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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
GOVERNMENT officials from Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa met in Beitbridge yesterday to discuss progress made so far towards the establishment of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA) as a tourism destination of choice in Southern Africa.

The GMTFCA is made up of three national parks from the three countries and plays host to the annual Tour De Tuli tourism expedition.

Tour de Tuli Mapungubwe is a mountain bike event whose route traverses through the Greater Mapungubwe mega-park.

The yearly mountain biking and safari expedition attracts over 350 cycling tourists from across the globe.

The cyclists pass through three countries during the course of the event and it is understood that the safari expedition raised R2,5 million this year up from the R1, 7 million that was realised last year.

GMTFCA international coordinator Patience Gandiwa yesterday said officials met to discuss issues around environmental conservation, safety and security, tourism and disaster management, operationalising products and services to boost tourism in the GMFTCA, among others.

“This is a routine meeting where technical teams get updates from member countries with regards to the operations of the GMFTCA after which they will make recommendations to the Trilateral Technical Committee (TTC) for further action. The TTC is made up of national coordinators of the GMFCA’ from the three countries,” she said.

She added that they will also take stock of the Tour De Tuli safari and Mapungubwe Heritage celebrations which were held in the GMTFCA this year.

Gandiwa said after the meeting they will also visit the Zimbabwean component of the Mega Park where they will assess progress towards the development of a campsite in Maramani Communal lands.

She said Zimbabwean authorities were working to attract investors to speed up the development of the Maramani camp.

She added that they will look into other issues relating to community beneficiation strategies and development and community monitoring systems to combat poaching and illegal cross-border crime.

“Other talking points will be based on current conservation threats, trans-boundary ecosystem monitoring activities and the identifying programmes for nurturing ecosystem resilience and adaptation strategies”, said Gandiwa.

She added that they will come up with priority outlines, an action plan and a budget for 2015.