Despite an incident of vandalism last week, construction at the Mayibuye Game Reserve has not been halted, as reported by Sapa last week.
David Bozas, spokesperson for Mayibuye Game Reserve, told Tourism Update Sapa had incorrectly reported that the project had been stopped. But he stresses that “[W]ith 20km of fencing complete, the entrance and gatehouse site established and 60 jobs already created, Mayibuye Game Reserve is well and truly on track.”
Bozas admits there was an incident where rogue community individuals destroyed fencing and intimidated some of the workers. However, he explains that this is being dealt with in the Pietermaritzburg High Court and a court order has been issued stopping further criminal activity against the project.
“Although disturbing, this incident has had very little impact on the project timelines,” says Bozas, adding that the game reserve is preparing to release game on to the reserve during the second half of 2015. “We are extremely excited about what has already been achieved on the reserve to date and, although interruptions such as these do happen, we are confident that they will have no negative impact on the project and the timelines that we have set for ourselves.”
The brainchild of the legendary ‘Elephant Whisperer’, Lawrence Anthony, Mayibuye Game Reserve will be a 4 000-hectare Big Five game reserve and residential estate. The project has the support of Ezemvelo as well as local and provincial government, while the local community is a partner in the project. Bozas says: “Not only will the community benefit financially, they will also benefit through job creation and the various community upliftment projects that already exist through this partnership.”
