Nice! This going ahead, combined with the new Garden Route Cableway, would be awesome.
#Drakensberg Cableway - 3,300m AMSL - Northern Drakensberg
Cable car plan for Drakensberg on the drawing board again
A CABLE car to more than rival that on Table Mountain has been mooted as a “game changer” tourism project for KwazuluNatal’s ukhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Park.
Michael Mabuyakhulu, KZN’S Economic Development and Tourism MEC, announced at the tourism Indaba in Durban at the weekend that a detailed feasibility study on the proposed Drakensberg Cable Car was about to get under way.
“The tourism landscape in Kwazulu-natal is poised for a dramatic change,” he said, noting that a draft tourism master plan had identified four tourism products that should be developed, including a cable car.
While details and exact costs were still sketchy, Mabuyakhulu'’s spokesman, Bheko Madlala, indicated that one of the preferred sites was in the Mnweni Valley next to the Royal Natal National Park section of the World Heritage Site, with the base station near Woodstock Dam.
It is understood that the summit station would be in Lesotho, at a height almost three times that of Table Mountain, and the cable length would be 3km.
While the plan is set to win support as a boost for tourism, the location of a cable car next to a World Heritage Site is likely to draw criticism from environmental groups opposed to the commercialisation of a wilderness environment. Mabuyakhulu said adverts calling for service providers to undertake the study had been issued. The deadline for submissions is June 11.
“The project aims at investigating the development of a 3 300m cableway with an intermediate station, climbing 1 300m to the summit, which will be an elevation of 3 300m above sea level offering expansive views of Kwazulu Natal, Lesotho and Free State,” he said.
A pre-feasibility study was done in 2000 and indicated that some of the benefits of the project included the creation of 1 200 jobs and increased opportunities for small business in the tourism value chain.
“That study also indicated the project will create a new economic node in the Drakensberg region and will position Kwazulu-natal on the national and international tourism map as a preferred tourism destination.
“The development of a Drakensberg Cable Car will provide an alternative to the Table Mountain Cableway in the Western Cape. The project will also unlock the tourism potential of the ukhahlamba-drakensberg region and enhance competitiveness of the province with regard to adventure tourism… It is earmarked in an area that is a World Heritage Site and if found feasible, it will enhance the stature of this international asset,” he said.
Mabuyakhulu said the detailed feasibility study would include an environmental impact assessment (EIA) that would look at the environmental, economic and social issues as well as cost of development.
The aim was to ensure the “coexistence of environmental management and economic development”.
But, while the MEC stressed that an EIA would be carried out, some environmentalists were divided on whether the project was in the best interests of the Drakensberg.
Roseanne Clark, chairwoman of the Sani branch of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, was “dead against the idea”.
From a practical point of view she did not believe the project would be feasible as cable cars worked well in big cities such as Cape Town and Rio, ski resorts and highly developed countries.
“I am involved with a number of organisations; we are all against it… Apart from the practical problems, a cable car system will spoil the Drakensberg,” she said.
Professor Rob Slotow, of the University of Kwazulu-natal’s School of Life Sciences, said the opportunity to make the experience of enjoying the views from the top of Drakensberg more accessible to more people outweighed the cost of losing the “sense of place” of a small area.
“The issue, however, is the careful planning on how to develop it.”
Bryan Ashe, an environmentalist with Geasphere, said it was imperative that a full EIA was done before any decision was made.
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'Tis true. Think it would actually be best to associate the cablecar with a ski-resort in Lesotho... HEHE 
Think big perhaps?!?
Think big perhaps?!?
then that will need to be a totally different type of cable way
I'm with the objectors on this one. Aside from the viability, this area is best left unspoilt...
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Cableway a high-wire act
NIVASHNI NAIR | 18 July, 2013 01:18
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The sun warms up a chilly Northern Drakensberg.
Image by: Nikita Ramkissoon
A feasibility study is being conducted into the economic viability of a proposed cable car in the Mnweni area of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Park.
But opposition to the cableway - billed as a potential rival to the one on Cape Town's Table Mountain - is growing, with hikers and climbers saying the weather and the safety of tourists have not been taken into account.
In 2000, a pre-feasibility study found that the development, aimed at boosting tourism in the area, was not economically viable.
Yet, at last year's Tourism Indaba in Durban, economic development and tourism MEC Michael Mabuyakhulu announced the resurrection of the proposal.
"The project aims at investigating the development of a 3300m cableway with an intermediate station, climbing 1300m to the summit, which will be at an elevation of 3300m above sea level, offering expansive views of KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and the Free State," he said.
Vertical Endeavour, which runs a community-driven website featuring the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains, yesterday said there would be significant periods of time during which it would not be viable to operate the cable car . This would limit revenue .
"In the summer months, mist and cloud typically envelop the escarpment by mid-morning and stay for the rest of the day.
"The view from the escarpment itself is non-existent on those days.
"In winter, the strongest winds anywhere in Southern Africa, which are part of the circumpolar westerlies, blow over the escarpment.
"Once the night time surface temperature inversion is removed by the morning sun, the fierce wind mixes down to the surface to produce gusts often in excess of 100km/h - well beyond the operating threshold of cableways," Vertical Endeavour representative Chris Sommer said.
"The extreme weather can close in very quickly and could leave many passengers stranded at high altitudes.
"Furthermore, lightning strikes occur on the escarpment almost daily in summer, and multiple strikes occur on more than 100 days per year."
Sommer said the top of the escarpment was a bleak environment.
"It is a far cry from the lush valleys and the fast- flowing rivers of the lower Berg. It is extremely cold, damp and windswept with a vegetation type that resembles semi-desert in large areas of the region.
"While this may be appealing to a few, we question if there is sufficient interest to see this kind of landscape to make a project of this scale viable and justified."
The local community has rejected the plan and is concerned that the area will be "spoiled" by the development.
"The process of formally declaring the upper reaches of the Mnweni a conservation area has already begun. This is a major milestone in the history of the Drakensberg, and the aim is a form of integration with the current uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site.
"This status will require that any present and future planning and development follow the correct environmental and social impact assessments and may even halt proposals altogether," Sommer added.
Last year, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa also objected to the proposal.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/07/18/cableway-a-high-wire-act
-------------------
Cableway a high-wire act
NIVASHNI NAIR | 18 July, 2013 01:18
The sun warms up a chilly Northern Drakensberg.
Image by: Nikita Ramkissoon
A feasibility study is being conducted into the economic viability of a proposed cable car in the Mnweni area of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Park.
But opposition to the cableway - billed as a potential rival to the one on Cape Town's Table Mountain - is growing, with hikers and climbers saying the weather and the safety of tourists have not been taken into account.
In 2000, a pre-feasibility study found that the development, aimed at boosting tourism in the area, was not economically viable.
Yet, at last year's Tourism Indaba in Durban, economic development and tourism MEC Michael Mabuyakhulu announced the resurrection of the proposal.
"The project aims at investigating the development of a 3300m cableway with an intermediate station, climbing 1300m to the summit, which will be at an elevation of 3300m above sea level, offering expansive views of KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and the Free State," he said.
Vertical Endeavour, which runs a community-driven website featuring the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains, yesterday said there would be significant periods of time during which it would not be viable to operate the cable car . This would limit revenue .
"In the summer months, mist and cloud typically envelop the escarpment by mid-morning and stay for the rest of the day.
"The view from the escarpment itself is non-existent on those days.
"In winter, the strongest winds anywhere in Southern Africa, which are part of the circumpolar westerlies, blow over the escarpment.
"Once the night time surface temperature inversion is removed by the morning sun, the fierce wind mixes down to the surface to produce gusts often in excess of 100km/h - well beyond the operating threshold of cableways," Vertical Endeavour representative Chris Sommer said.
"The extreme weather can close in very quickly and could leave many passengers stranded at high altitudes.
"Furthermore, lightning strikes occur on the escarpment almost daily in summer, and multiple strikes occur on more than 100 days per year."
Sommer said the top of the escarpment was a bleak environment.
"It is a far cry from the lush valleys and the fast- flowing rivers of the lower Berg. It is extremely cold, damp and windswept with a vegetation type that resembles semi-desert in large areas of the region.
"While this may be appealing to a few, we question if there is sufficient interest to see this kind of landscape to make a project of this scale viable and justified."
The local community has rejected the plan and is concerned that the area will be "spoiled" by the development.
"The process of formally declaring the upper reaches of the Mnweni a conservation area has already begun. This is a major milestone in the history of the Drakensberg, and the aim is a form of integration with the current uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site.
"This status will require that any present and future planning and development follow the correct environmental and social impact assessments and may even halt proposals altogether," Sommer added.
Last year, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa also objected to the proposal.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2013/07/18/cableway-a-high-wire-act
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