The teams of builders working in the park on the construction of the interpretation centre, the campsite and the brand new staff village are made up of local people from Musina and Alldays. They are part of the poverty relief projects that make the park developments possible and provide formerly jobless people with a salary and training.

The Interpretation Centre under construction “will tell the story of Mapungubwe in different layers”, park manager Tshimangadzo Nemaheni explains. The expositions will focus on the wealthy iron age civilization that lived in the area between 900 and 1270 AD, but also on stone age inhabitants – who left impressive rock art in sandstone shelters. The time of excavations, after the rediscovery of Mapungubwe in 1932, is also on display.

The centre – that will hopefully open its doors within 2007 – will exhibit glass beads and ceramics that were imported from faraway Asia and pottery and metal objects from the Mapungubwe area. “Hopefully the golden rhino will be here, but maybe we have to be satisfied with replicas’’, Nemaheni says. Security might prevent a transfer of some of these artifacts from their current home in the Mapungubwe Museum in Pretoria to the park itself.

Many visitors to the area will be happy to learn the park will open a camping site in the beginning of 2007. This will provide a true bush experience in the middle of the Limpopo riverine forest that is favored by elephants, bushbuck and many other mammals. Although the ten sites have private water taps and electricity points, the camping won’t be fenced in. Therefore it won’t be a place for the fainthearted, “this is the real experience”, Nemaheni smiles.

A third big building project will only affect visitors indirectly when they encounter happy staff. This last project is the favorite with Mapungubwe personnel: the staff village. Currently staff accommodatin is scattered all over the park. When the housing (just outside the park across the tar road) is finished, the tourism staff will be able to stay together, close to the main gate.

Fotos: Tshifhiwa Victoria Matshatshe

Most elephants are found in the western section of the park, where they move in from Mashatu Game Reserve, a privately owned reserve in the Tuli Block in Botswana – on the other side of the Limpopo river. Fences cannot keep the world’s largest land mammal from migrating into the impressive and less dry riverine forest in Mapungubwe. The gamehide at Maloutswa Pan and the track along the river presently almost guarantee spectacular elephant sightings.

From their Squirrel helicopter Dr. Ian Whyte and other SANParks staff counted a total of 114 elephants (65 last year, even less before), but this number can rise quickly if the numerous herds that are roaming the riverbed of the Limpopo move into the park. Usually most elephants move back to Botswana after the summer rains.

The census shows that Mapungubwe is not only a very important World Heritage Site and a haven for birdwatchers, but also an excellent place to spot most famous African game. The counters noted a total number of 903 impala, 340 blue wildebeest, 271 eland, 228 Burchell’s zebra, 88 greater kudu, 84 waterbuck, 48 giraffe, 20 red hartebeest and 8 tsessebe.

They also counted 125 gemsbok, a very special animal since Mapungubwe forms the most eastern wing of its distribution area – gemsboks are typically found on the Kalahari plains. There are 4 white rhino’s in the park, although only 3 were spotted from the air. There are 2 sables, which were recently introduced. Two other introduced sables have recently been killed, most probably by leopards.

The count also showed 3 resident donkeys, which have moved in from a neighboring farm and have lived in the national park ever since.

The occurrence of predators hardly shows during an aerial census. It is certain that the rocky sandstone areas are home to many leopards. Spotted and brown hyenas, black-backed jackals and smaller predators like African wild cats are also regularly seen. Significant is the increasing number of lion sightings, in both the western and eastern sections. The eastern section of Mapungubwe is now home to a small but apparently growing number of resident lions, which originally came from Botswana.

Many smaller mammal species are even harder to count accurately from 150 feet high, but definitely occur in good numbers. These species include bushbuck, klipspringer, common duiker, steenbok, bushpig, warthog, baboon and vervet monkey, various species of mongoose and many rodents.

In June Tshimangadzo Nemaheni (39) moved from Robben Island to become the new park manager of Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site. Now that he is settled in he talks for the first time about his ambitions.

Tshimangadzo Nemaheni

Better roads, more staff, reasonable tourism revenues, well preserved and accessible heritage sites and the park as a main centre for debates on African culture: Nemaheni’s wish list for the next 5 years is long but he says he is motivated to face the challenge. In his eyes Mapungubwe is not only a national park with impressive rock formations, riverine forest and the finest of African animals and birds. It is also the place where Africans can trace their roots.

“To go into the future, we have to look back in the past’’, says Nemaheni. The Mapungubwe area tells a pre-colonial story of a wealthy and far developed Iron Age civilization, ultimately settled around Mapungubwe hill (around 1200 AD) – where the leaders separated themselves from the commoners for the first time in the history of Southern Africa. We, as the younger generation, can learn about the culture that was practiced, about the art and about how people used to live their lives. By learning from this we can prevent erosion of our own culture.’’

Nemaheni’s new job is a homecoming, both to SANParks and to the Limpopo province. “I am a local person. I was in born and raised in Ha-Makuya in the Venda area. After matric I earned a degree in teaching at the University of Venda and did studies, diploma’s and a master all related to museology and heritage in Pretoria and Johannesburg. In Kruger National Park I was the first ever cultural resource manager and I worked with the local communities. After that I worked for the Cradle of Humankind in Johannesburg and the last three years I have been working on Robben Island as a senior manager for heritage and environmental affairs.’’

So why did you apply for the job in Mapungubwe?

“Firstly it is home. Secondly this park has great potential. It offers a major challenge because it is both a national park and a World Heritage Site. We need to find a balance for that. The emphasis should be more on interpretation and education. For example I would like to start the children’s program ‘World Heritage in Young Hands’. Our park is already receiving the most schoolchildren of all national parks, besides Kruger.’’

What are you going to change?

“We need to do capacity building. Right now we only have the mentality to manage a national park. In the future staff should be inherently heritage practitioners. It should be in the conscience of all people working here: this is a heritage site that is important for the world. Besides this, we are currently understaffed. This has to change.’’

Nemaheni is excited about initiatives that put the park right in the centre of cultural debate. ,,During National Parks Week we have launched an oral history project, a debate on the meaning of Mapungubwe and its place in African context.’’ Future debates should not only draw South-Africans, but also people from Botswana and Zimbabwe. ,,The kingdom of Mapungubwe was not limited by the Limpopo, which is only a colonial border. Many related sites are found across the river.’’ Recently the three countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the proposed transfrontier park that will include Mapungubwe and parts of Botswana (Tuli Block) and Zimbabwe.

What’s in store for the tourists next year?

“There are plans to open an interpretation centre. We are also finalizing site specific management plans for a couple of impressive rock art sites in the park, assisted by the US based Getty Conservation Institute. Unfortunately, I cannot give an opening date for these sites yet.’’ The rocky roads are a major source of complaints among tourists. Nemaheni acknowledges the problem and hopes he can change things for the better in the following years.

Nemaheni feels encouraged by two awards that Mapungubwe received since his appointment. In July the park won SanParks’s Kudu Award for receiving over 60 percent local visitors, mainly previously disadvantaged schoolchildren. Last month the park received a provincial award for being ‘the most exciting and interesting heritage site’ in Limpopo.

The project is run by the non-profit organization Back to Africa in close cooperation with South African National Parks (SANParks). Scientists the world over are watching this project. If the antelope do well, more animals will be released later in an effort re-establish a viable population of Sable in an area where they were once prolific.

Zoos in The Netherlands (Diergaarde Blijdorp), the Czech Republic (Dvur Kralove nad Labem) and Great Britain (Marwell Zoological Park) contributed to the breeding stock of Sable in Graspan. The Sable being released in Mapungubwe are the offspring of these animals that have been breeding up over the last few years. The plan is to develop a viable population in Graspan for introduction into parks such as Mapungubwe.

Director of Back to Africa Dr. Hamish Currie of is delighted that SANParks supports the project at Graspan and has made Mapungubwe available for the release of these animals.

He hopes that participating in this project will contribute to the existing research on the quickly declining number of Sable in Kruger, as Mapungubwe National Park is quite similar in many respects to the northern part of the Kruger National Park (KNP). Experts estimate that less than 200 Sable are left in KNP.
Currie also believes that bringing the genes of zoo-bred animals back to Africa aligns well with Mapungubwe’s strong focus on cultural heritage.

Using GPS, Back to Africa will monitor the released animals daily to determine if the vegetation of the area is suitable and sufficient for the animals’ grazing needs. They are also curious to see if the Sable avoid the park’s predators, which include lions, leopards and hyaenas.

Depending on the success of this pilot project, Currie hopes a population of 50 sables will eventually roam this national park on the border of Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Currie believes that Zoos like Diergaarde Blijdorp are setting an example by providing animals and money for Back to Africa, “and not just breeding animals because they want to show a lot of babies to the public”.

Mapungubwe National Park Section Ranger Howard Mthate is also enthusiastic about the reintroduction of Sable into the park. “These animals will attract tourists. Besides this, it is a pleasure that we can help to find out if the animals can thrive in our park”.

Mtate says the sables are playing an important role in the further development of the park, which is still expanding.