DATES: Thursday 04th August 2011 to Tuesday 09th August 2011

 

START AND END POINTS:

Starting Point: Pont Drift Border Post (South Africa and Botswana) – approximately 500km’s easy drive from Johannesburg

Zimbabwean component 6-8 August 2011

End Point: Mapungubwe National Park (South Africa) – approximately 550km’s easy drive from Johannesburg.

START AND END TIMES:

Starts on the 04th August 2011 at 3:30pm at the Limpopo Valley Airfield Botswana (Border closes at 4pm)

Ends on the 09th August 2011 at 7:30 am at the Mapungubwe National Park.

Registration takes place at the Limpopo Valley Airfield (2.8km cycle from Pont Drift border post, if you are travelling on the coach or 25km cycle from Halcyon Car Park if you are on the self drive option)

Preparations are progressing well. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management established a multi-sectoral Preparations Task Team. The Task Team met with the organisers on 24 March 2011 and had its second meeting in April.

Zimbabwe is not showcasing any new tourism products as such. However as part of the TFCA development, there is a programme to develop a Cross-Border Tourism Product (CBP) that links and includes Greater Mapungubwe TFCA and Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. This is a long term programme that seeks to empower communities economically. The Government is collaborating with private and NGO partners in developing this 4x4 cross border trail. This programme identified the Maramani Community Camp Site, at which the cyclists will be spending their first night in Zimbabwe. The cyclists will be paying a fee per person and this will go to the community to determine its disposal. The Community was asked to determine the value to be paid, so it is part of the empowerment scheme. Please note that the CBP programme has led to the identification of site and routes in community areas and in Zimbabwe a prefeasibility study should be carried out soon and it seeks to benefit communities mainly as part of our TFCA Tourism Development Programme.

The GMTFCA Trilateral Technical Committee made a decision and requested partner countries to facilitate granting of exemption on all statutory fees associated wit the event. The Task Team requested for waiver of fees that are normally enjoyed by the various service providers in the cross-border movement chain but maintained that community products would be paid for, as part of affirmative action.

The route has changed in that the cyclists will not be traversing Tuli Circle Safari Area but still ride through Maramani Communal Lands. During the last two editions the cyclist camped at the Wildlife and Environment as well as Sentinel Ranch Camps. This year they will be camping at Maramani Community Camp and in Nottingham Estate.

The Task Team will be finalising on how the official ceremony will be managed and by whom it will be officiated. Provisionally there are moves to involve the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management and some recommendations will be made to try and make it different from last year’ events but this will have to be finalised with the Minister’s input. Each country component will be managed separately.

There is no target figure (monetary value) that we set as partner countries but the organiser have different goals and may set targets. Our objectives as partner countries are quite different from those of the organisers. As partner countries our benefits may not be immediate and we also consider the massive marketing and publicity mileage that we enjoy globally as surpassing what we would probably have made by charging the normal fees. Conservation Education is an asset that will be key in driving the sustainable development of the GMTFCA and we endorse the TdT as a platform that promotes our agenda as conservationists and related practitioners. We perceive the promotion of the GMTFCA as a tourism destination to be a critical factor in facilitating economic development in the area. We are also deliberately including issues of capacity building with communities as beneficiaries in our negotiations with stakeholders as we develop Tour de Tuli. We are Scheme. We have started the drafting of an Agreement to ensure that our communities benefit meaningfully from this annual event.

FedHealth Tour de Tuli Mapungubwe 2011 Confirmed Cyclists Participation

Tour de Tuli Mapungubwe 2009, 2010 and 2011 Cyclists Participation

Notes from the Organisers

Tour de Wilderness is excited to be once again presenting the Fedhealth Tour de Tuli – Mapungubwe Route 2011.This is the third annual fundraising mountain bike event in Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Park. Greater Mapungubwe TFCA (formerly known as Limpopo- Shashe TFCA) is situated at the convergence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers and borders Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, together with Botswana and South Africa, hosted the Tour de Tuli-Mapungubwe 2009 and 2010, an event which is organised under the auspices of Children in the Wilderness – a rural children’s environment and life skills programme for vulnerable children.

Tour de Tuli Mapungubwe is a mountain bike event whose route traverses through the Greater Mapungubwe TFCA. This year the route will traverse two Protected Areas namely Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa, in Zimbabwe the route will traverse the area west of Beitbridge, through Maramani Communal Lands, Sentinael Ranch and Nottingham Estate.

The Fedhealth Tour de Tuli – Mapungubwe Route 2011 will give the cyclists an eminent experience, whilst at the same time all free cash generated goes to a non - profit organization called Children in the Wilderness. There are many reasons one might want to consider taking part in this event. Amongst them are the incredible scenery, great wildlife and incredible community spirit created by this event. However from our perspective the overriding goal is to raise funds for Children in the Wilderness.

Children in the Wilderness is a non - profit environmental and life skills educational programme. It is one of the few programmes aimed at bridging the divide that exists between communities and wildlife. By exposing the youth of Southern Africa to their wildlife heritage and to the virtues of sustained community and conservation partnerships, they will learn to appreciate the value of our wildlife and wilderness areas as well as its potential to create value and a livelihood for their communities. We believe that if enough of our children participate in this type of programme in the coming years, it will create the next generation of guides, conservationists and scientists, and finally, concerned productive citizens – a worthwhile legacy in our eyes!
We believe that in the long run, your money will assist in ensuring that critically threatened environments are conserved.

This year’s route promises to be diverse, exciting, predominantly single track cycling that will offer cyclists some great game viewing opportunities, beautiful scenery and cultural interaction.

Original Route - Plan for 80km of single track cycling per day and 300km overall.

Explorer Route - Plan for 50 to 60km of single track cycling per day and 250km overall. The intent for the Explorer route is that there will be less cycling per day than on the Original route.