The South African National Parks (SANParks) launched this national park on Sunday at the 2004 Tourism Indaba that is currently underway in KwaZulu-Natal.
The natural site that the United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) declared a World Heritage Site last year, boasts a substantial amount of San rock art found over 15 000 years ago.
The move was hailed another milestone in the crusade of the African Renaissance.
Speaking at the launch, SANParks CEO David Mabunda said that the new national park had a potential to be a sanctuary for viable populations of threatened animals such as black and white rhinoceros, wild dog, and African elephants.
"We are very excited about this newest addition. Our decision to develop the Mapungubwe National Park is based on the rich biodiversity of the area and its scenic beauty. The area is also of immense cultural and historical significance because of the archaeological treasures of Mapungubwe," said Mabunda.
He said artefacts found at Mapungubwe ranked among the most important pieces of ancient art yet to be found in sub-Saharan Africa.
"We believe the development of Mapungubwe National Park will also serve as a southern African regional growth point for tourism and conservation because of its positioning on the international border of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe," he said.
Mabunda said a major infrastructure development programme in the area was undertaken few months ago with the Environmental Affairs and Tourism Department providing the funding.
Previously known as a Vhembe Dongola National Park, the Mapungubwe is situated in Musina, north of Polokwane. It is located at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers.
It also consists of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape in an area covering over 28 000 hectares.
The finding of gold artefacts, beads, burial grounds and other remains indicated that the new park was one of the major centres of culture and it bore testimony to the way of life of African people more than a thousand years ago.
The park also formed part of an ambitious project to develop a major transfrontier conservation area, Limpopo/Shashe Transfrontier Park that will include Botswana's Tuli Block and Zimbabwe's Tuli Safari area and South Africa.
The park's tourism facilities will be available to tourists from August this year. - BuaNews
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