

Subject area Leadership; Political Economy; Strategy; Entrepreneurship. Study level/applicability Masters in Business Administration (MBA); MPhil in Strategic Leadership. Case overview On 5 February 2016, South African entrepreneur Jannie Van Eeden faced a dilemma about whether to expand his current businesses or not. He had to choose between focusing exclusively on hospitality and tourism or dividing his time and resources between the tourism business and expanding his existing logistics business. Expansions to his logistics business would entail investing in a warehouse and supplying fresh produce to the lodges in the wider area of Lake Malawi where he was based. Van Eeden realised that he needed to take into account the political economy of Malawi in unpacking the contextual variables related to his decision. Various stakeholders’ roles are illustrated in the case, for example the government’s role in enabling entrepreneurial businesses as well as the investments made by foreign organisations and international donors. Expected learning outcomes Development of leaders who can take contextually intelligent decisions. Insights into conducting Political Economy analysis to enable doing business in Africa. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 7: Management Science.

An extensive game lodge industry operates across Southern Africa. Many of these lodges market themselves as ‘eco-tourism destinations’ where wildlife protection, community development and the maintenance of bio-diversity are supposed to be central values of the business model. This article deals with the tensions that arise for the management of such enterprises between a multiplicity of local and global interests around land use pertaining to conflicting motivations of profitability and capital-intensive development, protection of bio-diversity and enabling community empowerment. The article illustrates the interplay between these competing interests, preferences and claims surrounding the use to which the land these lodges occupy is used. It examines a set of cases in South Africa with special reference to the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve.

Non-studied museum collections are hidden treasures—a source of information for various research fields. The novel taxa presented here were discovered during taxonomic examination of the backlogs of Bryozoa (Cheilostomata) from the Iziko South African Museum. We describe one new genus, Khulisa n. gen., and nine new species of bryozoans from South Africa. The new species are: Biflustra adenticulata n. sp., Aspidostoma sarcophagus n. sp., ?Micropora erecta n. sp., Trypostega richardi n. sp., Khulisa carolinae n. gen. et n. sp., Adeonella assegai n. sp., Hippomonavella lingulata n. sp., Phidolopora chakra n. sp. and Reteporella ilala n. sp. Three genera, Biflustra, Phidolopora and Triphyllozoon, are recorded for the first time from South Africa. This study highlights the importance of examining existing backlogged material lodged in museum collections.

In this paper, the author demonstrates that there is a range of primary sources on the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa’s foremost non-teaching social science research body and its predecessor, the South African National Bureau for Educational and Social Research, lodged in the country’s conventional and unconventional archives. The Central Records Department at Wits University is an example of the latter. Initially, scholars believed that the bulk of primary sources on the institution were not available. This has greatly affected the writing of the institution’s history and as a result it remains largely undocumented. This paper demonstrates that raw material on the institution can be and has been located through systematic research in various depositories around South Africa. The paper gives an overview of materials on the institution lodged in different archives and describes typical examples. Such primary sources can greatly assist scholars with a research interest in the HSRC and its predecessor, the Bureau.

Abstract:South Africa's economic and political liberalization have engendered new patterns of immigration and urbanization that find South Africans and foreign migrants converging on the streets of inner-city Johannesburg. As they interact, citizens and non-nationals have developed competing idioms for relating to one another and the space they share. For South Africans, this often means appealing to a nativist idiom that locates commonality amidst an allochthonous citizenry while attempting to prohibit foreign transplantation. Non-nationals counter this with an idiom of permanent transit, a way of positioning themselves as outsiders lodged in a superior and unrooted state. These idioms represent competing visions for the inner city's future. For South Africans, the idiom is a generative node of modern nationalist formation. For those permanently passing through the city, it is an idiom of a denationalized “nowhereville.”

South African learners’ performance in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2006) assessment reinforced the need for reading instruction practices aimed at addressing the difficulties in language and reading in both the Foundation and Intermediate Phases, particularly comprehension. PIRLS (2006) highlights the areas of low achievement of South African learners by referring to strategies identified by current research as central to the learning of reading. South Africa lags behind in introducing these critical skills. We argued for the inclusion of an alternative reading programme to the phonics only approach currently and predominantly used in Foundation Phase.The study was lodged in a qualitative paradigm and embedded in action research. The analysis is framed by constructivist grounded theory. Qualitative data generated by the respondents’ response journals were analysed using the constant comparative method. Theories that inform the analysis of this data, are Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking skills. The participants' were a non-exclusionary cohort of 58 third Graders.

This research is presented in three sections. Section 1 presents the research report in an academic paper format. Section 2 provides a comprehensive literature review and Section 3 describes the research methodology and methods employed during the research. The tourism industry is the fastest growing sector within the South African Economy, with over 2.6 million foreign tourists visiting South Africa each year. Wildlife, landscapes and scenery are cited as the primary attractions for visiting the country, with over 45 percent of tourists visiting at least one wildlife or nature reserve during their stay in South Africa (Kerley et al., 2011:2). Sixty percent of those tourists travelled for leisure purposes, with 643,883 of the tourists utilising safari lodge accommodation during their visit (Ruggles-Brise, 2013). The Eastern Cape achieved 3.1 percent; of those tourist arrivals, with a bed-night contribution of 734,339, compared to the 16.8 percent (1.9million) and 10.5 percent (1.07million) for Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces respectively (Ruggles-Brise, 2013). The Eastern Cape lodges represent less than half the bed-nights achieved by Mpumalanga and Limpopo lodges. Due to the number of possible bed-nights available to lodges in the Eastern Cape, it is increasingly important for individual lodges to provide a unique experience, in order to be competitive in attracting guests (Saayman, 2013:81). This was used form part of the foundation to this research in determining the marketability of three lodges in the Eastern Cape, which was derived from the attractiveness of the lodges, determined by guests visiting the lodges. This research follows on from four previous surveys commissioned by INDALO, the Eastern Cape Private Nature Reserve Association in 2004 Sims-Castley et al. 2004), 2006 (Langholz et al., 2006), 2008 (Snowball et al., 2008) and 2011 (Kerley et al., 2011). Part of the research was to identify the main attractions of the reserves. These previous surveys provided a foundation for this research to follow on investigating guest motivations for visiting the three sample lodges and to determine visitor perception of poaching and whether it would impact their motivations for visiting the reserve. In order to address the goals of the research qualitative data was gathered during survey interviews conducted at the three sampled reserves. Seventy five (75) guests were interviewed, equally over the three reserves. Quantitative data was also gathered during the interview surveys, utilising Likert scale questions, prompting guests to choose their top attractions, from which basic descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data being able to determine possible trends amongst respondents and lodges. Results verified guest motivations from the previous surveys, confirming that game viewing, especially the “Big 5” remained the most important attraction for visitors to the reserves while the availability of natural scenery and landscape, high end accommodation and service, the proximity to the garden route and being located in a malaria free area were also see as attractive attributes of the lodges as per the previous surveys. Where the gap in the research was indicated based on guests perception of poaching and whether it would impact their motivations for visit these lodges, impacting that lodges marketability (attractiveness). Results indicated that if they were unable to view the iconic ‘Big Five’ at the reserve due to the extent of poaching. Respondents indicated that the impact would likely and very likely impact their decision to choose the reserves over another reserve that could. Indicating the potential impact that poaching would have on lodges if they were to lose their iconic species which would spell the loss in attractiveness and therefore marketability.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Swartland region in the western Cape, South Africa, covers approximately 5000 km2 and forms part of the Pan-African Saldania Belt that represents the southernmost extremity of the Pan-African orogenic belts in southern Africa. Regional mapping of the Swartland area shows that lithologies can be classified using predominantly structural and to a lesser extent lithological criteria. This led to the proposal of a new classification, were rocks of the previous classification of the Malmesbury Group are divided into two new groups, namely the Swartland and Malmesbury groups. The Swartland group can be divided into the Berg River and Moorreesburg formations, a series of quartz-chlorite-muscovite-feldspar schists, quartz schists, graphitic schists and limestones; and the Bridgetown formation, a series of metavolcanic rocks with WPB-MORB affinities that possibly represent seafloor. Deposition of the sediments is suggested to have occurred concurrently with deformation in an accretionary prism/fore-arc and was initiated with the opening of the lapetus Ocean at ca. 600 Ma. This early deformation event, Dt (ca. 575 Ma), only affected the Swartland group and exhibits pervasive bedding transposition, thrusting and imbrication of units creating a tectonostratigraphic sequence. Where identified, kinematic indicators and fold vergence indicate a top-to-the-west transport direction during the early, low-angle Di deformation. The Malmesbury group overlies the Swartland group, being locally separated by an unconformity. The Malmesbury group is a succession of conglomerates, grits and shales (Piketberg Formation), grading into greywackes, shales, siltstones, sandstones and minor limestones of the Tygerberg and Porterville formations. Sedimentation probably commenced after ca. 575 Ma and lasted until shortly after 560 Ma. Both the Swartland and Malmesbury groups were then deformed by the deformation event, D2 (ca. 552-545 Ma), and were intruded by the 552 to 510 Ma Cape Granite Suite. The Franschhoek Formation, formally part of the Malmesbury Group is now classified, along with the inferred ca. 535-510 Ma Magrug and Populierbos Formations of the previous Klipheuwel Group. The redefined Klipheuwel group documents a change in depositional environment from the continental slope/ocean trench, marine and flyschoid deposits of the Malmesbury group to continental, fluvial half-graben and graben deposits. Exhumation, extensive erosion and the formation of a peneplain, was followed by the deposition of the Table Mountain Sandstone Group around 550-510 Ma. The Spitskop gold prospect, located 10 km south of Piketberg, represents the first identified occurrence of mesothermal gold mineralisation in the Saldania Belt. Metamorphic devolatilisation of the Swartland group during Di led to the scavenging and transportation of gold along shallow-dipping shear zones that are contained within the early, sub-horizontal So/Si tectonic fabric. Pervasive fluid movement in the Spitskop area led to elevated gold values compared to background values throughout the lithologies at Spitskop. The lack of any economic-grade gold mineralisation is probably related to the absence of suitably orientated structures, such as high-angle faults, that are commonly believed to represent the prerequisite for large fluid throughputs that could result in economic-grade gold deposits. The mineralisation at Spitskop, however, provides a genetic model for further exploration of gold in the Swartland group.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Swartland streek in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika, beslaan ongeveer 5000 km2 en vorm deel van die Pan-Afrikaanse Saldania-gordel wat die mees suidelike deel van die Pan-Afrikaanse orogene gordels in suidelike Afrika verteenwoordig. Regionale kartering van die Swartland streek dui aan dat die gesteentes geklassifiseer kan word deur oorwegend strukturele, en tot 'n mindere mate litologiese kriteria te gebruik. Gevolglik word ‘n nuwe klassifikasie voorgestel, waar gesteentes volgens die vorige klassifikasie van die Malmesbury groep verdeel word in twee groepe, naamlik die Swartland en Malmesbury groepe. Die Swartland groep kan verdeel word in die Bergrivier en Moorreesburg formasies, ‘n reeks kwarts-chloriet-muskoviet-veldspaat skis, kwarts skis, grafitiese skis en kalksteen; en die Bridgetown formasie, ‘n reeks metavulkaniese gesteentes met WPB-MORB affiniteite wat moontlik oseaanvloer verteenwoordig. Daar word voorgestel dat afsetting van die sedimente gelyktydig plaasgevind het saam met vervorming in ‘n akkresionere prisma/voorboog, geinisieer deur die opening van die lapetus Oseaan (ca. 600 Ma). Hierdie vroee vervorming, Di (ca. 575 Ma), het slegs die Swartland groep geaffekteer en vertoon deurdringende verplasing van gelaagdheid, oorskuiwing en imbrikasie van eenhede en het ‘n tektonostratigrafiese opeenvolging gevorm. Waar identifiseer, dui kinematiese aanwysers en plooi kanteling op ‘n bokant-na-wes beweging gedurende die vroee, lae hoek Di vervorming. Die Malmesbury groep oordek die Swartland groep, plaaslik geskei deur ‘n diskordansie. The Malmesbury groep bestaan uit ‘n opeenvolging konglomeraat, grintsteen en skalie (Piketberg formasie), wat gradeer in grouwak, skalie, sliksteen, sandsteen en ondergeskikte kalksteen van die Tygerberg en Porterville formasies. Sedimentasie het waarskynlik begin na ca. 575 Ma en het voortgeduur tot kort na 560 Ma. Beide die Swartland en Malmesbury groepe is hierna vervorm deur D2, (ca. 552-545 Ma) en daaropvolgend ingedring deur die 552 tot 510 Ma Kaap Graniet Suite. Die Franschhoek Formasie, voorheen deel van die Malmesbury Groep, word nou geklassifiseer tesame met die afgeleide ca. 535-510 Ma Magrug en Populierbos formasies as deel van die voorheen geklassifiseerde Klipheuwel groep. Die hergedefinieerde Klipheuwel groep dui op 'n verandering in afsettingsomgewing vanaf die kontinentale glooiing/oseaantrog, mariene en flyschoiede afsettings van die Malmesbury groep na kontinentale, fluviale half-graben en graben afsettings. Herblootstelling, omvattende erosie en die vorming van ‘n skiervlakte is gevolg deur die afsetting van die Tafelberg Sandsteen Groep random 520-510 Ma. Die Spitskop goudvoorkoms, 10 km suid van Piketberg, verteenwoordig die eerste identifiseerde voorkoms van mesotermale goudmineralisasie in die Saldania Gordel. Metamorfe ontvlugtiging van die Swartland groep gedurende Dt het aanleiding gegee tot die roofuitruiling en vervoer van goud langs laaghellende skuifskeursones in die vroee, subhorisontale S0/Si tektoniese maaksel. Deurdringende vloeistofbeweging in die Spitskop omgewing het aanleiding gegee tot verhoogde goudwaardes in vergelyking met agtergrond waardes dwarsdeur die litologiee by Spitskop. Die gebrek aan ekonomiese graad goud mineralisasie is waarskynlik verwant aan die afwesigheid van geskikte georienteerde strukture, soos hoe hoek verskuiwings, wat oor die algemeen beskou word as ‘n voorvereiste vir die toevoer van groot hoeveelhede vloeistof wat kon aanleiding gegee het tot ekonomiese graad goudafsettings. Die mineralisasie by Spitskop verskaf egter 'n model vir verdere goud eksplorasie in die Swartland groep.

The "desertification" debate surrounding the Karoo Biome of South Africa has recently inspired much research in this region. The preservation of pollen in middens in arid environments from different parts of the world has great potential for the reconstruction of past vegetation. A lodge of the bush karoo rat (Otomys unisulcatus) was excavated near Prince Albert, South Africa, and the high numbers of well-preserved pollen grains was analysed. The vegetation reconstruction suggested that there was a decline in grasses over the whole sequence, while the vegetation experienced several short-term fluctuations throughout the time period. The ages within the lodge were uncertain, although the material is likely to be modern. The palynological analysis appear to be reliable and corresponds relatively well with other studies. The lodges of these species could therefore provide an exciting new source of historical pollen in the arid regions of southern Africa.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)
Tourism is one of the fastest growing global sectors, with current international tourist arrivals exceeding 935 million, and projected arrivals to exceed 1 billion by 2020. Community-based ecotourism has been suggested as a possible avenue for poverty eradication and local economic development in South Africa's remote rural regions, which are characterised by undeveloped infrastructure, poorly functioning schools and few economic opportunities. This is especially true of the Wild Coast region in the Eastern Cape Province, which is characterised by the contrasting elements of abundant natural resources eminently suitable for tourism development, and abject poverty. The central objective of this qualitative study is to evaluate the developmental impacts of the Bulungula Lodge and related initiatives, in order to assess the extent to which ecotourism can be used as a catalyst for local economic development. This includes the conservation practices employed by the enterprise, as well as its contribution towards conservation knowledge amongst community members. In addition, the study undertook to assess the extent to which the Bulungula Lodge and related initiatives has provided employment, and facilitated local participation in decision making and skills development in order to contribute towards sustainable livelihood outcomes. The findings indicate that Bulungula Lodge and related initiatives contribute positively to the local economy through job creation, skills development and local collaboration. However, Bulungula Lodge is faced with a number of factors which constrain the attainment of development goals, such as an inactive local and provincial government, low human and physical capital stocks and an inability to expand without threatening the sustainability of the natural resource base. In conclusion, the study provides numerous recommendations in order to increase the effectiveness of projects and employment within an environment devoid of government intervention. Among these are strategies for improving an understanding of conservation amongst community members, as well as strategies to improve adult education and the empowerment of women in the decision making process.

The objective of the study was to establish the behaviour and experience of tourists while visiting privately owned game lodges in Mpumalanga and the Northern Province. The theoretical objectives were to determine from a demand and a supply perspective what the phenomenon wildlife tourism entails. The aim was to unveil the consumer behaviour of wildlife tourists and to delineate the components and levels of the game lodge product. It was also deemed necessary to investigate wildlife utilisation issues in a South African context and to describe the tourism industry in South Africa with special reference to game lodges and ranches, and the holiday markets of Mpumalanga and the Northern Province. Lastly the complexities of marketing destinations and attraction products had to be uncovered. The objective of the empirical study was to ascertain what attracts visitors to game lodges, what they do and experience during the visit and what they find most appealing. The hypothesis was that wildlife tourists customise the components of the overall product which they consume in order to create memorable and differentiated experiences. Interviews with 68 visitors were held on location and at a regional airport who stayed at least one day and night at a lodge, and with 50 people who influenced the visitor experience, such as game rangers, tourist guides, managers, personnel, intermediaries and so forth. The findings contribute to an understanding of the features and benefits of the game lodge product from a visitor’s perspective. The core attraction for foreigners is to experience something unusual; to have an intimate new emotional experience. To go ‘on safari’ is in vogue and it satisfies a spirit of adventure, as well as a long held fascination with seeing animals in a genuine wilderness, especially the Big Five. Visitors want to live in a fantasy world of the past and share the animal’s world for a while. Whereas overseas visitors want to be busy and have a catered experience, South Africans want to confirm their emotional bond with Africa and experience timelessness and solitude amongst the animals; they want a being experience. Overseas visitors are on holiday and visiting a game lodge is part of a personal growth experience, whilst South Africans take short breaks and will return to for the genuine magic of the bush.
Prof. J.A. Bennett

The tourism industry has emerged as one of the key economic drivers in Africa and remains as one of the few growth industries in the world. The industry has well-documented, significant socio-economic and environmental impacts, many of which are not positive and result in enduring problems at destinations. This is particularly acute in countries such as South Africa where socio-economic inequities are high and historical patterns of development have resulted in most people being marginal from the tourism sector. The accommodation sector is one of the main players in terms of tourism and benefits the most from this industry. However, very few studies have critically examined this sector in terms of environmental management. It is the lacunae in the research that this study aims to address. The main objectives of the study were to investigate the nature and extent of environmental management in hotels and lodges in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The primary data collection was undertaken via the use of surveys to 60 accommodation managers and 400 hotel guests. In-depth interviews were also undertaken with key tourism industry stakeholders. The main findings of the research indicated that although participants were aware of the detrimental environmental impacts of the accommodation sector, environmental management programs were very much in its infancy. Hotel managers were enthusiastic about environmental management but were unable to implement environmental programs and actions due to a number of challenges and constraints. Environmental issues were also not a high priority for hotel guests in the study. The study concludes that environmental issues in the accommodation sector needs to be re-examined and measures need to be put in place to address the sector’s negative impact on the environment.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Water is life, and without it nothing can survive. All plants and animals need water to survive, whether it is fresh or salty. Climate change and pollution contribute greatly to the decline of freshwater supply and quality (National Geographic, 2015). According to the United Nations, 10% of the global population does not have access to clean water (UN Water, 2016) while World Health Organisation (WHO, 2009) stated that 3,4 million people die annually from water related diseases. The tourism industry across the world requires water for basic human consumption, irrigation of gardens and golf courses, preparation of food and drinks, making snow for winter sports and general water activities such as swimming or motorised water sports (Gössling et al., 2012). Many tourism lodges in the wildlife lodge industry in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana are in remote areas where little or no infrastructure exist. These lodges are dependent on natural water sources such as rivers, dams and boreholes to supply their water demand. The main objectives of the study were to determine water quality and quantity management in lodges from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The objectives were divided into sub-categories such as frequency and comprehensiveness of water quality analysis, the current quality of water at each lodge, water consumption per capita, establish benchmarks for the lodges and investigated other management components such as stakeholder involvement, financial implications and the monitoring of water management systems Across all three countries, 29% of the lodges have tested the water quality of their source, 61% tested water quality on their taps and 19% tested water quality of their wastewater discharge. From the 61% that did water quality tests on their tap, only 11% tested more than 37% of the required parameters as stated in the countries relevant standards and guidelines. The results indicated that the average water consumption across all three countries were 2073 l/g/n or 503 l/b/n when staff is included. Strong correlations were established between water consumption, the guest to staff ratio and rate in US $ when all three countries were considered. The water quality results indicated that several lodges had issues with Iron, Sulphate and Chloride levels. The author concluded that the current water management systems can be improved to ensure that water quality is managed more sustainably in the wildlife industry. The biggest concern relates to wastewater discharge, where very few water quality analysis are done. This has the potential to cause pollution and degrade ecosystems. It was recommended that more frequent and more comprehensive water quality analysis must be carried out on wastewater discharge as well as tap water to ensure water is safe for consumption. Lodge managers can appoint designated personnel to ensure that water meter readings are taken monthly and that they are probably recorded. The use of modern equipment such as pulse meters will prevent meters from seizing. Smart meters can be used to upload data to a cloud where WIFI is available.
Department of Environmental Sciences
M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

Ecotourism has generated great interest from governments, tourism enterprises, tourists, conservation groups, the private sector and other stakeholders in the industry. A reason for this interest is the availability of pristine natural environments, especially in Africa. The need for more rigorous data on economic, environmental and social impacts of ecotourism development from different perspectives and stakeholders is central to unpacking key issues related to sustaining ecotourism in Africa that is both responsive to environmental as well as social and economic needs. There seems to be a need for a better understanding of ecotourism’s impacts, and how those impacts are affected by various developmental needs and management strategies. South Africa is a country which is closely linked with disputes resulting from land claims as a result of apartheid. Thus, this thesis attempts to unpack issues relating to the historical legacy, the proliferation of Private Game Parks in South Africa and related issues of privatised concentration of natural resources, access and affordability as well as potential social, economic and environmental impacts. Research was undertaken in two Private Parks in KwaZulu-Natal: Ezulwini Private Park and Tala Private Park. A fundamental ingredient for stakeholder involvement is collaboration among key players. The specific stakeholders identified for this study were: visitors, local communities, tour operators, Park personnel, Park managers and the Private owner of both the private Parks. The research employed both qualitative (participatory approaches) and quantitative (questionnaires) techniques when collecting data. The study revealed that visitors to Ezulwini Private Park and Tala Private Park listed important factors regarding their own efforts to promote ecotourism such as: conserving nature, limiting the over-utilisation of resources, being environmentally conscious, reducing water consumption, being litter conscious, spreading the conservation message via word of mouth and visiting more ecotourism destinations. There is a good level of interaction between the tour operating company (that carries out tours to Ezulwini Private Park and Tala Private Park) and the community. This is attributed to visitors purchasing from cultural villages and the use of local tour guides. The local communities living near the private Parks indicated that no relationship exists between the community, management and staff of the respective private Parks. Participatory exercises (venn diagrams, mental mapping and problem ranking exercises) were conducted with focus groups. These focus group discussions established heterogeneity within the respective communities and emphasised the need for the involvement of all community members who best understand and have the greatest stake in social, economic and political issues linked to the Parks. According to the Park personnel at Ezulwini Private Park and Tala Private Park local communities were somewhat involved in the activities and decision-making of the private Parks. However, the Park owner of both the private Parks stated that the local communities were not involved in the activities and decision-making of the private Parks. To mitigate social, environmental and economic impacts it is imperative that all stakeholders are consulted as this will reduce conflict and enhance consensus.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

‘Gold: the glorious and accursed element’ explores the allure of gold. Gold has dominated men's hearts throughout the ages. It is not a very useful metal, but it is prized for its beauty and unreactivity. It can be mined from lodes or riverbeds, and most modern gold is from South Africa. Gold was traditionally purified via cupellation, but newer techniques such as cyanidation exist, and bacterial or plant based extraction is now possible. Alchemists sought to create gold from other metals, but this was chemically impossible. Gold was extremely useful in establishing trade and money, and was the bedrock of early global financial systems.

This chapter investigates how the transnational crossings Elizabeth Bishop launched from the peninsular Florida and its Key into Haiti, Mexico, Aruba, and most famously, Brazil, across North & South, Questions of Travel and Geography III correspond to an analogous geographical arc on the part of Audre Lorde, in which the Southeastern United States, Oaxaca, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands inform an equally fluid and indeed oceanic space from her work of the 1980s onward, when Lorde began spending significant time in the Virgin Islands. As Bishop sought to ‘do more’ with Key West and its environs in than modernist predecessors like Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane by employing this island to make investments in gender, race, nation, and class, Audre Lorde brought racial and sexual difference to the fore of this liminal crossing across national borders and boundaries, hybridizing her own better documented investments in Yoruba myth with a trans-American consciousness lodged squarely in not only the Caribbean and the Southeast, but in Oaxaca, Mexico and the Southwest. Such a remapping reveals two outsider poets who stand at the center of a literary formation where twentieth century American and African-American poetics converge and clash.

Lodged in the earth’s outermost layer, ephemeral scratch on a mineral skin, life plays cards with a handful of elements—builds molecular extravaganzas of carbon and hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or precious phosphorus, and forms the pieces to the parts that, assembled, define it. When the game is over, the cards reshuffled, the parts dismantled—membranes ruptured, shells dissolved, bones ground to dust—a few of those organic molecules remain in the sediments and rocks, bearing witness to the distant moments of their creation. Imagine the most humble bit of life, a microscopic alga basking in the sun-graced surface of the sea. Think of the tiny animal that grazes on the alga, dismantling its parts, using the pieces and discarding the difficult-to-digest fats and sturdy membrane lipids in tiny pellet-like feces that sink slowly into the dark waters of the deep sea—a thousand meters, two, three, maybe more. Imagine the bacteria that cling to the pellets as they settle onto the seafloor, zealous recyclers of organic molecules, using some and transforming others, leaving them stripped down or broken but still recognizable among the generic mineral bits of shell and clay that accumulate, particle by particle, year by year, layer by layer. Dig down, dig back, through meters and kilometers of sediments, through millennia and epochs, and you’ll find them yet, those molecular relics, testaments to that tiny, light-loving bit of bygone life. What do those molecules know, what do they have to say? Might they remember their maker’s name and environment, how that tiny alga lived and died? Was it rich or poor, food plentiful or scarce, the water warm or cold? Perhaps there was a current from the south, or cold nutrient-rich waters upwelling from the deep. Maybe there was a drought in Africa and dry winds blew nutrient-laden dust over the Atlantic, the continent’s misfortune a literal windfall for marine algae. Perhaps a meteor fell that year and the light went out of the sky, the temperature dropped suddenly, and the world died in a blink.