Text : Maria Chiara Fabbri, Photos : Bushman Sands
"For South Africa to become a tourist nation we need to not only educate our people on the important role that tourism plays in our economy, but also equip them with the skills to play this role ever more effectively." Valli Moosa, former Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
Alicedale is a very small town situated in the Bushman’s River Canyon in the Eastern Cape, 50 kilometres from Grahamstown and 100 kilometres from Port Elizabeth, in a place of great historical significance. It was a meeting spot on the Cape Colony frontier between the Dutch colonial governors and the Xhosa tribes.
Since the mid-19th century, Alicedale was an industrious railway junction providing plenty of jobs for a small but carefree community. However, with the general decline in the railroad traffic Alicedale’s lifeblood supply was cut off and it slowly began to die. But its bleak prospects were turned around when the Eastern Cape Government announced, in conjunction with the Mantis Collection Group and the Makana Municipal Authority, an ambitious tourism plan built around the community upliftment project.
The Alicedale community has enthusiastically supported the project after too many years of growing unemployment, destitution and non-existent development. The jobs, in fact, are protected and only go to people who live in Alicedale and not outsiders. Therefore, only local community members are trained and employed.
A number of small business opportunities have been created such as the Alicedale Laundry Services. The Black Empowerment Programme also includes butchery, a bakery, a filling station, waste management services, taxis and transportation, mechanics and maintenance and tour guides.
An agriculture site has been developed in order to create business opportunities to fresh producers that supply the four-star Bushman Sands Hotel in Alicedale.
Alicedale is the heart of a pilot project for the transformation of small decaying towns through a unique public-private partnership into eco-tourist destinations. This historic partnership will transform Alicedale into a thriving example of sustainable tourism development unlike any other in South Africa.
Contact
Peter Myles
Tourism Specialist
Tel : +27 41 368 6019
Cell : +27 82 556 1680
Email : tournet@iafrica.com
Language : English and Spanish
Other contact for booking
Bushman Sands General Reservation
Tel. : +27 (0)42 231-1350
Fax : +27 (0)42 231-1312
E-mail : reservations@bushmansands.com
Web site : www.bushmansands.com