Vacation houses

Vacation houses

Secluded weekend houses will also be constructed and made available for rent or for sale. There is plenty of space on the project to construct secluded weekend houses. These may vary between very simple to extremely luxurious. By placing these houses in specific areas we can avoid them from spoiling the view and avoiding a congested appearance.

The future owner may choose to have their own house designed, whilst adhering to Mapesu Ranch design constraints. We intend to maintain an “African lodge feel” throughout the project. Alternatively two designs will be made available, one double bedroom and one triple bedroom, for the investor to decide from. Houses will be sold (without separate ownership of the land) and owners can decide to put their houses in a rental pool. Exploiting these houses will be a source of income to the company.

Game Management & Ecotourism

Ultimately, the profitability of game ranching depends on the income generated by game mangement, the sale of live animals at auctions, and ecotourism.

Each of these income sources has its own special characteristics.

Game management ensures that the total game stock does not exceed the economic carrying capacity of the veld. If game management is not allowed, the owner has to rely on professional game-capturing teams and then sell the animals at an auction.

The advantage of eco-tourists is that they come only to observe and relax. No damage of any kind is done to game or land, and a game ranch can accommodate a large number of such people.

Eco-tourism is important, as a source of income and therefore hunting activities on a ranch should not disturb tourists’ peace of mind.

In fact, just as predators and prey animals have to be separated in captivity, hunters and game-viewing tourists ought to be kept apart too. The preferred solution is to create two separate camps, one for hunters and another for eco- tourists.

Natural predators and game ranch managers have the task of maintaining the critical mass of a game ranch at its economic carrying capacity through good and bad seasons.

Sentimentality in game ranching may be misplaced; hesitation about removing surplus animals will result in a deterioration of the veld and therefore a steep decline towards low population numbers and perhaps even the local extinction of certain species.

In a world based on predation, fee-paying hunters not only do a much-needed job, but also contribute to conservation.

This job, which naturally is not to everybody’s liking, ought to be done in an ethical and selective way.