APPROVED IDP DOC 2011-16.BA PHALABORWA.pdf

Mining
Birdlife South Africa initiative
There is a rich potential of historical-cultural tourism with the existing archaeology and culture of
ancient mining dating back from 800 AD to about 1350 AD.
Bollanoto
Bollanoto is a municipal property, a few metres from the Phalaborwa Gate. It was established with
the view to making tourists destined for KNP to stop, spend and possibly stay in Phalaborwa town. It
was meant to afford the previously disadvantaged (called beneficiaries) an opportunity to
participate in the tourism industry. The existing structure is not functioning at its utmost potential.
Assessment revealed that Bollanoto did not achieve its objectives as a result of, amongst other
factors, the following:
Beneficiaries felt it was too far from home and too costly to travel every day;
No “champion”;
Not enough feet passing through the Centre;
Craft on sale along roadside and at KNP Gate (Hlanganani);
Provincial support not sustained;
Municipality was not interested in subsidizing the Centre, and the private sector did not see it as
a viable project.
Environmental and tourism education facilities – small lecture rooms and displays;
Indigenous Tree Garden;
“Touch and Feel” wildlife centre.
A new approach has been suggested towards the physical upgrading and expansion of the Centre.
The approach aims at ensuring that Bollanoto becomes the ‘heart and soul’ of tourism in Ba-
Phalaborwa Municipality. The concept is to enclose the present buildings within a decorated wall
and to construct all new facilities, such as gift shops, restaurants etc. facing outwards from this wall.
This would create a flow of feet within the central circle and would ensure that a visitor heading for
the restaurant, for example, would also see and pass the other facilities on offer.
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