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Agent: Rudie Swanepoel. Tel Nr: +27823533448. E-mail: corporate@gamefarmestates.co.za alternatively srj@netactive.co.za
1. THE PROPERTY
The property, registered in the name of a Pty Limited. The property is 5850 ha in size, and has roughly a square shape, being 9 km from North to South and about 8 km from West to East across the middle of the property.
The property lies in the northern most area of the Limpopo Province of South Africa, in the valley of the Limpopo River, about 6,5 km south of the river. The closest town is Musina, about 70 km.
2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY
The property is generally flat with a few ridges and rock outcrops. The lowest point of the property, 516 m above sea level, is where a river exits the property on the Northern boundary and the highest 633 m above sea level in the South East corner.
The property consists of mostly level plains, sloping slightly from south to north over the whole width of the farm. The plain falls a mere 80 meters in 9 km to the River course. There are a limited number of hills present, of which the highest is about 33 m above the plains.
The farm is within the Mopane Bushveld classification, and is covered primarily with mopane trees and bushes. A resource inventory for the farm was completed by Envirodel Ecological and Wildlife Management Services in June 2000. This report identified that the farm is suitable only for game farming. This ecological evaluation of the property estimated that the carrying capacity of the farm is 405 LSU (live stock units), 205 LSU for grazing and 200 LSU for browse. A copy of this report is available
The report identified that the farm falls in the Mopane Veld Type (Veld Type 15) according to Acock’s classification. The woody layer (trees and shrubs) is totally dominated by mopane. However common tree species include salvadora australis, boscia albitrunca, boscia foetida, 12 species of acacia, balanites pedicellaris, combretum apiculatum and erythrophyllum, four species of commiphora, four species of grewia, white syringa, apple leaf, terminalia pruniodes, buffalo thorn and maerua angolensis (bead bean tree). A list of tree species identified on the property is available.
There are over 30 baobabs, but none of them are very large baobabs, all being younger than about 300 years old. There are no marulas, other than those planted by the house, and only two small leadwoods. There is sickle bush present, but no infestation as a result of overgrazing. However, there are areas where mopane encroachment has reached serious proportions and a project for thinning out, as recommended by the ecologist, has commenced.The nine-awned grass Enneapogon cenchroides dominates the herbaceous layer, while there is growing presence of decreaser grasses such as buffalo grass Panicum maximum, particularly in the extensive river drainage lines.
3. SERVICES
The property has the R572 Musina to Pontdrif tarred road cutting across the Northwest corner of the property, and is the access route to the property. There is a 100kVA electricity supply to the property, and a Telkom landline goes to the main farmhouse, homestead 1.
4. SERVITUDES
By virtue of a Notarial Deed, the right has been granted to Eskom to convey electricity over the property. The servitude runs along the Eastern and Southern boundary of the property, to facilitate an electricity supply to the de Beers Venetia Diamond Mine.
The property is one contiguous piece of land with no third party use for access, no public roads within and no internal division. The land was two properties which were consolidated into one property.
5. LEASES
MTN has a lease agreement with the owner which allows them to erect and operate a cell phone mast on the property in the Northwest corner. The present lease is due to expire on 30 June 2015 and is renewable for an additional 9 years & 11 months.
The R572 road from Musina to Pontdrif clips off a 20 ha piece of the property in the Northwest corner. A draft Heads of Agreement has been concluded with the South African National Parks, who own the property immediately to the North of the property. This basically has handed responsibility of ownership of this 20 ha corner of the property to SANParks, in exchange for a 20 ha triangular piece of land on the South side of the road, which has been incorporated into the fenced property. Across the adjoining land, the farm has a way of access to the entrance gate of the property.
6. LAND CLAIMS
There are no known land claims on the property. In the General Notice 879 of 2006, Gazette No. 29009, in terms of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 1994 (Act No. 22 of 1994), as amended, the property is not included in the gazetted list of land affected by the Notice.
7. IMPROVEMENTS
- Fencing:
The property is completely game fenced with a 2 meter high fence consisting of 20 wire strands at 100mm spacing. This fence complies with the requirements of the Nature Conservation Ordnance 1983, such that an exemption permit number 010-00115 dated 24/04/2007 has been granted to the property with validity until 24/04/2010. This fence is about 32 km long.
- Water System:
An extensive water reticulation network is in place, consisting of 14 boreholes with water, the quality of which in all boreholes is suitable as drinking water for game. Six of these boreholes are fitted with pumps – 3 electric submersible pumps, two mono pumps driven by diesel engines and one windmill pump. These six pumps send water to 7 storage reservoirs which supply water to 26 drinking points for game and the farm and lodge infrastructure. The water reticulation system has a network of about 30 km of underground water pipes.
- Roads:
A network of about 110 km of farm roads exists for the purpose of management and game viewing.
- Buildings – Homes
There are three homesteads on the farm.
Homestead 1 built of brick under steel roof, comprises three bedrooms, one en-suite & air-conditioned, a bathroom, kitchen, lounge, dining room, and office. A new air-conditioned meeting room has been built out of the two garages. The house has a veranda all around. It also has a guest wing comprising two bedrooms, both en-suite, each with its own covered deck. There is also a stand alone cold room and a car shelter for 2 vehicles. These buildings all have Eskom electricity and a water supply. The covered area of the house is 450 mē, the guest wing is 118 mē and the cold room is 9 mē.
This homestead also has a swimming pool, a summer house and a change room.
Homestead 2 built of brick under steel roof, comprises one en-suite air-conditioned bedroom with bath, three bedrooms, lounge/dining room, kitchen, store room and a shower room. It has a shade cloth covered area on the North side. It also has a small laundry and a staff house. All these buildings have Eskom electricity and a water supply. The covered area of this house is 176mē, the staff house 20 sq.m. and the laundry 2mē.
Homestead 3 built of brick under steel roof, has three bedrooms, bathroom, toilet, shower room, dining room, lounge and kitchen. It has a veranda all the way around the building. This building has no water or electricity, and is in a poor state of repair as it has not been lived in for 11 years. There is a water supply nearby. The covered area of this house is almost 300 mē.
- Buildings – Farming:
The following are the farm buildings:
- A workshop, office, store & toilet built of brick under steel roof covering 116mē with Eskom electricity and water supply.
- A vehicle shelter built of steel roof on gum poles covering 12mē.
- An equipment shelter built of steel roof over gum poles covering 300mē.
- A skinning shed built of steel roof over gum poles covering 50mē.
- A foreman’s house with one bedroom, lounge/dining room/kitchen, veranda and a separate bathroom with electricity and hot & cold water.
- 10 staff houses constructed of mud walls and steel roofs, all of which have Eskom electricity and water supply.
- Buildings - Luxury Lodge:
A luxury lodge comprising the following buildings:
- 8 thatched chalets each with en-suite bathroom, private veranda and additional outdoor shower of 50mē each
- a thatched dining room/lounge/cellar building of 171mē
- a thatched reception and office building of 41mē
- a thatched bar and lapa building of 63mē.
- a kitchen block incorporating a kitchen, cold store, housekeeping room, water plant room and staff cloakroom of brick under steel roof of 51mē.
- a guest toilet of 12,5 mē.
- a garden store of brick under steel of 10 mē
- a storage bunker of 10 mē
- a laundry/storeroom of brick under steel roof of 41mē
- staff housing for 8 staff members of brick under steel incorporating four bathrooms and 4 kitchens covering 150mē
Additional developments at the lodge include:
A swimming pool
A boma
11 carports
a bird pond.
The lodge is supplied with Eskom electricity brought to the lodge in a 2,5 km underground cable, water supply, its own drinking water plant and satellite internet & telephone connection.
8. NEIGHBOURS
The neighbours of the property are; South African National Parks operating the Mapungubwe National Park & World Heritage Landscape, cattle and game farms, Game breeding farms who operates a stud eland farm.
9. MINERAL EXPLORATION
The mineral potential of the underlying ground was explored by de Beers looking for diamond indicators such as Kimberlite pipes. We were told none had been found.
Champion Diamond Mining cc via Misty Sea Trading (Pty) Limited has just finished prospecting for coal. They drilled 11 holes and found plenty of coal but not of high grade. It appears the higher grade coal was found more to the Northeast.
Kusasa Commodities 393 (Pty) Ltd has also been granted permission to conduct prospecting operations on the property, subject to being granted an exploration right. It is believed that they wish to prospect for natural gas.
10. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
This property, is wholly owned by a (Pty) Ltd. This (Prty) Ltd is a company wholly owned by a Family Trust. The lodge facilities on the property are leased to the (Pty) Ltd., also a company wholly owned by The Family Trust. The farm is leased to Seller in his private capacity as a sole proprietor of the Farm, for the purposes of farming game. The Seller is a director of both companies and is a Trustee of The Family Trust.
Application has been made for the status of the two Proprietary companies to be changed to Close Corporations under the new legislation. This should be effective from year end February 2009.
11. MOVEABLE ASSETS
The moveable assets used for the operation of the lodge, such as furniture, equipment, appliances, computers, office equipment and vehicles, are owned by the Lodge. The lodge also owns the stock in trade, such as bar stock, shop stock, food stock and consumables stock. These moveable assets are valued at about R1 million.
The moveable assets of the farming operations, comprising farm equipment, furniture, motor vehicles and the game stock, is owned by Seller himself.
An estimate of the game numbers are:
Giraffe – 30
Eland – 90,
Waterbuck – 25,
Gemsbok – 75,
Kudu – 250,
Wildebeest – 75,
Zebra – 75
Impala – 450,
Bushbuck – 15,
Duiker – 20,
Steenbok – 15,
Warthog – 100,
Cheetah – 5,
Leopard – 6,
Hyena (spotted & brown) – 10.
An estimate of the market value of the game on the property is R2 million. The other farm moveable assets are valued at about R900 000.00
12. THE LODGE
12.1 Description of the Lodge
The Lodge offers luxury fully catered accommodation in eight secluded thatched en-suite chalets, each with their own veranda and additional outdoor shower. The chalets are equipped with good quality mattresses and percale cotton bed linen, kists for extra bedding, double cupboards with a safe for storing valuables, a dressing table, a large mirror over with good lighting, a hair dryer and a laundry service. Also in each chalet is a writing shelf, easy chair and a coffee/tea station. The bathrooms are equipped with spacious showers with taps that can be turned on/off without getting wet, shelves on either side of the basin for vanity bags etc. and a large well lit mirror immediately above the basin. Each bathroom is equipped with an 110v/220v shaver socket. Large thirsty towels are provided.
The dinning room is a large, spacious and cool room, open to the South, which can accommodate up to 24 guests seated at meal times. The adjacent lounge is also open to the garden and Mopane bushveld to the South. It has a fireplace and a small library.
A swimming pool with waterfall and martini seat is adjacent to a lapa and the bar. The lapa is thatched and open on all sides and is used for sundowners and sometimes serving meals. Next to the bar is a boma which can seat up to 24 guests around a fire. Each guest has their own chair and individual dinning table which is presented to the guests when dinner is served. The table is removed at the end of the meal leaving the guest sitting in front of the fire, under the stars.
The lodge has a reception/office/curio shop building and a guest cloakroom.
The kitchen is equipped to prepare and supply all meals to the guests. It has cold rooms and deep freezers for storage, and a dish washing machine. Also in the kitchen block is a staff cloakroom, a water plant for producing drinking water and a housekeeping store. A garden store, general store and a laundry are also at a convenient distance. There are 11 car ports for guests and staff parking. Good accommodation for 8 lodge staff includes four kitchens and four bathrooms with hot & cold running water and water borne sewerage systems.
The lodge bar is licensed and the office has a satellite connection for Internet and telephone/fax.
12.2 Lodge operations
The lodge is operated by a management couple. There is 8 staff who work exclusively in the lodge including managing the gardens and grounds. The vehicle, building and equipment maintenance is done by the farm staff. When the management couple are on leave then the proprietors manage the lodge.
The Manager looks after the guest activities, taking many of them on their excursions. He also hosts the guests, arranges their activity programmes, works as a Professional Hunter when hunters are at the lodge, and manages the farming activities. His assistant deals with the management of the lodge including the housekeeping, the meals, the purchasing, the admin and the wages. They both deal with bookings and inquiries.
The management couple are on an incentive scheme in which they are paid a bonus of 25% of the pre interest, pre depreciation operating profit of the whole operation.
A bookkeeper comes in for 2 days a month to do the bookkeeping. The Seller handles the marketing, administration such as insurance and the bank accounts.
12.3 Lodge marketing
The basis of the marketing is that there are great attractions in the area and anyone wanting to visit and experience these attractions with comfort and full catering service must stay at THE LODGE.
These four exclusive attractions are:
Mapungubwe World Heritage Site
Mapungubwe National Park and the Limpopo River
Limpopo San rock art
Tracking the endangered wild dog led by a researcher
The other attractions which are not exclusive to us are:
Baobabs, including a 2000 year old giant 25meters in circumference
Birding – over 400 species in our area
A safe environment for walking, birding, cycling in the bush with or without a guide
Crocodile farm
South Africa’s largest diamond mine.
The Lodge Lodge has the following marketing tools:
A website considered to be very user friendly with good presentation of information. There are about 16000 hits per month on the site.
A distinctive logo and a brand design concept
Brochures for handing out at shows to the public, brochures for tour operators and travel agents, brochures for trade marketing shows (including in German & Dutch), and a CD of information and pictures.
Several audio visual presentations
Banners and pull ups for display
An e-mail database with about 4500 names & addresses, including over 1000 overseas tour operators and over 1000 tour operators and travel agents in South Africa.
We employ a Sales Executive on contract to handle sales and calls in the Gauteng area. We have appointed a sales agent in Sweden to handle the Scandinavian market and an agent in the UK to attempt to get this market going for us.
We send out a newsletter to our database about 3 or 4 times per year.
We are members of several organizations who market this area as we participate in the following shows:
Indaba (sharing a stand with The Limpopo Collection)
Visit Southern Africa in Belgium
We visit WTM in London
The Beeld Holidaymakers Show Midrand
The Outdoor Expo at Kyalami
The Getaway Show in Johannesburg
A number of The Travel People workshops to the local trade.
A number of Derek Houston workshops to the local trade.
We are listed on a large number of internet accommodation and booking sites, some are for free, some we pay an annual fee and some work on a commission based on bookings made.
The growth market for us is the international market and we have concentrated on Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the UK. We have taken advertising in magazines in Germany, France & the UK, besides in South African publications geared for the international market. We market hunting totally separate as we attempt not to mix the hunting guests with ecotourism guests.
12.4 Lodge rates
Copies of the lodge’s Rack Rates, STO Rates and the Safaris specials are available serious buyers only. These safari specials are an attempt to offer South African residents a stay at lower rates than the standard rack rates, by offering a package. We have a single pricing strategy, as we offer all our guests the same level of comfort and service. We occasionally offer specials to attempt to improve occupancy when the bookings are weak for a particular month. We also offer specials in conjunction with other Lodges in Botswana.
12.5 Lodge Guests
Judging from our feedback, the guests are particularly happy staying at the Lodge, and many quote they will come back. We have already seen a marked increase in the number of repeat visitors. Our ratings wherever we see them have always been either ‘excellent’ or a few ‘very good’. The Lodge has created a good name for itself in the industry.
13. FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR THE PROPERTY
Increase in occupancy of lodge
The Lodge has an extensive marketing campaign to increase the public knowledge of Mapungubwe and the lodge. This campaign is directed to both the local and the international market. It is believed that this campaign will continue to increase the occupancy of the lodge from the present 35% to the 40% level in the next two years.
Scheduled flights to the area
An airline operator in South Africa is in the process of establishing a scheduled air service from Lanseria (Johannesburg) to Musina. This will enable the Lodge to enter into the fly-in safari market. They expect approval for this within 12 months.
In addition, proposals are being worked on to enable the Limpopo Valley Airfield in Botswana to be regarded as a domestic airport for South Africa, as part of the proposals for the Limpopo Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area. This will facilitate the establishment of this airfield as a node for travel to Maun and the swamps in Botswana, Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe and the Kruger National Park. This will also assist the lodge in becoming part of the international fly-in safari business.
Increase trophy hunting
A new agent has been established in Sweden for the Scandinavian market, which has just started producing results. Increased hunting will not only increase occupancy in the lodge, but increase the trophy take off from the game farm.
Incorporation into the Shashe/Limpopo TransFrontier Conservation Area
Plans are being implemented to establish the new Shashe/Limpopo TransFrontier Conservation Area, including Botswana, Zimbabwe & South Africa. In phase 1 of this project, the Mapungubwe National Park 7 the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve will be the South African part of the TransFrontier Conservation Area. In phase 2, the plans are that this Farm, amongst other farms, will be incorporated into the TransFrontier Conservation Area by being incorporated into the Mapungubwe National Park by dropping the fence between the farm & the Park.
Introduction of the “big five” by incorporation and introduction by SAN Parks
With incorporation into the TransFrontier Conservation Area, the game will be able to move freely across all the incorporated land. With the intention of the SAN Parks of introducing buffalo into the TFCA, the Farm will become a “big five” destination with an accompanying increase in the value of the land.With all these possibilities the value of this Farm, can only increase.
Price: ZAR30.8 million (VAT excluded should it be payable)
€2.6 million (VAT excluded should it be payable)
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