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Cape Town – Plans for the construction of a luxury safari resort in the Kruger National Park’s Malelane rest camp are off the cards for now, the department of environmental affairs announced on Monday.
According to a Beeld report the Radisson Blue Safari Resort missed the cut off date for a final application to construct a hotel at the confluence of the Crocodile and Timfene rivers.
Oxpeckers.org reports that the hotel would have been managed by the Rezidor Hotel Group in partnership with the local company, Mvelaphanda Holdings.
The 120-room hotel was originally supposed to open its doors to the public in 2013, but opposition from environmental groups and delays with compiling an environmental impact study prevented this.
According to a notice released by the department of environmental affairs the final Environmental Impact report should have been submitted by 15 August.
As no report was submitted, the application lapsed.
This news comes as a great relief to conservationists and lovers of the park’s unique atmosphere.
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One group in particular has been instrumental in the fight against the development.
Going by the name AIKONA! (Against Interference in Kruger and our Other Nature Assets), the group cited the fact that there had been sufficient public consultations and that there were no survey results showing that there was a gap in the market for luxury hotels in Kruger.
“There is no survey available that indicates that there is a need for hotels in the KNP, if people want to build hotels and create jobs and distribute wealth this can be done much better by having the hotels outside the perimeter of the KNP, accessible to the general public and not restricted to persons in the KNP,” the group’s convenor, Gerhard Smit said in a statement in September 2012.
A Facebook page dedicated to the cause, called ‘Against Hotel Development in Kruger Park’ welcomed the news, stating: “There will be no Malelane Safari Lodge for a long time - if ever!!”
“Congratulations and very big thanks to Gerhard Smit and everyone at AIKONA who worked so hard, for so long, to save Kruger from hotel developments,” it continued.
According to the department of environmental affairs, the hotel group will have to start their application process from scratch, should they still be interested in the development.
What are your thoughts – would a luxury hotel spoil Kruger’s atmosphere or would it be an asset to the park? Tell us in the comment section below or send us a mail to info@traveller24.co.za
