By Jabulile Happyness Mzimela and Inocent Moyo
The Natal Colonial government initiated the establishment of protected areas in the Drakensberg in 1903, drawing on Eurocentric conservation models that sidelined Indigenous knowledge systems and governance structures. These approaches laid the foundation for the exclusion of Indigenous communities from decision-making over lands they have inhabited for generations. Such exclusions have had material consequences, contributing to marginalisation and the erosion of livelihoods.
This is evident in the case of the AmaNgwane, AmaZizi and AmaSwazi communities living in and around the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park. The park stretches along southern Africa’s Great Escarpment in KwaZulu-Natal’s uThukela District and covers 242,813 hectares. It is internationally recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its rich biodiversity and cultural significance. However, for nearby communities, this landscape is not just a conservation area or a tourism attraction. Land and natural resources are central to who they are, shaping identity, culture, livelihoods and spiritual life.
Shifts to co-management
In response to growing criticism of these exclusionary practices, conservation practices have shifted away from top-down, protectionist approaches towards models that recognise community rights and needs. This transition was motivated by the conservation-related costs disproportionally placed on local communities and the realisation that community support is critical to achieving long-term conservation goals. While the benefits of protected areas often outweigh their costs, these benefits are more likely to accrue to outsiders or individuals, leaving the local community to bear the costs collectively through restrictions on land ownership, access and resource use. This restriction stems from the inherent nature of protected areas, which are designed to conserve biodiversity, but which inadvertently disrupt traditional livelihoods and compound the unemployment challenge.
Against this backdrop, we examined how young people in communities adjoining uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park could use indigenous knowledge systems to develop tourism products and services. This is a body of knowledge built over generations of close interaction with nature, combining environmental understanding with systems of governance and resource management. These elements are critical for tourism entrepreneurship in protected areas. We draw on in-depth interviews with members of the AmaNgwane, AmaZizi and AmaSwazi communities, as well as with park managers.
Why co-management is not working
Many young people said restricted access to natural resources has made it harder to make a living from hunting, gathering, cultivation and harvesting. Although co-management was intended to promote collaboration, communities say its benefits have yet to reach them. Park managers, by contrast, argue that existing policies facilitate access to and utilisation of resources for local community members. Similar tensions are visible in conservation-based tourism, where Indigenous communities have played a significant role in tourism ventures. However, this “role” does not necessarily imply that they have control over these ventures, that their values guide them, or even that they benefit from them. Furthermore, the envisaged employment opportunities, foreseen as an outcome of the co-management agreement, have yet to materialise. Instead, income flows to outsiders. Moreover, the young people report being excluded from opportunities to showcase their cultural skills, such as artwork and traditional dance, as well as their overall culture and indigenous knowledge systems for environmental conservation. Taken together, these experiences point to uneven power relations in which Indigenous youth around uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park remain marginalised within conservation and tourism systems dominated by park authorities.
Tourism, culture and a chance for local youth
In response to these challenges, tourism entrepreneurship offers a promising livelihood pathway for Indigenous youth living in and around uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park. Tourism can strengthen struggling sectors such as agriculture while opening access to resources and markets. However, this potential can only be realised through genuine collaboration between young people and park management. Meaningful engagement with youth creates space for indigenous knowledge systems that have long been marginalised and helps address deeper issues of power and exclusion. When tourism, indigenous knowledge systems and entrepreneurship converge, Indigenous communities realise their developmental goals on their own terms. Rooted in place, culture and history, this indigenous knowledge shapes how people do business by leveraging intrinsic values, cultural heritage, identity, traditional customs, and distinct perspectives, all of which converge to create and offer diverse tourism products, services, and experiences.
In particular, community-based cultural tourism, though still underdeveloped in the area, offers a practical way to turn this knowledge into opportunity and to ensure that benefits are shared more evenly and that tourism supports broader community development. According to Greg Richards, cultural tourism is “a type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination.” Both tangible and intangible cultural assets, from historical and natural sites to cuisine, handicrafts, visual and performing arts, and religious ceremonies, can form the foundation of creative tourism in a region. Cultural tourism can improve young people’s economic prospects while preserving cultural values. For this reason, expanding cultural tourism and activating Indigenous knowledge within the park are promising pathways. This could include enterprises such as handicrafts, homestays, traditional dance and music performances, weaving, and locally guided cultural tours.
Turning this vision into reality will require a legal framework that reflects the unique environmental context of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park. Public authorities, working with park management, need to create supportive policies and innovative financing options grounded in Indigenous knowledge. This is especially important given that many young people near the park cannot access formal credit due to limited collateral or low credit ratings. Well-designed, transparent financing mechanisms could be transformative if carefully monitored. At the same time, entrepreneurship education is essential to strengthen young people’s skills in areas such as finance, marketing, hospitality and business management, and to improve the quality of tourism products and services. Beyond this, investment in shared spaces such as craft hubs, markets and cultural centres could help showcase local tourism products and strengthen the region’s appeal. Throughout these efforts, Indigenous youth must retain control over their knowledge and choices. They already hold the expertise; what they need are the conditions and space to turn it into sustainable Indigenous entrepreneurship. Hence, supporting youth entrepreneurship should not mean appropriating Indigenous knowledge. Rather, it means creating the conditions in which AmaNgwane, AmaZizi and AmaSwazi youth can use their own knowledge to build sustainable enterprises that support families, communities and conservation goals.
This article is based on the chapter: “Indigenous Communities and Access to Natural Resources. Unlocking the Entrepreneurial Potential” by the authors in: “Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Youth Entrepreneurship.
Note: This article gives the views of the authors, not the position of the EADI Debating Development Blog or the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes
Image: by the authors.
Jabulile Happyness Mzimela is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Zululand. Her work focuses on Indigenous Knowledge Systems, climate change adaptation, community-based natural resource management, and Indigenous entrepreneurship, with a particular emphasis on rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal.
Inocent Moyo is the NRF SARChI Chair in Borders and the African Continental Free Trade Area, a C1 NRF-rated researcher, and a Full Professor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Zululand. His research examines the relationship between people and the environment, with interests spanning political geography, political economy, political ecology, migration, regional development, globalisation and transnationalism, as well as borders, borderlands, and urban geography.