Sapphire Coast Tourism (SCT) boasts three new committee members who joined the board at the August AGM. SCT welcomes Mondli Makhathini of Coastal Lounge, Martin Rodrigues of Crocworld Conservation Centre and Mariaan de Jongh of Aliwal Dive Centre.
Coastal Beach Lounge, located in Umgababa, was called Sunlight Beach before 1994. It was built and sponsored to the public by the Lever Brothers, but had to be closed down in the early 80s because of political killings. After 1994 the community used the site as an illegal dump site, until 2017 when Mondli approached the chief of Mnini tribal land to use the land and rejuvenate it as a business area.
Martin has been the manager of Crocworld Conservation Centre for the past eight years. Crocworld Conservation Centre was opened on 27 March 1985 by Crookes Brothers Limited, a JSE-listed agricultural company. The main focus of the centre was to farm the Nile crocodile for the meat and skin trade, and the tourism aspect of the business grew subsequently.
In 2009 the company stopped farming the Nile crocodile and the centre has become solely focused on tourism, education and most recently on conservation. The centre has welcomed more than 1.5 million visitors over the years and is a well-known tourism destination on the mid South Coast of KZN. The centre is now best described as a reptile and bird park with a botanical feel in natural surroundings and rare animal interaction opportunities.
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Aliwal Dive Centre, established in 1995, is one of the oldest dive charters in Umkomaas and well-known in the diving community in South Africa, United Kingdom, Europe and beyond.
“The SCT team welcomes Mondli, Martin and Mariaan and we hope for a successful and exciting tourism year ahead.
At last, we are thrilled to have three representatives join the committee who will showcase the southern area of our treasured Sapphire Coast,” said chairperson, Romy Wenzel. For more information about SCT, visit www.sapphirecoasttourism.co.za or email info@sapphirecoasttourism.co.za or romywenzel@gmail.com.
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