Corné wrote:
Kurt wrote: "and that Kruger and private reserves were
created in the last century in South Africa by kicking local people off"

The above statement is pure nonsense, and I defy you to justify it with
a factual argument. If you care to do so, I suggest a new thread.

Corné.

1. There were no Europeans residing in present-day South Africa prior
to the 17th century, yet extensive archaeological evidence shows
habitation across the region for thousands of years prior (e.g.,
Mapungubwe, Thuthlane and hundreds of iron age and stone age sites).
Hence, there were local African people resident all across the country,
including Khoekhoe pastoralists and San hunter-gatherers before and
after the pre-11th century migration of Nguni-language speaking black
Africans along the Shashe-Limpopo valley and into what is now South
Africa. All sizable tracts of land privately owned (by any entity) in
the colonial era (post 17th century) that did not have local people on
it (or using it for agriculture, hunting or grazing -- especially in
the settled, agrarian Kruger-region of the country) was therefore, de
facto, cleared. That is, the local people were 'kicked off'.

2. The instance with the greatest press coverage in recent years was
the Makuleke tribe, who were forcibly removed from the northern extreme
of the Kruger National Park in 1969 and in 1996 instituted a land
claim. Documentation of this process can be read in "Land Claims and
National Parks - the Makuleke Experience", Bertus de Villiers, Human
Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, 1999. Softcover, ISBN
0-7969-1894-5. This is but one example, and there are many different
such claims outlined at http://www.kruger2canyons.com/restitution.htm
as well as in the publication "Blood and Soil: Land, Politics and
Conflict Prevention in Zimbabwe and South Africa" published in 2004.
There's also another book by Bertus de Villiers, titled "Land Reform:
Issues and Challenges" from 2003 that gives the region (among others)
thorough treatment.

Once you've read those -- and come to terms with the actual process by
which you've come to "own" the land you're now on and profiting from
through tourism -- I'll be happy to continue in
soc.culture.south-africa

And...putting your "Township Tour" in the context of just this kind of
history, pre-history and social context would be a good move in the
right direction.

Kurt