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19 March 2019 | Story Dr Cinde Greyling
Dr Mutana and Prof Mukwada
Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region. Prof Geofrey Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. Pictured here are Dr Sarudzai Mutana with Prof Mukwada.

Not only is the Qwaqwa Campus situated in a beautiful region – its researchers also contribute to keeping the area pristine. Recent research by Prof Geofrey Mukwada and his PhD student, Dr Sarudzai Mutana, focused on indicators monitoring sustainable tourism development in the Drakensberg region.

Dr Mukwada is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography on the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus. 

Our majestic mountains are fragile

Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region – either as adventure seekers exploring the many trails, or just relaxing and reconnecting with nature. Prof Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. “Mountains are fragile but attractive environments which continue to attract tourists,” he said. “Tourism is one of the major business sectors in the Drakensberg region, with promising growth opportunities and proving to be an anchor of green economy in the future – if practiced correctly.” Unfortunately, the issue of monitoring sustainable tourism has not been widely researched in African mountains. 

According to international standards

“We specifically looked at the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), which is an international best-practice framework to help destinations monitor and ensure that tourism is developed in a responsible manner,” Prof Mukwada explained. “South Africa’s Manual for Responsible Tourism was designed according to some of the recommendations of the GSTC. But we found that, while the tourism and hospitality operators in the Drakensberg region appreciates the need to monitor and ensure sustainable tourism in the area, there is limited use of indicators as a tool for monitoring.” 

Forward together

There are competing demands between land-use and development practices and alternatives in the region – unless the focus shifts to sustainable practices, the short-term gains could be followed by dire consequences. “We suggest an integrated monitoring of tourism development, with a pro-poor focus that involves more local community leaders. Going forward, we would like to see the industry adopt the indicators proposed in our study.”

News Archive

Varsity Hockey hits Kovsies this weekend
2014-05-08


Kovsies’ Jaco Fourie outplays Maties
Photo: Varsitysportsa.com

Kovsies started their 2014 Varsity Hockey tournament with great success last weekend at Wits University.

Our boys in red currently rank second on the tournament log and along with UJ – who ranks first – we are the only two unbeaten teams after three rounds. Kovsies ended their second round match against UJ with a draw on Sunday.

Kovsies beat NMMU 2-1 and Maties 3-1 in round one and three respectively. Rounds four to six will be hosted at the UFS Astro this weekend until Monday (10-12 May). The fixtures are as follows:

Saturday 10 May – Kovsies vs Wits at 15:15
Sunday 11 May – Kovsies vs Tuks at 16:15
Monday 12 May – Kovsies vs Rhodes University at 14:30

Supporters can get free tickets if they go unto the www.varsitysportsa.com website and register as a MEMBER to apply for free tickets. Following this registration and application tickets will be sent to supporters via email. Otherwise, tickets will cost R20 per person per day.

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