Eco cultural mapping vital in the success of cultural tourism

BY STEVE EPHRAEM

The bid to secure the future of their ancestral lands by rural communities in Zimbabwe is a positive step towards safeguard cultural tourism.

These maps do more than record the past. They secure they promote tourism in the end.

It empowers communities, visually assert their ancestral land rights, protect precious natural resources from external exploitation, and safeguard indigenous knowledge against the threats of loss and climate change.

A non-profit organisation named Earthlore Foundation is implementing Eco Cultural Mapping ceremonies in Bikita. The first project was implemented at Headman Nechirorwe followed by the one for Headman Mutsinzwa.

Gertrude Pswarai, Curator for the Earthlore Foundation, urged the community to see the landscape through “ancestral eyes” to understand the project’s full purpose. She explained that success depends on viewing the land as their forefathers did.

“We cannot succeed if you do not wear ancestral eyes. You cannot rectify what is wrong before you know where you went astray. The Gukurahundi rains once swept away the chaff from our millet, but how can that rain be meaningful today when you no longer grow the crop in favour of maize?” she asked.

Speaking at the event, Earthlore Foundation director Method Gundidza explained that the mapping process essentially protects both the people and their environment, thus attracting tourist to experience sacred sites.

““When this mapping is done by the community itself, it is easy for people to protect the sacred places and their broader environment. This protects the people themselves, since they will avoid staying or constructing structures in sacred places.

“When communities map their territory, it helps them to identify natural features that include mountains, springs, rivers, caves, pools, and other places. From the mapping, the community will know the places or features that are sacred. This therefore attracts tourism to come and enjoy viewing the sacred site,” he said.