SANParks Provides Update On Closed Tokai And Silvermine Trails
SANParks wishes to announce that the trails currently closed in Tokai and Silvermine East (including the Kalk Bay/St. James/Muizenberg mountains and t...
South African National Parks (SANParks) reaffirmed its position as a leading conservation authority within the tourism sector when it implemented a range of initiatives at the 2025 Africa Travel Indaba (ATI) under the theme Vision 2040: From Fortress Conservation to Inclusivity.
Vision 2040, a co-created aspirational strategy of SANParks reimagines conservation for the future in South Africa. It hinges on inclusivity, access and benefit sharing with communities and other stakeholders as the core pillars of conservation in perpetuity.
The necessity to view the future of conservation through a different prism was at the center of the Conversations About Conservation Dialogue, an annual SANParks event now in its 3rd year. This informative dialogue aims to bridge the gap between conservation and tourism. It provides the tourism sector with insights into the criticality of biodiversity as the greatest tourism asset that South Africa sells to the travel market. This year’s panel featured leading figures from academia, private sector, communities and conservation players.
SANParks Vision 2040 recognizes that the sustainability of both biodiversity and tourism is dependent on the improvement of community livelihoods and economic upliftment to build resilient communities. It is against these principal values that for the first time at ATI, SANParks provided a platform for thirteen travel and tourism SMMEs operating within the localities where the foundational years of Vision 2040 will be rolled out. These are Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
ATI provides a premium platform for these SMME’s to showcase their products and gain critical market access to both local and global buyers.
Due to its planned scale and impact, SANParks is mindful that collaborations and partnerships are cornerstones for the success of Vision 2040 – these include partnerships with both the private and public sector (all spheres of government). It is in this vein that we witnessed the signing of a high-level Memorandum of Understanding between the Chairpersons of SANParks (i.e. Ms Pam Yako) and Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism (i.e. Mr Victor Mashego) which guides and strengthens the collaboration of the two agencies around the implementation of Vision 2040 across communities of Mpumalanga.
With focus on their respective localities, similar cooperative agreements are at different stages of conclusion with other provincial conservation entities such as the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency and the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism. These will be valuable instruments that enable the realisation of Vision 2040 and its intended equitable benefit creation.