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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
A TOTAL of 340 tourists from across the globe will this year participate in the annual Tour de Tuli tourism expedition which will be held in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTCA) early next month, an official has said.The conservation area, which is located on the western side of Beitbridge District, is made up of the Northern Tuli Game Reserve (Botswana), Tuli National Park and Maramani Communal lands (Zimbabwe) and the Mapungubwe National Park (South Africa).
The expedition, which involves mainly mountain bike tours, seeks to market the  GMTCA as one of the best tourist resorts in                   Sadc.

The event, which will be held for the fifth year running was expected to attract tourists from countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Portugal, and Greece, among others.

Children in the Wilderness director Dr Sue Snyman whose company is coordinating the event said preparations for the expedition which starts from August 1 to 6 were at an advanced stage..

“With the Nedbank Tour de Tuli . . . preparations are well underway, with all our pre-camp teams having departed for Botswana and Zimbabwe to set up the camps.

“We have packed the cyclist registration bags and spent the weekend sorting out all the stock for the tea and brunch stops, as well as the medical and support teams.

“The 2014 route will include the Tuli Circle, with an overnight at Shashe Wilderness Camp, as recommended by the Zimbabwe Task Team.

“The Tour will start on the 1st of August at Limpopo Valley Airfield in Botswana and will end on the 6th of August in Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa.

“There are 290 donating cyclists and 50 cyclist leaders, as well as 150 volunteers and support staff,” she said.

Dr Snyman said the cyclists would cross at Pont Drift border post from South Africa and spend the first night camping at Limpopo Valley Airfield in Mashatu (Botswana) and would proceed to Motloutse properties on the following day where they will sleep before entering Zimbabwe on August 3.

She said the tourists would spend two nights in Zimbabwe at Fort Tuli and Nottingham Estate before crossing to South Africa where they will spend a night.

She added that the cyclists will access the three countries through make shift borders during the tour.

“This year is our 10th annual fundraising cycling event – we will, therefore, be highlighting this achievement.  To focus on education and the aims of Children in the Wilderness, we have organised together with the Beitbridge Rural District Council for the cyclists to hand out 300 school backpacks, with notebooks to a rural school in Zimbabwe,” said Dr Snyman.